Just a few short years before fantasy masterpieces like Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs and of course, The Wizard of Oz jumped into the spotlight to get maximum praise, this was the fantasy film to watch. Sure there were other great films around that time that mixed in many fantasy elements and wizardry, but if you needed a film that your kids would enjoy just as much as you do, this was a film you would greatly consider taking them to see. And this film still holds up in this day in age for many prudent reasons that I will explain in greater detail. It may be very hard to believe if you are a newcomer to this film but this film was originally released in black and white, for the coloring technology used in later films wasn't quite perfected by that point.Big thanks to the good folks at The Samuel Goldwyn Company for colorizing the film in all of it's simplistic coloring book glory. There is just something about the coloring of March of the Wooden Soldiers. It's very different than the coloring technology used in films like The Wizard of Oz and Gone With The Wind, but it has an appeal that catches your eye right off the bat, and seeing all the characters and places of Toyland in fully rendered color, it really makes the film even more of an immortal pot of gold.
The characters of this film are what make the film most memorable for me. Laurel and Hardy are pee pants funny playing the doofbrains Stannie Dumb and Ollie Dee, for when you see them on the screen, getting into all kinds of mischief and tomfoolery, you can't help but give a chuckle or two. Throughout the film, Stannie and Ollie get into all types of hilarious trouble. Ollie gets dunked on a ducking stool, Stannie dresses like a female bride (I DON'T LOVE HIM!),Ollie gets an onslaught of sharp darts launched upon him, the two even spill paint upon their miserable toy making boss. And even if this is a fantasy film straying far from the continuity of the mainstream Laurel and Hardy shorts, it still has that trademark Laurel and Hardy goodness most known throughout those early years. The opening credits even have the main Laurel and Hardy theme playing just before the epic Victor Herbert score, and Laurel and Hardy can be seen arguing with one another and contradicting one another just as they do in the mainstream shorts.
The other actors are incredible as well. Felix Knight, who portrays Tom Tom Piper in the film, is kind and gentle, and a gallant hero in his own right, although Stannie and Ollie can be proclaimed the true protagonists of the film. Knight is powerful in his singing voice, and throughout the hour and a half long film, he sings several of Herbert's original songs from the classic operetta. There is really a heart warming and proper flow in Knight's singing voice, and I am aware that he was in a few of the Laurel and Hardy shorts, but his singing ability is at it's most finest in this film, for he delivers some of the best opera singing I have ever heard, further making this film a full on musical trophy. Other stars include Florence Roberts as Mother Peep aka The Little Old Lady Who Lived in a Shoe, who desperately needs to pay the mortgage or she looses her shoe dwelling, as well as Charlotte Henry as Little Bo Peep, who is fine in her acting ability, but the character is in short the familiar damsel in distress character seen in many films, even The Wizard of Oz. That's right folks, Dorothy was made to be the damsel in distress character in The Wizard of Oz, as she is captured by vicious flying monkeys and the three male protagonists have to come and rescue her.
But the character that stands out the most to me is Henry Brandon as the tyrannical Silas Barnaby, the main antagonist of the film. Would you believe he was just 21 years old when he portrayed the old man character. But hey, if Joaquin Phoenix could do it, so could Henry Brandon. He is hands down the most terrifying factor out of this motion picture, from the very moment he comes bitterly walking up to the screen in the opening credits to the moment he unleashes chaos upon the streets of Toyland. He is a mad man, and one look into those eyes could have you hiding under your bed with a teddy bear by your side. He's basically the mean old crone that wants to marry the main female character, but he ultimately becomes the emperor of treachery towards the end of the film, and he travels into the depths of hell itself to summon the most terrifying of demons to spread horror and misery upon the innocent and insecure citizens of Toyland.
