Since Thanksgiving, I have been crazy busy trying to accomplish some projects that I have been working on. Being that I didn't get to post this last week, I wanted to make sure that I mentioned one of my favorite Thanksgiving traditions since I was a kid. Yes, I never get tired of watching the 1934 film "March of the Wooden Soldiers," which was originally known as "Babes in Toyland." I am sure that somebody in today's world can find something offensive about this movie, but it brought me extreme joy as a child and still does today.
The movie takes place in Toyland and begins with a song sung by Virginia Karns as Mother Goose. Many fairytale characters appear in the film, including Jack & Jill, Little Miss Muffet, Little Jack Horner, the Cat and the Fiddle and Mary Quite Contrary, just to name a few. The comic relief is supplied by Stan Laurel (as Stannie Dum) and Oliver Hardy (as Ollie Dee). The heroes of the film exist because of a mistake that Dum made when he took the order from Santa Claus, by producing 100 soldiers at 6 feet tall instead of 600 soldiers at 1 foot tall.
Bo-Peep, portrayed by Charlotte Henry, is predictably losing track of her sheep. Enter Tom-Tom, played by Felix Knight, who is not only her love interest, but framed by Barnaby (cue evil music) for pig-napping. Yes, the Three Little Pigs also play a major role in the plot. You see, Barnaby (cue evil music) holds the mortgage on the shoe where the main characters live, however, he is willing to tear it up to save the Widow Peep (played by Florence Roberts) from eviction if Bo-Peep agrees to become Barnaby's (cue evil music) wife.
Henry Branden (known then as Kleinbach) plays the role of the villainous Barnaby (cue evil music). Although of German descent, Branden appeared in numerous roles over the years, including many Native American characters. Fans of the television show F Troop may remember him as Indian Chief Shug on an episode of the sitcom. Branden and Knight had an interestingly choreographed encounter in Bogeyland after an episode with the Sandman. It should also be noted that Tommy Bupp, Dickie Jones and Scotty Beckett of the Our Gang Comedies appeared very briefly as schoolboys in the film.
Banishment to Bogeyland is a harsh sentence for certain crimes committed in Toyland, pig-napping being one of them. When Dee and Dum tried to deceive Barnaby (cue evil music), their punishment only led to a dunking (you have to watch the movie to know what I mean). There is a happily-ever-after, as with most fairytales (well, at least some of them), as the bumbling Dee and Dum save Toyland from the invasion of the Bogeymen.