TOM THUMB AND LITTLE RED RIDING HOOD (1964) ***

Here’s another Mexican kid’s movie that American distributor K. Gordon Murray redubbed and released on an unsuspecting juvenile audience.  I can’t imagine what went through the kids’ minds when they saw this back in the ‘60s.  It’s pretty much wall-to-wall nightmare fuel. 

The Wicked Stepmother rules over the storybook kingdom with an iron fist.  She puts The Big Bad Wolf and The Ogre (Jose Elias Moreno, the same actor who played Santa Claus in Santa Claus) on trial for not killing Little Red Riding Hood and Tom Thumb while monsters including Dracula and Frankenstein look on.  She then goes around terrorizing the good people of storybook land by poisoning the water supply, which turns the citizens into animals.  When Tom Thumb comes home to find his family has become mice and dogs, he joins forces with Little Red Riding Hood to bring the Wicked Stepmother down. 

The costumes are often creepy as hell.  The Big Bad Wolf looks ragged and unnatural, almost like a zombified stuffed animal that’s come to life.  They talk about the uncanny valley a lot.  This is more like an uncanny abyss.  (Also, his dubbed voice makes him sound like Jimmy Durante auditioning to play McGruff the Crime Dog.)  The Skunk Man named “Stinky” (who speaks in a Chipmunk voice) isn’t quite as bizarre, but he’s still a little sketchy (especially the scene where he lifts his tail and sprays right into a guy’s face).  The Wicked Stepmother is very faithful to the Disney version though. 

I think it’s funny that about halfway through the Good Fairy turns Tom Thumb into a regular-sized boy.  Not really because she’s doing a good deed, mind you.  It’s more like so there won’t be any more costly forced perspective special effects that will eat up the budget. 

The monsters include a robot that looks like it was borrowed from Santa Claus Conquers the Martians, a werewolf, “Father Hurricane” (who looks like the Wind Demon from The Sword and the Dragon), a fire-breathing dragon, and, uh… a serial kidnapper?!?  When he is trapped by Little Red Riding Hood, the children he abducted climb out of a burlap bag, string him up, and beat him like a pinata.  Wow.  There’s also a scene where the Wicked Stepmother threatens to pluck Little Red Riding Hood’s eyes out with her fingernails.  The kids who saw this during its original release must’ve been shitting in their pants.

That is to say, as an adult, you’ll probably enjoy it as much I did.  It’s wildly uneven, but those heights are rather weird, surreal, and just plain WTF.  If anything could make me watch a kid’s movie from the ‘60s, it’s the fact that those wild and wonderful Mexican moviemakers I love so much were at the helm.  Sure, there’s a couple of really annoying songs, but not quite as many as your average Disney flick.

There’s also something to be said for the theme of the movie, which is to forgive your past tormentors for their misdeeds and join forces with them to overcome a greater evil.  Yes, folks.  This flick was doing the X-Men 2 thing before X-Men 2 was doing it.

In short, Tom Thumb and Little Red Riding Hood may not be for all tastes, but hey, if you ever wanted to see The Big Bad Wolf being waterboarded, here’s your chance. 

AKA:  Little Red Riding Hood and the Monsters.  AKA:  Little Red Riding Hood and Tom Thumb vs. the Monsters.