Babes in Toyland (1961 film)

Babes in Toyland
Theatrical release poster
Directed by	Jack Donohue
Produced by	Walt Disney
Written by	Lowell S. Hawley Ward Kimball Joe Rinaldi
Based on	Babes in Toyland by Victor Herbert and Glen MacDonough
Starring	Ray Bolger Tommy Sands Annette Funicello Ed Wynn
Music by	Victor Herbert George Bruns Mel Leven (new lyrics)
Cinematography	Edward Colman
Edited by	Robert Stafford
Production company	Walt Disney Productions
Distributed by	Buena Vista Distribution
Release dates	December 14, 1961 (1961-12-14)
Running time	105 minutes[1]
Country	United States
Language	English
Budget	$3 million[2]
Box office	$4.6 million (US/Canada rentals) [3]

Babes in Toyland is a 1961 American Technicolor Christmas musical film directed by Jack Donohue and distributed to theatres by Buena Vista Distribution. It stars Ray Bolger as Barnaby, Annette Funicello as Mary Contrary, Tommy Sands as Tom Piper, and Ed Wynn as the Toymaker.^[4]

The film is based upon Victor Herbert's popular 1903 operetta Babes in Toyland. There had been a 1934 film also titled Babes in Toyland starring Laurel and Hardy, and three television adaptations prior to the Disney film, but Disney's was only the second film version of the operetta released to movie theatres and the first in Technicolor. The plot, and in some cases the music, bear little resemblance to the original, as Disney had most of the lyrics rewritten and some of the song tempos drastically changed, including the memorable song "Toyland", a slow ballad, which was speeded up with only the chorus sung in a march like rhythm.^[2]

The toy soldiers would later appear in Christmas parades at the Disney theme parks around the world.

Plot

The film begins as a stage play presented by Mother Goose and her talking goose, Sylvester, about Mary, Mary, Quite Contrary and Tom, Tom, the Piper's Son, who are about to be married. The miserly and villainous Barnaby hires two crooks, dimwitted Gonzorgo and silent Roderigo. They are to throw Tom into the sea and steal Mary's sheep, depriving her of her means of support, to force her to marry Barnaby. Mary is unaware that she is the heir to a fortune, but Barnaby is aware and wants it all for himself. Gonzorgo and Roderigo decide to sell Tom to the Gypsies instead of drowning him, in order to collect a double payment.

Gonzorgo and Roderigo return and tell Mary, Barnaby, and the citizens of Mother Goose Land that Tom has accidentally drowned. They show Mary a forged letter in which Tom tells Mary he is abandoning her, and she would be better off marrying Barnaby. Mary, believing she is destitute, reluctantly accepts the proposal from Barnaby. Barnaby unknowingly arranges for the same Gypsies who have Tom to provide entertainment for the wedding. Tom, disguised as the Gypsy Floretta, reveals himself, and Barnaby pursues the frightened Gonzorgo and Roderigo, furious at their deception.

One of the children who live with Mary informs her of some sheep tracks leading into the Forest of No Return. The children sneak away into the forest to search for the missing sheep. The trees of the forest awaken and capture them. Tom and Mary follow and find the children in the forest, where they tell stories about the live trees. The trees seem just like ordinary trees to Tom and Mary. Tom, Mary, and the children camp for the night. In the morning, the trees once again come to life and explain that they are now in custody of the Toymaker in Toyland (who is also the Mayor and Chief of Police). Tom, Mary, and the children happily continue on, escorted part of the way by the trees.

Through the windows of the Toymaker's house they watch the Toymaker's brilliant apprentice, Grumio, present a new machine that makes toys without any manual labor. Overjoyed, the Toymaker speeds up the machine to such a high rate that it explodes, destroying every toy in the factory. Tom, Mary, and the children offer to help make more toys in time for Christmas.

Grumio presents another invention, a shrinking "gun" that reduces everyday objects to toy size. He warns that if it is used on anything more than once, the shrunken object disappears completely. The Toymaker is at first delighted at the idea of producing toys by shrinking life-sized objects, but then Tom points out the impossibility of finding enough everyday objects to shrink down into the large quantity of toys needed for Christmas. The Toymaker berates Grumio for his stupidity and throws the shrinking gun out the window in disgust.

Barnaby, who has been spying on them, takes the discarded shrinking gun and uses it to shrink the Toymaker and Tom. When Barnaby's henchmen see him threatening to shoot Tom a second time, they abandon Barnaby. They try to flee, but Barnaby shoots them and locks them up with Tom in a birdcage.

Barnaby forces Mary to marry him by threatening to destroy Tom, and he threatens to destroy the Toymaker if he refuses to preside over the wedding ceremony. While the Toymaker draws out the ceremony, Gonzorgo and Roderigo rescue Tom, and the three of them sneak away and return with an army of toy soldiers to fight Barnaby. Barnaby easily demolishes the toy soldiers. He is about to obliterate Tom with another dose from the shrinking gun, but Mary destroys it with a toy cannon. The liquid splatters all over Barnaby and shrinks him to toy size. Tom, after challenging Barnaby to a duel with swords, stabs Barnaby, who falls from a great height into an empty toybox.

Grumio presents another new invention, one that returns shrunken people to their original size. He immediately uses it on Tom, the Toymaker, Gonzorgo, and Roderigo, but not on Barnaby. Tom and Mary are married, and everyone lives happily ever after.

Cast

Production

Walt Disney announced the film in 1955 as an animated feature.^[5]

Disney said he wanted to create a film of the standard of The Wizard of Oz (1939).^[2] "It's like a Disney cartoon only with live actors," said one Disney executive.^[6]

Jack Donohue was signed to direct, following his success on Broadway directing Top Banana and Mr. Wonderful, and his work on TV spectaculars for Dean Martin and Frank Sinatra.^[7]

Dean Jones was originally announced for the lead.^[8] Ray Bolger was cast as a villain for the first time in his career.^[9] Gene Sheldon, best known for his role of Bernardo in the 1975 television series Zorro,^[10] appeared alongside his Zorro co-star, Henry Calvin.

The film featured a 15-minute animated sequence.^[2] Principal photography started 13 March 1961 and went for three months.^[2]

Tommy Kirk says he enjoyed making the film because of working with Ed Wynn:

I thought he was delightful and so did everyone else. You couldn't not like him. He was completely crazy and he was just as crazy offscreen as he was on. But it was all, of course, an act. He was a very serious, religious man in his own way, but he loved playing Ed Wynn, the perfect fool, the complete nut. And he was good at it. Actually I think the movie is sort of a klunker, especially when I compare it to the Laurel and Hardy Babes in Toyland. It's not a great film but it has a few cute moments. It's an oddity. But I'm not embarrassed about it like I am about some other movies I've made.^[11]

Songs

Release

The film's release was accompanied by a TV show on Disney's program called Backstage Party.^[12]

References

External links

• Official website
• Babes in Toyland at the Internet Movie Database
• Babes in Toyland at the TCM Movie Database
• Babes in Toyland at Rotten Tomatoes
• "A Very Merry Musical: Walt Disney's Babes in Toyland". The History of Disney. December 2011.