Babes in Toyland (1934 film)
From The Art and Popular Culture Encyclopedia
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Babes in Toyland (re-released in 1948 as March of the Wooden Soldiers, alternative titles Laurel and Hardy in Toyland, Revenge Is Sweet, Wooden Soldiers) is a 1934 musical comedy film starring Laurel and Hardy. Based on Victor Herbert's popular 1903 operetta Babes in Toyland, the film was produced by Hal Roach, directed by Charley Rogers and Gus Meins, and released to theatres on November 12, 1934 by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer.
Plot
Summary: Two toymakers come to the aid of the lovely Bo-Beep, whose sweetheart has been banished to Bogeyland.
Stannie Dum and Ollie Dee (played by Laurel and Hardy, respectively), live in a shoe (as in the nursery rhyme There Was An Old Woman Who Lived In A Shoe), along with Mother Peep (the Old Woman), Little Bo Peep, and many other children. The mortgage on the shoe is owned by the villainous Silas Barnaby, who is looking to marry Bo Peep. Stannie and Ollie set out to get the money for the mortgage from their boss, The Toymaker. But after the Toymaker finds that Stannie has screwed up an order from Santa Claus (building 100 wooden soldiers at six feet tall, instead of 600 soldiers at one foot tall) and one of the soldiers wrecks the toy shop, Stannie and Ollie are fired without getting the money.
The two then hatch a plan to sneak into Barnaby's house and steal the mortgage, but are again foiled by their incompetence. Barnaby has them arrested on a burglary charge, and the two are sentenced to be dunked in the ducking stool and then banished to Bogeyland. But Barnaby agrees to drop the charges if Little Bo Peep will marry him. She reluctantly agrees, but not before Ollie suffers the humiliation of the dunking.
Stannie and Ollie come up with a new scheme. At the wedding, Ollie is present to give the bride away. After the nuptials, but before the ceremonial kiss, Ollie asks for the "wedding present" (the mortgage) from Barnaby. After inspecting it, Ollie tears it up, and then lifts the bride's veil - to reveal Stannie, who had worn Bo Peep's wedding dress to the ceremony. Bo Peep is still free, and the mortgage is gone.
Enraged, Barnaby plots his revenge, eventually hitting on the idea of framing Bo Peep's true love, Tom, Tom, the Piper's Son, on a trumped-up charge of "pignapping", and getting him banished to Bogeyland. Barnaby proceeds to abduct one of the Three Little Pigs, then has a henchman plant false evidence (including sausage links) in Tom-Tom's house; Tom-Tom is put on trial, convicted, and banished to Bogeyland. A distraught Bo Peep follows him there.
Meanwhile, Ollie and Stannie find evidence implicating Barnaby in the pignapping, including the fact that the alleged sausage links presented as evidence at Tom-Tom's trial were made of beef. They later find Little Elmer, the kidnapped pig, alive in Barnaby's cellar.
A manhunt commences for Barnaby, who flees to Bogeyland through a secret passageway at the bottom of an empty well. Stannie and Ollie eventually follow Barnaby down the well. Barnaby catches up to Tom-Tom and Bo Peep, but the two escape into the caverns of Bogeyland and run into Stannie and Ollie. The foursome escape back through the well and are welcomed by the town, who now realize Barnaby's treachery. An enraged Barnaby summons an army of Bogeymen and invades Toyland. As the townspeople flee in panic, Ollie and Stannie run and hide in the toy shop. At first, they discover toy darts and use them to try to battle the Bogeymen. But the plan isn't effective, and the two instead unleash the wooden soldiers. The "march" alluded to in the film's title begins as the soldiers themselves march out (in very primitive stop-motion animation), and they attack the Bogeymen with the bayonets of their rifles. Barnaby and the Bogeymen are routed and driven back into Bogeyland, where alligators appear to feast on them, although this is never made clear. The kingdom of Toyland is saved.
