Babes in Toyland (1986 film)

Last updated
Babes in Toyland
BabesinToyland.jpg
International theatrical release poster
Genre
Based on Babes in Toyland by Glen MacDonough
Screenplay by Paul Zindel
Directed by Clive Donner
Starring
Theme music composer Leslie Bricusse
Country of originUnited States
Original languageEnglish
Production
Executive producers
Producers
  • Tony Ford
  • Neil T. Maffeo
Production location Munich, Germany
Cinematography Arthur Ibbetson
Editor David Saxon
Running time
  • 145 minutes (Broadcast) [1]
  • 94 minutes (Home media) [2]
Production companies
Budget$5 million [3]
Original release
Network NBC
ReleaseDecember 19, 1986 (1986-12-19)

Babes in Toyland is a 1986 American made-for-television Christmas musical film directed by Clive Donner and starring Drew Barrymore, Richard Mulligan, Eileen Brennan and Keanu Reeves. Based on the 1903 operetta of the same title by Victor Herbert and Glen MacDonough, this version features a new score by Leslie Bricusse along with select portions of Herbert's score.

Contents

Shot on location in Munich, West Germany, in summer 1986, [4] it was broadcast on NBC on December 19, 1986 and released on VHS in 1991. The film was shortened to 94 minutes for overseas theatrical release; it is this version that received a worldwide home media release, leaving the original 145-minute cut unreleased.

Plot

Lisa Piper, an eleven year old girl from Cincinnati, Ohio, cares for her family because her father's passing has made her grow up too fast. She has no time for toys, and refuses to be treated as a child. Her older sister Mary works in a toy store run by a man who sexually harasses her and is enraged when everyone leaves in anticipation of a blizzard on Christmas Eve. Mary and her boyfriend Jack are taking Lisa and their friend George home when the snowy roads cause an accident, where Lisa is thrown out of the car and transported to Toyland.

Lisa arrives just before Mary Contrary is to be wedded to the unpleasant Barnaby Barnacle, although Mary loves Barnaby's nephew, Jack Nimble. Lisa stops the wedding and, with her new friends, finds out that Barnaby plans to take over Toyland. Lisa, Mary, Jack and Georgie Porgie seek help from the kindly Toymaster, but he can only help them if Lisa really believes in toys. Barnaby confronts them, showing his true colors, and steals a flask containing distilled evil that the Toymaster had been collecting, before leaving Lisa and company to be eaten by Trollog, a vulture-like monster with a single enchanted eye that Barnaby uses to spy on enemies. They escape by blinding Trollog with paint and locking him in a chest, but are captured and imprisoned one by one in Barnaby's hidden fortress.

Barnaby reveals that he had been creating an army of trolls to take over Toyland, and attempts to corrupt his captives into being his servants with the contents of the flask, stating he would use it to make Mary his Troll Princess and transform Lisa into a monster akin to Trollog. However, Lisa proves to be immune to the evil, and reverses the effects on her friends. After escaping from Barnaby's stronghold, they return to the Toymaster. By now, Barnaby has ordered his trolls to attack Toyland, where they harass and capture residents. Lisa's newfound belief animates an army of life-sized toy soldiers created by the Toymaster, and they drive Barnaby into the Forest of the Night.

Having lost control of his creatures and having failed at making Lisa his new Trollog, Barnaby is banished from Toyland. Jack and Mary are married, and Lisa is taken home by the Toymaster—who is revealed to be Santa Claus—in a sleigh with wooden reindeer. They travel the Milky Way until she wakes at home, as though it has all been a dream. However, she notices a toy soldier identical to the ones from Toyland standing under the Christmas Tree, which promptly salutes her.

Cast

Musical numbers

  1. "C-I-N-C-I-N-N-A-T-I" – Jack, Lisa, George and Mary
  2. "Toyland" – Toyland chorus
  3. "Let's Hear It!" – Georgie and Toyland chorus
  4. "We'll Think of Something" – Lisa, Georgie and Mary
  5. "It's the Feeling" – Mary and Jack
  6. "Monsterpiece" – Barnaby
  7. "I Live in Two Worlds" – Lisa
  8. "C-I-N-C-I-N-N-A-T-I" (Reprise) – Lisa, Jack, Mary and Georgie
  9. "Eyes of a Child" – Toymaster
  10. "May the Years to Come" – Toyland chorus
  11. "Eyes of a Child" (Reprise) – Toymaster and Lisa
  12. "Toyland" – Lisa

Release

The original 145-minute cut was never legally seen outside of television. However, through VHS recordings of these airings, it is currently available on YouTube, labeled as a "Director's Cut". The edited version, which was theatrically released in Europe, is available to stream on Amazon Prime Video. Much of the deleted scenes were musical numbers such as "We'll Think of Something" and "It's the Feeling", and other transitional dialogue.