Okay, so maybe he doesn't go into hell, but he does go into the underground caves of Bogeyland, a slimy and desolate place where the Bogeymen crawl about. Back in 1934, it was pretty hard core to feature such terrifying creatures upon a movie screen, for the Bogeymen were quite ghastly to look at with their long hair, eery eyes and sharp fangs. By today, and I have to admit, they look a little silly and cheesy. They even move and squirm about in a funny way. I rather watch the goblin creatures move about in the 1980s remake of Babes in Toyland. One look at those beastly things and you will know exactly what I am talking about. Anyway, Barnaby unleashes terror on Toyland, as the Bogeyman vandalize and set fire to many of Toyland's buildings. Luckily, Stannie and Ollie have 100 wooden soldiers stored away at the toy workshop, 100 wooden soldiers that are 6 feet high. And with the simple push of a button, the soldiers march about, gathering together and rallying out the front door of the toy making workshop like cadets ready to go out into the battlefield to fight. The wooden soldiers in their marching glory were stop motion animated by Roy Seawright, and what a sight it is to see all the soldiers march out of the factory. It's quite impressive how they were able to combine the stop motion effects with the living actors, but the effect had been done before, several times, in the blockbuster released just a year prior, King Kong, one of my all time favorites.
The stop motion effects in that film are quite superior to the stop motion effects in March of the Wooden Soldiers, but the effects in Wooden Soldiers are quite dazzling to the eye as well, and deliver that great fantasy and imagination that took people off guard back in 1934 and still take people off guard to this very day. Of course when the soldiers enter Toyland, they are actually living people in wooden soldier costumes, however, they sure do know how to kick Bogeyman toosh. They fight Bogeymen in water, Bogeyman inside people's houses, and the scene I will always remember from the all out war is where a wooden soldier wards and Bogeyman off and looses his head in the process. If you have seen the film, you know exactly what I am talking about, how can you not remember something like that! It's so incredibly humorous! Now as I mentioned before, this film combines imagination along with horror and comedy, but this film is a all out fantasy flick. Don't believe me, well, IT'S GOT SANTA CLAUS IN IT! HE LAUGHS A LOT! And if that doesn't make a fantasy film go down in history, then I don't know what does. The fantasy elements of course lie in the overall look and design of Toyland. It's such a whimsical, playful little place to be, and with all those wonderful buildings shaped like books and houses that are reminiscent of doll houses, it brings new meaning to the name Toyland. It's also got some familiar faces from some of our favorite nursery rhymes and fairy tales. You got your Cat and the Fiddle,who was obviously a guy in a cat costume, The Three Little Pigs (Elmer, Willy, and Jiggs), Little Red Riding Hood, Mother Goose, Little Jack Horner, Miss Muffet, and of course, that cute little mouse that was nothing more than a monkey in a Mickey Mouse costume. There is also a baby on a tree top like in the song "Rock A Bye Baby" and cute little transparent gnomes that come out every once in a while in the dreaded Bogeyland. Only Tom Tom Piper's singing could summon them, and oh, how it looked like they were captivated by his singing in the film. It was certainly one of the more cutesy wutesy aspects of the film, for we needed somewhat of a cutesy wutesy aspect before the big battle between the Wooden Soldiers and the Bogeyman.
So as you can tell, I hold this film at high regards, and I knew that I am not the only one on this rock that has such feelings for the film. It is certainly a masterpiece on ever level that I could possibly imagine, and as I explained, it has that great clash of the genres we know and love, like fantasy, horror, comedy, and romance. Every time I watch this film, every Thanksgiving, I become a child all over again, watching this at my old home while the Thanksgiving dinner was being prepared in the kitchen nearby, and as I watch this film year after year, I notice new elements I never got a glimpse of before, I see things I never layed eyes on before. And for that main reason, this film is cemented on my list of all time greatest films. We all have our favorite films, whether they'd be gangster films or comic book films, but I love any kind of fantasy film the world has to offer, and one of my all time favorite fantasy films, one of my all time favorite films in general is March of the Wooden Soldiers, for it's captivity and innovation will live on hundreds and hundreds and hundreds of years from now. Whether you watch in color or the vintage black and white, you are in for a real sensational treat. You will not be sorry watching this film one bit, and the kids, your kids if you have any, will love it so much, they will want to watch it relentlessly over and over and over again each day of each week of each month. Whether you watch it at Thanksgiving or Christmas or Arbor Day, you will have...QUITE AN EXPERIENCE with this fun, high flying motion picture landmark, one of the very few fantasy/horror/comedy films of it's kind. Laurel and Hardy, you're the best!
