The Phantom Tollbooth

***The Phantom Tollbooth***, also known as ***The Adventures of Milo in the Phantom Tollbooth***, is a 1970 American live-action/animated film based on Norton Juster's 1961 children's book ***The Phantom Tollbooth***. This film was produced by Chuck Jones at MGM Animation/Visual Arts and stars Butch Patrick as Milo with the voice talents of Mel Blanc, Daws Butler, Candy Candido, Hans Conried, June Foray, Patti Gilbert, Shepard Menken, Cliff Norton, Larry Thor, and Les Tremayne. Jones also directed the film, save for the live action bookends directed by fellow Warner Bros. Cartoons alum Dave Monahan. The film was released to theaters by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer on November 7, 1970, and was the last MGM feature film release to include both live-action and animated segments until *Pink Floyd – The Wall*. Completed by 1968, the film was held up for release by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer until late 1970 due to internal problems. The animation studio closed soon after the film's release, with MGM leaving the animation business for good. Juster had no input into the adaptation, and has expressed his hatred for the film in an interview: "It was a film I never liked. I don't think they did a good job on it. It's been around for a long time. It was well reviewed, which also made me angry."

## Plot

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Milo, a bored boy who lives in a San Francisco apartment block, is surprised by a large, gift-wrapped package that has appeared in his room. The package turns out to be a tollbooth which is a gateway into a magical parallel universe. As Milo uses the tollbooth's toy car to pass through the tollbooth, the character moves from live action to animation, and after getting accustomed to this he drives further, and is transported to the enchanted Kingdom of Wisdom in the Lands Beyond and the states of Dictionopolis (Kingdom of Words) and Digitopolis (Kingdom of Mathematics).

Accompanied by Tock, a "watchdog" who actually has a large pocketwatch in his body, Milo has a series of adventures in places like the Doldrums, Dictionopolis, Digitopolis, the Mountains of Ignorance and the Castle in the Air. Together they must rescue the Princesses of Sweet Rhyme and Pure Reason, who are being held captive in the Castle in the Air, and restore order to the Kingdom of Wisdom. The many eccentric characters they meet include the Whether Man, the Humbug, the Spelling Bee, the noisy Dr. Kakofonous A. Dischord, King Azaz the Unabridged, the Mathemagician and Officer Short Shrift as well as demons like the Senses Taker, the Terrible Trivium, the Demon of Insincerity, and the Gelatinous Giant.

## Cast

* Butch Patrick as Milo
* June Foray as the voice of Ralph
* Mike Davis as Friend (Uncredited)
* Chuck Jones as Cable Car Passenger (uncredited gag cameo)

### Voices

* Mel Blanc as Officer Short Shrift, The Dodecahedron, The Demon of Insincerity, The Lethargians, The Letter Vendor, Ministers
* Daws Butler as The Whether Man, The Senses Taker, The Terrible Trivium, The Gelatinous Giant
* Candy Candido as The Awful DYNNE
* Hans Conried as King Azaz the Unabridged, The Mathemagician
* June Foray as The Princess of Pure Reason, Faintly Macabre the Not-So-Wicked Which, Ralph
* Patti Gilbert as The Princess of Sweet Rhyme
* Shepard Menken as The Spelling Bee, Chroma the Great
* Cliff Norton as Dr. Kakofonous A. Dischord, The Tollbooth Speaker
* Larry Thor as Tock
* Les Tremayne as The Humbug, The Poetic Words Vendor

## Home release

The film was released in VHS, Betamax, CED, and LaserDisc formats in 1980s by MGM/UA Home Video. In 2011 it was released in a remastered DVD edition by Warner Archive Collection. The DVD is matted in a similar manner to *Tom and Jerry: The Chuck Jones Collection*.

## Soundtrack

Music by Lee Pockriss; lyrics by Norman Gimbel, Norman L. Martin and Paul Vance (two more songs) unless otherwise noted.

