Dynamixor
The performances transcend the film's tropes, grounding it in characters that feel more complete than this subgenre often produces.
Allison Davies
The film never slows down or bores, plunging from one harrowing sequence to the next.
Kayden
This is a dark and sometimes deeply uncomfortable drama
sheepfarmer-2
When I was 10 years old (in 1986) the school i attended at the time performed parts of the audio sound track. We were in the award winning school choir of Saint Elizabeths Primary School in South Manchester.In the summer we always used to perform in the RNCM (Royal Northern College of Music) in some competition i no longer remember the name of. After the event we were asked to contribute vocals to the music score of an up and coming film produced by Granada TV.I remember the day coming and ten or so of the top choir singers, of which i was one (pre my voice breaking), went down to the studios in Manchester City Centre on a coach, with our now long since deceased teacher John Dennision. (a great man!) We spent what i remember to be a very tiring and very very long day repeating the same bars over and over again in a studio. These were then to be cut and arranged into sounding like a very large group of children singing the track.I remember then being very excited about the film being released only then to be told the school had found out it is an adult theme film and we were not allowed to see it.Further to this the school was outraged at the children's choir being used in a film of this theme and demanded that our school be completely uncredited from the film and it was kind of never mentioned again.I did watch it in 1988 but don't really remember the story. However I can still remember some of the bars we sang! I'd love to see it again. Not only to see it as a film but to hear the music again. (there are 3 VHS copies on amazon.co.uk for £39.99, which is a bit steep) I'll keep looking....
sarah-gallogly
I saw this film when I was very young and it was shown on British TV. It made a huge impression on with its fairytale story and blackly humorous touches. Years went by and I hadnt thought of the film until I wanted to see the comments for it on IMDb.com. I managed to get a DVD copy It was even more brilliant than I remembered.Melanie is orphaned when her parents die on holiday and is left to take her younger brother and sister to live with her strange uncle who has not had contact with the family. Her uncle owns a toyshop which is filled with wonderful toys and disturbing life like puppets. She also meets the rest of the family in his mute wife and her brothers. Her uncle puts on surreal plays with the puppets and makes Melanie take part. She develops a relationship with Finn who is her aunts brother and discovers the incestuous secret in the family.I love this film because it is so quirky and deals with the subjects of growing up and relationships in such an interesting way. The dialogue works and the actors are all well cast, especially Melanie and her aunt. Tom Bell brings the right amount of creepiness as the uncle. The sets are all fab and really give a sense of a post war Britain (you will know what I mean when you see the bathroom!) Great film and I wish they would put this out on general release as I had a tough time trying to get a copy.
DoctorMeticulous
I saw "The Magic Toyshop" at the Little Art Theatre in Yellow Springs, Ohio, in 1988 or 1989. The film is not a figment of anyone's imagination, but I have never been able to find it again. I recall it being a wonderful piece of non-naturalistic film-making, and it is a shame that more people can't see it.I think there are two reasons why the film may have been quashed. First, there is some nudity, and since the character involved is supposed to be a minor (and since the actress may have been at the time), there may be some people who consider the film pornographic, or (even worse) child pornography. If so, this is sad, because my recollection is that the context for the nudity is not gratuitous or salacious, and is important to both character and plot development.Second, the relationship between the evil Uncle and his Irish servants may have been read as politically controversial. And (here comes the spoiler) the transformation of the Uncle into a dummy to be burned on Guy Fawkes Night might also be considered less than flattering to Britain's policies in Ireland and elsewhere (as an American, I am uncertain of the political baggage attached to the holiday, but didn't Fawkes try to blow-up Parliament?). Isn't the film mostly about the Uncle's abuse of his authority?I think anyone who enjoys Tim Burton's films would enjoy The Magic Toyshop. If the film has been intentionally suppressed, it is a disgraceful state of affairs. This was one of the most fascinating films I have ever seen, and I wish I could see it again and think about it some more.
blackriverfalls
The Magic Toyshop is a rich and by turns sensual and disturbing adaptation of the Angela Carter book, to which the film stays particularly true.At the heart of the story is the young Melanie, who after her parents die tragically is sent to stay with her Uncle Philip, Aunt Margaret and her cousins Francie and Finn. Aunt Margaret is mute, and Uncle Philip is a control freak who stages plays with life size puppets and when not doing so treats his family as little more than an extension of his marrionette collection. Through a series of strange and often surreal events the perverse dynamics of this family begin to reveal themselves to Melanie.SO WHY CAN'T WE WATCH THIS FILM?Since it was screened on BBC1 back in 1988 it has never been repeated, or released on video or any other format, anywhere. I know this because I've been trying to hunt down a copy for over a decade, it is not only unavailable but seemingly unheard of to the point where I've sometimes wondered if the film was never really made and I dreamed the whole thing. I can understand some of its themes being considered contraversial, such as Uncle Philip's symbolic molestation of Melanie with the swan puppet, or his need to assert his dominance over Aunt Margaret by making her wear a silver collar, but suppressing films that bring these themes out into the open is only reinforcing the old taboos.I guess we can only hope that it gets some kind of release, somewhere, sometime in the future...
