Toys Are Not for Children Blu-ray Movie

Rating summary

Movie		3.0
Video		4.0
Audio		4.0
Extras		2.5
Overall		3.0

Toys Are Not for Children Blu-ray Movie Review

Reviewed by Jeffrey Kauffman October 4, 2019

Toys Are Not for Children is one of those sui generis offerings that almost defies description. Unusually earnest, at least within the confines of so-called exploitation cinema, the film charts the unhappy life of Jamie Godard (Marcia Forbes, whose only credit this seems to be, at least according to the IMDb), a girl with considerable “daddy issues”. Those issues extend to almost fetishizing a bunch of toys he gave her as a little girl, and to which she still clings (quasi-sexually it might be added, at least in an extremely provocative opening vignette) as a young adult. Jamie has been warned about her father’s less than honorable qualities by her harridan mother Edna (Fran Warren, perhaps the only cast member some folks may have heard of, and even that may be questionable). That doesn’t stop Jamie from romanticizing her early interactions with her father, even as she’s haunted by sudden traumatizing flashbacks of her mother’s rants about him.

Jamie's roiling psyche unravels pretty steadily throughout this feature, with an unhappy (and unconsummated) marriage to a co-worker at a toy shop where she's employed, and, later, a little sideline turning tricks with older men who fulfill her "Daddy" needs among her downward spiral. What's kind of interesting about Toys Are Not for Children is that despite its undeniably kind of smarmy underpinnings, the film doesn't really go for true "exploitation" angles (to cite just one example, nudity is rather brief, and the "sex" is definitely on the tame side). That said, maybe this film could have used little traditional exploitation "jolt", as it's a relentlessly sad, even melancholic, exercise that doesn't let Jamie, let alone the audience, experience any kind of catharsis.

Toys Are Not for Children Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

Toys Are Not for Children is presented on Blu-ray courtesy of Arrow Video with an AVC encoded 1080p transfer in 1.78:1. Arrow's insert booklet contains the following information on the restoration:

Toys Are Not for Children has been exclusively restored by Arrow Films and is presented in 1.85:1 [sic] with mono audio. An original 35mm dupe negative was scanned in 2K resolution, graded and restored at OCN Digital Labs. The soundtrack was sourced from a combination of answer print and release print releases. Additional audio remastering was completed at Pinewood Studios.

All original materials used in this restoration were accessed from Valiant International Pictures.

This is a surprisingly nice looking transfer a lot of the time, with a well saturated palette and some good detail levels. It looks like the flashback material was shot with diffusion filters (see screenshots 3 and 5), but there's also a slightly "dupier" look to these sequences which includes noticeably chunkier grain. Jamie's "hallucinations" (and/or memories) are often framed in kind of unusual ways (see screenshot 11), and can understandably offer less precise looking detail. There are a couple of moments that lack the general clarity of the presentation, and some of the darkest moments have minor crush and deficits in shadow definition. There's really no major distracting damage to speak of, grain resolves naturally for the most part, and I can't imagine fans of this film ( are there fans of this film?) not being pleased with the overall look of this transfer.

Toys Are Not for Children Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

Toys Are Not for Children features a nice sounding LPCM Mono track. As I mention in the overview of the supplements, the film has a rather appealing and surprisingly well produced theme song, which sounds great here (much better in my opinion than the needle drop of the 45 rpm single version, also included on the disc as a supplement). Dialogue is rendered cleanly and clearly throughout the presentation, and there are no issues with age related wear and tear of any kind.

Toys Are Not for Children Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

• Audio Commentary with Heather Drain and Kat Ellinger


• Fragments of Stanley Brasloff (1080p; 25:03) is a really engaging piece with Stephen Thrower, author of Nightmare USA. Thrower contributes quite a bit of interesting biographical information about the little known Brasloff.


• "Dirty" Dolls: Femininity, Perversion and Play (1080p; 23:00) is another very interesting video essay by Alexandra Heller-Nicholas where she examines some repeated tropes (like dolls) that are used to symoblize femininity.


• Lonely Am I (2:33) is an audio supplement offering what sounds like a needle drop of what the back cover states is a single version of the theme. The theme on the actual soundtrack sounded considerably better to my ears. One way or the other, this is an unusually well produced and sung tune for such a low budget feature (it's also kind of interesting that the theme is credited in the trailer for the film). Singer T.L. Davis kind of reminds me of Johnny Mathis, which is not a bad thing.


• Stanley H. Brasloff Trailer Gallery

  Behind Locked Doors (1968) (1080p; 3:57)

  
  

  Two Girls for a Madman (1968) (1080p; 1:49)

  
  

  Toys Are Not For Children (1972) (1080p; 2:47)

Additionally, Arrow offers its typically well appointed insert booklet, as well as a reversible sleeve featuring original and newly commisioned artwork by The Twins of Evil.

Toys Are Not for Children Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

I had a good laugh as I was looking over Arrow's typically nicely done insert booklet for this release and I saw the credit "Disc and Booklet Produced by Ewan Cant". For those wondering why that would provoke a laugh, I recommend first reading my recent The Prey Blu-ray review, and then my even more recent The Hills Have Eyes Part 2 Blu-ray review for a couple of clues. Mr. Cant doesn't seem to have been as deeply involved in this release as it appears he was for The Prey, but much like Arrow's release of that film, this release offers an unusual and probably little known and/or remembered film that may well deserve a wider audience. It's hard to outright "recommend" something so downright odd and frankly depressing as this film often is, but this release sports solid technical merits and some enjoyable supplements.