See also

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Drew Barrymore</span> American actress (born 1975)

Drew Blythe Barrymore is an American actress, talk show host, and businesswoman. A member of the Barrymore family of actors, she has received several awards and nominations, including a Golden Globe Award, in addition to nominations for nine Emmy Awards and a British Academy Film Award. She was named one of the 100 most influential people in the world by Time in 2023.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Babes in Toyland (band)</span> American rock band, formed 1987

Babes in Toyland was an American rock band from Minneapolis, Minnesota, formed in 1987. The band was founded by vocalist and guitarist Kat Bjelland, along with drummer Lori Barbero and bassist Michelle Leon, who was later replaced by Maureen Herman in 1992.

Babes in Toyland may refer to:

The Barrymore family, and the related Drew family, form a British-American acting dynasty which traces its acting roots to the mid-19th century London stage. After migrating across the Atlantic Ocean to the United States, members of the family subsequently appeared in motion pictures, beginning with the silent film period of the 1890s to 1929 and then into the modern era of sound film.

<i>Babes in Toyland</i> (1934 film) 1934 musical film by Gus Meins, Charles Rogers

Babes in Toyland is a Laurel and Hardy musical Christmas film released on November 30, 1934. The film is also known by the alternative titles Laurel and Hardy in Toyland, Revenge Is Sweet, and March of the Wooden Soldiers, a 73-minute abridged version.

<i>Cats Eye</i> (1985 film) 1985 American anthology horror film directed by Lewis Teague

Cat's Eye is a 1985 American anthology horror thriller film directed by Lewis Teague and written by Stephen King. It comprises three stories: "Quitters, Inc.", "The Ledge", and "General". The first two are adaptations of short stories in King's 1978 Night Shift collection, and the third is unique to the film. The cast includes Drew Barrymore, James Woods, Alan King, Robert Hays and Candy Clark. The three stories are connected by the presence of a traveling cat and Barrymore, both of whom play incidental roles in the first two and major characters in the third.

<i>Babes in Toyland</i> (operetta) Operetta by Victor Herbert and Glen MacDonough

Babes in Toyland is an operetta composed by Victor Herbert with a libretto by Glen MacDonough, which wove together various characters from Mother Goose nursery rhymes into a musical extravaganza. Following the extraordinary success of their stage musical The Wizard of Oz, which was produced in New York beginning in January 1903, producer Fred R. Hamlin and director Julian Mitchell hoped to create more family musicals. MacDonough had helped Mitchell with revisions to the Oz libretto by L. Frank Baum. Mitchell and MacDonough persuaded Victor Herbert to join the production. Babes in Toyland features some of Herbert's most famous songs – among them "Toyland", "March of the Toys", "Go to Sleep, Slumber Deep", and "I Can't Do the Sum". The theme song "Toyland", and the most famous instrumental piece from the operetta, "March of the Toys", occasionally show up on Christmas compilations.

<i>Babes in Toyland</i> (1961 film) 1961 Disney film by Jack Donohue

Babes in Toyland is a 1961 American Christmas musical film directed by Jack Donohue and produced by Walt Disney Productions. It stars Ray Bolger as Barnaby, Tommy Sands as Tom Piper, Annette Funicello as Mary Contrary, and Ed Wynn as the Toymaker.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Kat Bjelland</span> American rock musician (born 1963)

Katherine Lynne Bjelland is an American musician. She rose to prominence as the lead singer, guitarist, and songwriter of the alternative rock band Babes in Toyland, which she formed in 1987. She has been noted for her unusual vocal style alternately consisting of shrill screams, whispering, and speaking in tongues, as well as for her guitar playing style, which incorporates "jagged" tones with "psychotic rockabilly rhythms".

