Studio: Ub Iwerks Studio
Distributor: Celebrity Productions
Produced by: Ub Iwerks
Short Synopsis
A toymaker is making tin soldiers. He drops one, its leg breaks off, and he throws it in the wastebasket and goes to bed. At midnight a bugle sounds and all the toys come to life: dolls, a jack-in-the-box, roly-poly Laurel and Hardy figures, marionettes, a model railway. The one-legged soldier climbs out of the basket and is mocked by the others, but a ballerina doll is kind to him and they fall in love. A parade emerges from the toy castle, led by the king, who also fancies the ballerina and orders the soldier away. When the king makes advances to her, the soldier fires a match from his rifle, setting off a firework that hits the king in the seat. The soldier is put on trial, with a Groucho Marx jack-in-the-box presiding, and sentenced to death despite the ballerina's pleas. At the execution he refuses a blindfold; she runs to embrace him, and the firing squad's shots knock them both into the fire. Their smoke rises from the chimney in the shape of a heart, and at the gates of toy heaven the soldier's leg grows back. He tap-dances, and the gates open to let the lovers in.
Why It Matters
- The film is a bittersweet mix of slapstick and tragedy, with a courtroom of celebrity caricatures and an ending that keeps Andersen's fire while adding a toy heaven. The heart-shaped smoke over the rooftops is a lovely image, and Iwerks lets the doomed romance play straight.
- It comes from Ub Iwerks's independent studio, which he founded after leaving Disney in 1930, and his ComiColor series was made in two-strip colour because Disney held exclusive rights to three-strip Technicolor until 1935. It is a good example of how Disney's former chief animator competed with his old studio on fairy-tale territory.
Notes and Trivia
- The film is also known as Christmas in a Junkyard.
- See also: Flowers and Trees (1932), The Flying Mouse (1934).