* "Milo's Song"
* "Don't Say There's Nothing to Do in the Doldrums" (lyrics by Paul Vance)
* "Time Is a Gift"
* "Noise, Noise, Beautiful Noise" (lyrics by Paul Vance)
* "Word Market"
* "Numbers Are the Only Thing That Count"
* "Rhyme and Reason Reign"

## Differences between the book and the film

The following characters appear in the book and not in the film:

* The Soundkeeper
* The .58
* Canby
* Alec Bings
* The Everpresent Wordsnatcher
* The Triple Demons of Compromise
* The Gross Exaggeration (though there is a possibility that the fused monster in the film that harmed Tock is that very creature)
* The Dilemma (a creature with horns used for poking)

The only original character in the film is the Hideous Two-Faced Hypocrite.

## Reception

The film was not a box office hit. Rotten Tomatoes, a review aggregator, reports that 100% of ten surveyed critics gave the film a positive review; the average rating is 6.97/10. *Time Out Paris* wrote that the story has "too many lessons" but "some very nice ideas". *TV Guide* rated it 3/4 stars and described it as "a charming film that combines some fairly sophisticated ideas [...] with cute and likable characters that are sure to grab a child's attention". Tom Hutchinson of the *Radio Times* rated it 4/5 stars and wrote that the film has "wonderful ideas", but they are "likely to be a bit above the heads of very young children".

## Remake

In February 2010, director Gary Ross began development of a live-action remake of *The Phantom Tollbooth* for Warner Bros., the current owner of the film. Alex Tse wrote the first draft. As of August 2016, the remake has moved to TriStar Pictures, with Michael Vukadinovich writing the adaption.

In December 2017, TriStar Pictures picked up the project and it was announced that Matt Shakman would direct its upcoming "live-action/hybrid" film adaptation of *The Phantom Tollbooth* with a screenplay by Michael Vukadinovich and Phil Johnston. In 2018, Carlos Saldanha replaced Shakman due to scheduling conflicts while Theodore Melfi replaced Vukadinovich and Johnston.

## References

1. ↑ An Interview with Norton Juster, Author of The Phantom Tollbooth. Retrieved on February 15, 2015.
2. ↑ The Phantom Tollbooth. Warner Bros. Entertainment, Inc.. Retrieved on February 15, 2015.
3. ↑ 3.0 3.1 3.2 The Phantom Tollbooth Soundtracks. IMDB.com. Retrieved on February 15, 2015.
4. ↑ Natale, Richard (23 February 2002). Chuck Jones, 89, dies. *Variety*. Retrieved on March 11, 2015.
5. ↑ The Phantom Tollbooth (1969). *Rotten Tomatoes*. Retrieved on November 2, 2019.
6. ↑ The Phantom Tollbooth. *Time Out Paris*. Retrieved on March 11, 2015.
7. ↑ The Phantom Tollbooth. *TV Guide*. Retrieved on March 11, 2015.
8. ↑ Hutchinson, Tom. The Phantom Tollbooth. *Radio Times*. Retrieved on March 11, 2015.
9. ↑ Billington, Alex. "Gary Ross Bringing Phantom Tollbooth Back to the Big Screen", *FirstShowing.net*, First Showing, LLC, February 17, 2010. Retrieved on 15 February 2015.
10. ↑ Billington, Alex. "Gary Ross Bringing Phantom Tollbooth Back to the Big Screen", First Showing LLC, February 17, 2010. Retrieved on April 14, 2016.
11. ↑ ‘The Phantom Tollbooth’: Michael Vukadinovich to Adapt Beloved Children’s Book for Tristar (6 August 2016).
12. ↑ "Matt Shakman to Helm TriStar's 'Phantom Tollbooth' Adaptation", *The Hollywood Reporter*. (in en)
13. ↑ Trumbore, Dave (October 24, 2018). ‘The Phantom Tollbooth’ Movie Lands ‘Rio’ Director Carlos Saldanha. Retrieved on October 24, 2018.

## External links

* *The Phantom Tollbooth* at the Internet Movie Database
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