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Phil Mitchell</span> Fictional character from EastEnders

Phil Mitchell is a fictional character from the BBC soap opera EastEnders, played by Steve McFadden. He was introduced to the soap opera on 20 February 1990 and was followed by his brother Grant, sister Sam and mother Peggy. Phil was one of the major characters introduced by executive producer Michael Ferguson, who wanted to bring in some macho male leads. Phil and his brother Grant became popularly known as the Mitchell brothers in the British media, with Phil initially portrayed as the more level-headed of the two thugs. Storylines featuring the Mitchell family dominated the soap opera throughout the 1990s, with Phil serving as one of the show's central characters and protagonists since the 1990s. McFadden temporarily left the series in late 2003, then returned in April 2005 for a brief appearance before making a permanent return in October 2005, and has now overtaken Dot Cotton as the second-longest-serving character in EastEnders – surpassed only by original character Ian Beale. A teenage version of Phil, played by Daniel Delaney, appeared in a flashback episode broadcast on 5 September 2022, which focuses on the Mitchell family in the 1970s.

Mother Goose Rock 'n' Rhyme is a 1990 American musical television film that aired on the Disney Channel. The film stars Shelley Duvall as Little Bo Peep and Dan Gilroy as Gordon Goose, the son of Mother Goose, along with a star-studded supporting cast of actors and musicians portraying a wide range of characters, mostly of Mother Goose nursery rhyme fame.

"Ding-Dong! The Witch Is Dead" is a song in the 1939 film The Wizard of Oz. It is the centerpiece of several individual songs in an extended set-piece performed by the Munchkins, Glinda and Dorothy Gale highlighted by a chorus of Munchkin girls and one of Munchkin boys, it was also sung by studio singers as well as by sung by the Winkie soldiers. It was composed by Harold Arlen, with the lyrics written by E. Y. Harburg. The group of songs celebrate the death of the Wicked Witch of the East when Dorothy's house is dropped on her by the cyclone.

<i>Scavenger Hunt</i> 1979 film by Michael Schultz

Scavenger Hunt is a 1979 American comedy film with a large ensemble cast which includes Richard Benjamin, James Coco, Scatman Crothers, Ruth Gordon, Cloris Leachman, Cleavon Little, Roddy McDowall, Robert Morley, Richard Mulligan, Tony Randall, Dirk Benedict, Willie Aames, Stephanie Faracy, Stephen Furst and Richard Masur. The film was directed by Michael Schultz, and released by 20th Century Fox. It includes an appearance by Arnold Schwarzenegger, and features cameos by Meat Loaf and Vincent Price.

Wee Sing is a songbook series published by Price Stern Sloan. It would also inspire a series of children's CDs, cassettes, coloring books, toys, videos, and apps. The videos were shot in Portland, Oregon.

<i>Mister Whiskers: My Favourite Nursery Rhymes</i> 1998 studio album by Franciscus Henri

Mister Whiskers: My Favourite Nursery Rhymes is the 1998 re-release children's album of My Favourite Nursery Rhymes by Franciscus Henri, both under Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC) Music's ABC for Kids. It achieved Gold sales certification due to sales in excess of 35,000 units in Australia. Notably, the album contains 23 separate tracks, but 17 of these are medleys ranging between two and four rhymes each, totalling fifty-five for the album, though many only go through a single chorus. At the ARIA Music Awards of 1994 the original version received a nomination for Best Children's Album.

<i>Babes in Toyland</i> (1997 film) 1997 American animated film

Babes in Toyland is a 1997 American Christmas animated musical-comedy fantasy adventure film based on the 1903 operetta. Directed by Charles Grosvenor, Toby Bluth and Paul Sabella, the film stars the voices of Joseph Ashton, Lacey Chabert, Raphael Sbarge, Cathy Cavadini, Charles Nelson Reilly, Jim Belushi, Bronson Pinchot and Christopher Plummer. It was released direct-to-video in the United States.

David Michael Schuster is an American spinto tenor.

<i>Music for Millions</i> 1944 film by Henry Koster

Music for Millions is a 1944 musical comedy film directed by Henry Koster and starring Margaret O'Brien, José Iturbi, Jimmy Durante, June Allyson, Marsha Hunt, Hugh Herbert, Harry Davenport, and Marie Wilson. It was nominated for an Oscar for Best Original Screenplay in 1946.

References

  1. "Babes in Toyland (1986) - The Director's Cut (w/ Intro)". YouTube . Retrieved 11 November 2022.
  2. "Watch Babes in Toyland (1986) | Prime Video". www.amazon.com. Retrieved 11 November 2022.
  3. "Drew Barrymore Saved Christmas in Babes in Toyland". The Hollywood Reporter . December 15, 2023. p. 92.
  4. Barrymore, Drew (1990). Little Girl Lost (p. 125). Pocket Books, New York City. ISBN   0-671-68923-1.