Babes in Toyland (1961 film)
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| Babes in Toyland | |
|---|---|
 DVD cover |
|
| Directed by | Jack Donohue |
| Produced by | Walt Disney |
| Written by | Lowell S. Hawley Ward Kimball Glen MacDonough (operetta) Joe Rinaldi |
| Starring | Ray Bolger Tommy Sands Annette Funicello |
| Music by | Victor Herbert George Bruns Mel Leven (new lyrics) |
| Cinematography | Edward Colman |
| Editing by | Robert Stafford |
| Distributed by | Buena Vista Pictures |
| Release date(s) | December 14, 1961 |
| Running time | 106 min. |
| Language | English |
| IMDb profile | |
Babes in Toyland is a 1961 musical film in Technicolor, directed by Jack Donohue, produced by Walt Disney, 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. Barnaby's henchmen, Gonzorgo and Roderigo, were portrayed by Henry Calvin and Gene Sheldon.
The film was based upon Victor Herbert's popular 1903 operetta Babes in Toyland. The plot, however, bears little resemblance to the 1903 show.
The toy soldiers would later appear in Disneyland and Walt Disney World's Christmas parades.
Unfortunately, the film was a failure at the box office.[1]
[edit] Plot summary
The film begins as if it were a stage play presented by Mother Goose about two nursery rhyme characters, Mary Contrary and Tom Piper, who are about to be married. At the same time Barnaby, a miser, is hiring two crooks to throw Tom into the sea forcing Mary to marry him instead. After smashing Tom on the head with a hammer and tying him in a bag, the two henchmen, Gonzorgo and the silent Roderigo, pass by a gypsy camp. They decide to sell Tom to the Gypsies instead of drowning him in order to collect a double payment.
Gonzorgo and Roderigo return and tells Mary, Barnaby, and the citizens of Mother Goose Land that Tom has accidentally drowned. They show Mary a phony letter in which Tom tells her that he is abandoning her for her own good and that she would be better off marrying Barnaby. The grief-stricken Mary is still able to earn a living off of her sheep to avoid marrying him, but Barnaby, knowing this would happen, also has told his henchmen to steal the sheep. Mary, unable to find another solution, reluctantly accepts the proposal from Barnaby. Barnaby unknowingly arranges for the same gypsies that have Tom to provide entertainment for the marriage. Tom, disguised in drag as the gypsy Floretta, reveals himself and Barnaby pursues the frightened Gonzorgo and Roderigo, furious at their deception. One of the children informs Mary of some sheep tracks leading into the Forest of No Return.
The children, still eager to find their sheep, sneak away into the forest to search for the missing sheep. The trees of the forest come to life and capture them. Tom and Mary follow and find the children in the forest telling stories about the live trees, which, at the moment, seem like ordinary ones. They camp out for the night, and in the morning the trees once again come to life and inform the family that they are now in custody of the Toy Maker in Toyland. Excited by this, the group happily continues on.
Through the windows of The Toy Maker's house they watch the Toy Maker's rather incompetent apprentice, Grumio, present a new machine that makes toys without any manual labor. Overjoyed, the Toy Maker speeds up the machine to such a high rate that it explodes, destroying every toy in the factory. The family comes in and offers to help make more toys in time for Christmas. Grumio also presents another invention, one that shrinks things down to toy size, and if it were used on anything more than once, they would disappear completely. Barnaby and his henchmen, who had been spying on everyone, shrink down the Toy Maker and Tom. When Barnaby's henchmen see Barnaby threatening to give Tom two servings of the shrinking formula they abandon Barnaby and run. They, too, are shrunken to toy size and locked up with Tom in a birdcage. Barnaby awakens Mary and starts a marriage ceremony threatening to destroy Tom if she resists, and The Toy Maker if he refuses to marry the couple. While the Toy Maker delays the marriage Tom sneaks away with the help of Gonzorgo and Roderigo, and returns with an army of toy soldiers to fight Barnaby. Barnaby easily demolishes the toy soldiers, and is about to obliterate Tom with another dose from the shrink gun, but Mary destroys it with a toy cannon. The liquid splatters all over Barnaby, and shrinks him to Tom's new size. He is challenged to and engages in a sword duel with Tom which he loses, but in the film as released, it is unclear whether or not he is actually killed, although he does appear to have been stabbed. (Pre-release publicity stills and a comic book adaptation of the story had him locked up in the birdcage right at film's end, but in the actual movie, he falls into a toy box at the end of the duel and is never shown again.) After the fight is over, Grumio once again presents a new invention, this time returning people to their original size. It is promptly used on Tom, the Toy Maker, Gonzorgo and Roderigo - but not on Barnaby. Tom and Mary are married and they live happily ever after.
