Customer Rating:  
Summary: An interesting curiosity, mildly entertaining.
Comment: This is two episodes of Shirley Temple's Storybook theatre series. IMDB lists the Babes in Toyland episode as from 1960. It stars Angela Cartwright, Jonathan Winters, Joe Besser, Jerry Colonna, and of course, Shirley Temple. Compared to the Disney version from '61 or '62, this is a much weaker show. It's also not as good as Laurel and Hardy's version (aka March of the Wooden Soldiers) from the 30's.
The main value of this DVD is as an example of a simpler time, when television could get away with simple (think high school production values) sets, minimal writing and acting, and call it entertainment. The storyline bears little resemblance to any version of Babes in Toyland I've seen. The dancers seem under rehearsed, and the actors mug shamelessly. The child actors have to hold back laughter at the adults' antics and prop failures.
The Winnie the Pooh segment is a little better, done with marionettes by Bill and Cora Baird, who did the "Lonely Goatherd" sequence in Sound of Music. It would be fine for kids to watch.
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