Coming up on Saturday at the Described Movies: Babes in Toyland
Only on Mushroom escape:
http://www.mushroomfm.com/escape
From this Saturday at 2am Eastern, that’s 8pm Saturday in NZ, 6pm in Sydney and 7am in the UK, and repeated every four hours throughout the day, it’s the described movie Babes in Toyland from 1961.
Babes in Toyland is a 1961 American Technicolour Christmas musical film directed by Jack Donohue and distributed to theatres by Buena Vista Distribution.
It stars Ray Bolger as Barnaby, Tommy Sands as Tom Piper, Annette Funicello as Mary Contrary and Ed Wynn as the Toymaker.
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 Technicolour.
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 sped up with only the chorus sung in a march-like rhythm.
The toy soldiers later appeared in Christmas parades at the Disney theme parks around the world.
Funicello said it was her favourite filmmaking experience.
Directed by: Jack Donohue.
Produced by: Walt Disney.
Written by: Lowell S. Hawley, Ward Kimball and Joe Rinaldi.
Based on: Babes in Toyland: by Victor Herbert and Glen MacDonough.
Starring: Ray Bolger, Tommy Sands, Annette Funicello and Ed Wynn.
Music by: Victor Herbert, George Bruns and Mel Leven (new lyrics).
Cinematography: Edward Colman.
Edited by: Robert Stafford.
Production company: Walt Disney Productions.
Distributed by: Buena Vista Distribution.
Release date: 14 December, 1961.
Running time: 105 minutes.
Country: United States.
Language: English.
Budget: $3 million.
Box office: $4.6 million (US/Canada rentals).
Any questions, comments, or ideas for future described movies: e-mail me: anthony at mushroomfm dot com (e-mail address written that way to cut down on
spam)
Enjoy the movie,