With a few key exceptions, notably Mary Poppins, Disney’s live action musicals don’t have the highest reputation, but this is colourful stuff for kids, with bright production design and costume and inoffensive songs. It’s definitely only for kids, though - Walt Disney once said that the quickest way to go broke making children’s films was to make them just for children; he may have been thinking of this movie, which wasn’t that popular despite its generous budget.
Tommy Sands and Annette Funicello (billed just as “Annette”) are the leads; Funicello later said this was her favourite Disney film, because she had a chance to dance in it. There are some veterans such as Ray Bolger and Ed Wynn, plus the regular Disney juveniles, Tommy Kirk (funny as in a small role, a bumbling assistant) and Kevin Corcoran. The finale with the toy soldiers and a shrunken Sands is reminiscent of The Incredible Shrinking Man.
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