Laurel and Hardy in Toyland

Based on the classic operetta by famed composer Victor Herbet, the 1934 musical comedy Babes in Toyland, also known as The March of the Wooden Soldiers takes the original operetta, everyone's favorite nursery rhymes, and adds in Laurel and Hardy for extra hilarity. The original music is included in this film along with great production and the great comedy of Laurel and Hardy. To see this classic film in its entirity, you can watch it here from Classiccinemaonline.com.

The film opens with a scan of Toyland, a magical realm where the characters and stories of nursery rhymes, folk stories, and fairytales come to life with an intro by Mother Goose (Virginia Karns). Evil Silas Barnaby (Henry Brandon) wants to marry Bo Beep (Charlotte Henry), the beautiful eldest daughter of Mother Widow Peep (Florence Roberts), aka the Little Old Woman who lived in a shoe. When Bo Beep refuses to marry the creepy old guy Barnaby, he calls in Mother Peep's mortgage on her shoe. Mother Peep's two inept lodgers Stannie Dum (Stan Laurel) and Ollie Dum (Oliver Hardy) find out Mother Peep's mortgage is in trouble and help her pay for it with money they have gotten from their boss the Toymaker. Meanwhile, Bo Beep looks for her lost sheep and falls in love with the helpful Tom-Tom Piper (Felix Knight). When their plan to help Mother Peep fails, they switch Stannie Dum with Bo Beep at the marriage ceremony, infuriating Barnaby who then sets loose boogeymen to destroy toyland. It is then up to Stannie and Ollie to save Toyland.

This film features some amazing costuming, makeup effects, and set design, creating a realistic looking Toyland using the techonology available at the time. A lot of accidents happened during the making of this film. Stan Laurel fell of a platform and injured his right leg. Assistant Director Gordon Douglas fell from the Old Woman's shoe and injured his left leg. Kewpie Morgan, who played Old King Cole, ruptured muscles in his stomach because of his character's laughter. Hardy had to have his tonsils removed after filming wrapped and producer Hal Roach developed appendictis after filming. Early on, their is a monkey dressed up a lot like Mickey Mouse in the film. During the 1961 Disney remake of this film, two comedians impersonate Laurel and Hardy

More info on this film can be found here thanks to Clown-ministry.com. A filmsite for March of the Wooden Soldiers (Babes in Toyland) can be found here, which gives some info on the film. Also, you can check out the Laurel and Hardy Fansite for more information on the comedic duo as well as their homepage.