The Magic Toyshop (1987)

Sorry, this movie sucks

So much average

People are voting emotionally.

The thing I enjoyed most about the film is the fact that it doesn't shy away from being a super-sized-cliche;

This is movie is based on a novel by Angela Carter made soon after the renown British author had collaborated with Neil Jordan on the cult horror/fantasy film "The Company of Wolves". This movie does not benefit from the directorial talent of someone like Neil Jordan, but it is still a pretty interesting film about a privileged adolescent girl who becomes orphaned and has to move with her younger siblings to the dreary London home of her tyrannical toy-maker/puppeteer uncle, his mute wife, and the wife's wild Irish brothers, one of whom she develops an attraction to.Angela Carter basically writes fairy tales for adolescents, but not really fairy tales in the present-day sense. Today "fairy tales" are associated with Disney and Pixar and other saccharine kiddie films. You could also consider comic-book movies and "Star Wars" reboots to be "fairy tales" for older children and teens, Hollywood rom-coms as "fairy tales" for adult women, and perhaps even porno movies could be thought of as "fairy tales" for male adults. All of these are alike in that they're ALL really escapist fantasy. But Carter's fairy tales mine the older, more literary fairy tale tradition of the Grimm Brother or Hans Christian Anderson and have a darker, more disturbing and much less escapist tone to them (and certainly more literary gravitas). But Carter also adds an element of more overt coming-of-age female sexuality. The fifteen-year-old heroine here (played by a twenty-something Caroline Milmoe) is first seen admiring her own full-frontal nakedness in a full-length mirror before trying on her mother's wedding dress. Later when her uncle tries to turn into a living puppet in one of his bizarre puppet shows, he--perhaps not coincidentally--has her play "Leda" a wood nymph who in Greek mythology who is raped by the god Zeus in the form of a swan. And there is an intimation (made much more clear in the book) that he actually wants his young brother-in-law to deflower his orphaned niece in order to degrade her.Not that this movie is in any way graphic or that it ever entirely leaves the realm of fairy tale and metaphor. There have been plenty of "adult" fairy tale movies (ACTUAL porn adaptations of things like Cinderella or Snow White) over the years, but that is not anything that has ever interested Carter. Her work is probably closest to the tradition of "magical realism" that is popular in certain kinds of literature, but is very difficult to translate into cinema. But even so, she brings a more adolescent, more female perspective that is uniquely all her own.The main problem with this movie is it simply can't compare with the book (and it is certainly less successful in that respect than "Company of Wolves"), but I still think it compares pretty well to most movies.

Other users here at IMDb seem to have a hard time locating this film, leading to talk of it having been suppressed. The reason The Magic Toyshop has become (unfairly) obscure is simply because it was screened on British television before having any major theatrical release. Technically it's a TV movie, made by the Granada network (not the BBC), and it has suffered the same fate as many British television movies of the 70's and 80's. Thankfully this film was released by Palace video in the UK - I located a copy and have now archived mine to DVD.Caroline Milmoe was not underage when the film was made - she was 23 years old, playing a 15 year old. It is true that the nude scenes present a minor through a grown woman, and that is one of the central themes of the film - the sexual element itself is disturbingly grim.The whole film has a unworldly sheen and inhabits magical realism long before it became fashionably known as such. Watch the camera track the parrot's gaze to get an idea of the sheer level of invention and ingenuity. And Milmoe really knows how to torment those braids...This is one of the best films of the 1980's, and certainly the best film I have ever seen about childhood's end. I don't mind it being obscure because that lends it cult status, but I feel unhappy for the cast, particularly Caroline Milmoe, as this film is the top of their art and that deserves a wider audience.Brilliant.

In an odd coincidence, I also saw this film at what I am sure is the same out-of-the-way cinema in Berkeley, CA in 1987 or 1988 that was mentioned above. (It was in North Berkeley I believe on Euclid Avenue just off of Hearst St. and round the corner from LaVal's pizza.)I have been looking for this film ever since and also had the thought that perhaps I had imagined seeing it and it never really existed. Well, not really. But it did appear to completely disappear from the face of the earth after that. I just loved the puppet sequences and creepiness of Tom Bell and his toyshop. I remember when one of the children accidentally broke a pull toy the deliciously weird way he spoke directly to the toy, "We'll have to get you a new leg, will we?" I also like the oddly positive form of the tag question ("will we?") and wondered if that came from a particular English dialect.It's funny how much good press her other film The Company of Wolves got compared with this one (I didn't like it that much.) But I'd be quite surprised if this turns out to be an act of censorship. I think it's more likely the lack of an interested distributor that is holding it back.As someone mentioned above they actually got a copy of this in the U.S. I hope that means I can find one, too. Good luck to everyone else.

This film was shown on ITV in the UK on a Saturday night in 1988 or 1989, and enjoyed a 2-page feature in the main UK listings magazine of the day. Since then it has disappeared without trace, presumably because its mixture of fantasy, horror, mild eroticism, romance, and apparent children's fare never found a target audience. Even Caroline Milmoe, then 23, who played the 15-year old central character hasn't appeared in TV or films since 1995.The story is unique and literally unforgettable. Having just procured a copy from the USA and seen it for the first time in 17 years, I'm amazed at how much I could still remember. Some of the scenes are beautiful and dream-like; others are down to earth kitchen-sink drama. And the whole takes place in a real world that isn't quite the real world, one where magic is an accepted part of life.An incredibly imaginative and totally involving film.