90 MINUTES OF HAPPINESS.
Stannie and Ollie (Stan Laurel, Oliver Hardy), who work for a toymaker, live in a fantasyland where their home is a shoe… but the greedy Barnaby (Henry Kleinbach) threatens to foreclose. One of the most classic Laurel and Hardy films puts the duo in an operetta that has been considerably changed for the screen adaptation. Their comedy routines mix with fairy-tale elements, (mostly uninteresting) songs and spectacular action near the end, including a famous stop-motion sequence where wooden soldiers march out of the toy shop. The operetta was inspired by ”The Wizard of Oz”; interesting to see this film as a predecessor to the 1939 version of the L. Frank Baum classic.
1934-U.S. 73 min. B/W. Produced by Hal Roach. Directed by Gus Meins, Charles R. Rogers. Screenplay: Frank Butler, Nick Grinde. Operetta: Glen MacDonough, Anna Alice Chapin. Cast: Stan Laurel (Stannie Dum), Oliver Hardy (Ollie Dee), Charlotte Henry (Bo-Peep), Henry Kleinbach (Silas Barnaby), Felix Knight, Jean Darling.
Trivia: Alternative title: March of the Wooden Soldiers. Kleinbach was only 21 when he played the decrepit Barnaby. Remade as Babes in Toyland (1961) and as a TV movie, Babes in Toyland (1986).
