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What's the best way to ignore how terribly hot it is at the end of July? Watch a Christmas movie, of course! Yes, it's time to have a little Christmas in July, and what better way to do so than with two of the most famous funnymen of all time, Stan Laurel and Oliver Hardy? Though they were in many movies throughout their careers, Laurel and Hardy are probably best known for a movie that might do well if they weren't even in it, March of the Wooden Soldiers, which is popularly known as Babes in Toyland. The 1934 musical comedy is based on the famous Victor Herbert operetta, but only features five of that show's songs. In essence, this movie is half of an adaptation of an operetta and half Laurel and Hardy antics.

Despite being relatively famous in conjunction with Christmas, there have only been a few movie or TV versions of Babes in Toyland, including a 1961 Walt Disney version starring Ray Bolger and Annette Funicello, and a 1986 TV-movie starring Richard Mulligan, Drew Barrymore, Pat Morita, and Keanu Reeves. Not only am I not making up that second version, and I can tell you that it is easily one of the most laughably terrible movies ever made. Compared with that film, the 1934 version is a masterpiece. Granted, the 1986 version has a song extolling the virtues of Cincinnati, Ohio (no, I'm not making that up), so any other movie would be great in comparison.

March of the Wooden Soldiers is a more faithful version of the original story, which takes place in the fantastical world of Toyland, which is populated with characters from Mother Goose nursery rhymes and various friendly animals. Little Bo Peep, in particular, has run afoul of Mr. Barnaby, the mean old miser who controls enough of Toyland that he can threaten to evict her from her house unless she consents to marry him. Of course, not only is Mr. Barnaby an evil man, but he's also meant to be ferociously ugly (although, an interesting bit of trivia: the actor who plays Barnaby here, Henry Brandon, was only 22-years-old when the movie was released). In the movie, Little Bo Peep's true love, Tom-Tom Piper, and Laurel and Hardy come to the rescue, whereas the operetta doesn't have the benefit of the comedic duo.

Stan Laurel plays Stannie Dum and Oliver Hardy plays Ollie Dee. No, we're not working with the most creative or inventive screenplay here, but I can tell you this much, after seeing a full-length film of theirs for the first time: though it's hard to think of another comedic pairing who've emulated the appropriate shtick, I can't avoid the fact that these two guys were pretty funny. Though their placement within March of the Wooden Soldiers is very awkward, and the transitions rarely work, I can't think of another comedian or group that would work any better. Laurel and Hardy are not only a slapstick pair, but their humor easily appeals to children, especially as they're meant to be playing overgrown kids. Why else would one of the key things to bring down Barnaby be a bag full of marbles?

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