Stan & Ollie in Toyland

 

 (wikipedia)

MARCH OF THE WOODEN SOLDIERS-1934-In Toyland, whose occupants include Mother Goose (Virginia Karns), the three little pigs (one is Angelo Rossitto), Jack Horner and the cat and the fiddle,the repugnant Barnaby (Henry Brandon) wants to make Bo-Peep (Charlotte Henry) his wife. She rebuffs him but Barnaby demands The Widow Peep (Florence Roberts) come up with the rent she doesn't have. Two of her tenants Stannie Dum (Stan Laurel) & Ollie Dee (Oliver Hardy) are toy makers at the local factory. Bo-Peep really likes Tom-Tom (Felix Knight). Santa Claus visits to check out the toy soldiers he ordered but of course Stan got the order wrong and they're fired but not before an errant toy soldier wrecks the place. At one point Stan actually marries Barnaby to stop him from pursuing Bo-Beep! When Barnaby can't get Bo he frames Tom Tom for the murder of one of the pigs. When that doesn't work, he enlists The Boogeymen to conquer Toyland. Scenes of the wooden soldiers coming to life and defeating The Boogeymen is still quite bizarre and unsettling at times. 

As a kid this was a perennial favorite around Thanksgiving. Produced by Hal Roach and based on an operetta by Victor Herbert, two directors are credited: Gus Meins who was also directing “Our Gang” shorts at this time and Charles “Charley” Rogers, a pal of Stan Laurel's, who directed several of their short comedies and later worked with them on THE BOHEIMIAN GIRL.

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Sequel?

 

 (imdb)

WIZARDS OF THE LOST KINGDOM 2-1989-Failed wizard Caedmon (Mel Welles) guides a young stupid kid Tybor (Robert Jayne) with a terrible haircut, to becoming a wizard so they can free three cities from the clutches of 3 wizards. They want a mercenary The Dark One (David Carradine) to help them but he doesn't want to leave his busy bar. Meanwhile Princess Amathea (Lana Clarkson) helps them and organizes an army. One wizard Loki (Edward Blackoff) tries to turn them to stone. A sorceress Freya (Diana Barton) and the wizard Donar (Sid Haig) have a sword the good guys want. Later The Dark One shows up to help them battle Zatz (outrageously overacting Henry Brandon in his last film role). 

It's basically a comedy, one of the handful of movies directed by Charles Griffith better known for this screenwriting efforts (LITTLE SHOP OF HORRORS, NOT OF THIS EARTH), many produced (and or directed) by Roger Corman who co-produced this filmed in Argentina “sequel” which has no characters from the first one! It also features stock footage from other sword and sorcery productions made by Corman's company Concorde. Co-star Clarkson was shot and killed by Phil Spector in 2003.

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Man In a Dino-Suit

THE LAND UNKNOWN-1957-A Naval science team goes to the South Pole. The group consists of Commander Hal Roberts (Jock Mahoney; TV's Yancey Derringer), Lt. Jack Carmen (William Reynolds), Capt. Burham (Douglas Kennedy) and Maggie Patterson (Shawn Smith aka Shirley Patterson), a woman reporter. The group has helicopter trouble when a pterodactyl hits them. They are forced to land in a hidden sub-tropical area dating to the Mesozoic era. They meet stock footage of two giant lizards fighting. Then they are chased by a T. Rex (guy in a costume) but a strange noise calls off it's attack. When giant plants menace the group Maggie is kidnapped by Hunter (Henry Brandon) who's been living there for years and thinks he owns the place (he's a survivor from a previous expedition). He blows a giant sea shell that scares off the dynos. Hunter wants the men to leave but let him keep Maggie who briefly escapes but runs into a giant sea reptile and faints. Later Hunter gives them a map to find his old helicopter. The guys rescue Maggie and even take Hunter back to civilization.

It seems at one time Universal was planning on THE LAND UNKNOWN to be a big budgeted film to be shot in color with an all star cast and Jack Arnold directing. For some reason the studio cut the budget, the color and the cast turning it into a B movie. Arnold left the project and contract director Virgil Vogel was his replacement. He'd made the equally cheap looking THE MOLE PEOPLE the year before. Screenwriter Lazlo Gorog penned Bert I. Gordon's EARTH VS. THE SPIDER a year later.

LAND really suffers from terrible SFX, too much stock footage and phony scenery but still manages to be more entertaining than boring. In movies since the early '40's actress Shawn Smith also acted under the name of Shirley Patterson. One of her last film roles would be in IT! THE TERROR FROM BEYOND SPACE.

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