"Actor: Virginia Karns"

• Laurel And Hardy - March Of The Wooden Soldiers | DVD | (21/10/2002) from £7.98   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £5.99

  The most lavish feature built around Laurel and Hardy, 1934's March of the Wooden Soldiers is also the most bizarre. Opening unpromisingly with one of several mawkish numbers derived from Victor Herbert's musical Babes in Toyland, the antics of toyshop labourers Stannie Dum and Ollie Dee are worked into a scenario midway between Lewis Carroll and The Brothers Grimm. Nursery-rhyme characters come and go in a surreal fantasy, with the evil Mr Barnaby threatening to evict Widow Peep from her shoe unless he receives her daughter Bo in marriage. The movie culminates in a full-scale invasion of Toyland by the yeti-ish Bogeymen and their defeat by the 100 six-foot wooden soldiers that Stan and Ollie have built by mistake. Henry Brandon gives a characterful performance, while 1930s child star Charlotte Henry is an appealing heroine. Directors Gus Meins and Charles R Rogers milk the slapstick to an increasingly unnerving degree. Reputedly Hardy's favourite among the double act's features, March of the Wooden Soldiers emerges now as their most audacious screen appearance. On the DVD: March of the Wooden Soldiers on disc reproduces the original black and white print in 4:3 ratio with pristine clarity; the mono soundtrack has similarly worn well. The potted biographies of Laurel and Hardy are too brief to be worthwhile, but the inclusion of the 1915 short Hustling for Health--among the earliest of Stan Laurel's film appearances--is a valuable bonus. --Richard Whitehouse

• The Laurel And Hardy Collection | DVD | (13/06/2005) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £19.99

  A selection of the comedy duo's films.... Lucky Dog (1921) Be Big (1931) March of the Wooden Soldiers (1934) Flying Deuces (1939) Utopia (1950) their appearance on This Is Your Life (1952) and Laurel and Hardy at the Movies.

• Laurel And Hardy - March Of The Wooden Soldiers | DVD | (10/06/2002) from £13.21   |  Saving you £3.78 (22.20%)   |  RRP £16.99

  Stannie Dum (Stan Laurel) and Ollie Dee (Oliver hardy) are well-meaning but brainless toymakers in Toyland. They misinterpret an order from Santa Claus for 600 one foot high toy soldiers and come up instead with 100 6 foot high soldiers. But their toy army comes in handy when the evil Barnaby (Henry Brandon) and his furry Bogeymen invade Toyland and the boys end up as heroes when they save the Widow Peep's daughter Bo (Charlotte Henry) from his clutches. This priceless nine inch r