The Phantom Tollbooth (also known as The Adventures of Milo in the Phantom Tollbooth) is a 1970 American live-action/animated fantasy film based on Norton Juster's 1961 children's book of the same name. Produced by Chuck Jones at MGM Animation/Visual Arts, the film stars Butch Patrick as Milo, alongside 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 co-directed the film with Abe Levitow, while Dave Monahan directed the live-action segments. Completed in 1968, the film was held up from release by MGM until late 1970 due to internal studio problems. The animation studio closed soon after the film's release, with MGM having no further involvement in the animation business until 1993 with the startup of their new Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Animation studio. Upon release, The Phantom Tollbooth received positive reviews but was a box-office disappointment.
Plot Milo is a bored boy who lives in a San Francisco apartment block and suffers from feelings of apathy. One day while telling his friend over the phone that there's "no rhyme or reason" in his life, he is surprised by a large, gift-wrapped package that appears in his room. He opens it and discovers a tollbooth which is a gateway to the enchanted Kingdom of Wisdom in the Lands Beyond. As Milo uses the tollbooth's toy car and pays the toll with coins, the movie moves from live action to animation (which requires some getting accustomed to). Accompanied by Tock, a "watchdog" who actually has a large pocket watch in his body, Milo has a series of adventures in places like the Doldrums, Dictionopolis (Kingdom of Words), Digitopolis (Kingdom of Mathematics), 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, Faintly Macabre the Not-So-Wicked Which, Chroma the Great, and Officer Short Shrift as well as demons like the Senses Taker, the Terrible Trivium, the Demon of Insincerity, and the Gelatinous Giant. In all of the places he visits he finds a new friend to guide him on his mission to Rhyme and Reason. After Milo defeats all the demons the princesses are freed, and the victory of Rhyme and Reason is celebrated. Milo is suddenly returned home, the tollbooth closes up and flies away, and Milo finds out from his friend on the phone that he's only been away for five minutes. He is about to inquire further when his friend says he has to go, as there is a giant gift box in his room... The film ends with a song about Milo finding things to do and being happy within the real world and shows him smiling while playing at a playground.
Cast
Butch Patrick as Milo Mike Davis as Friend (uncredited) Chuck Jones as Cable Car Passenger (uncredited cameo)
Voices Mel Blanc as Officer Short Shrift, The Dodecahedron, The Demon of Insincerity, The Letter Vendor, Ministers, Lethargians, The Overbearing Know-It-All 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 Ralph, The Princess of Pure Reason, Faintly Macabre the Not-So-Wicked Which Patti Gilbert as The Princess of Sweet Rhyme Shepard Menken as The Spelling Bee, Chroma the Great Cliff Norton as Dr. Kakofonous A. Dischord, Tollbooth Speaker Voice Larry Thor as Tock Les Tremayne as The Humbug, The Poetic Words Vendor Thurl Ravenscroft as Lethargians (uncredited)
Production In 1963, Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer contracted with Sib Tower 12 Productions to have Chuck Jones and his staff produce new Tom and Jerry cartoons. For his first project with MGM Animation/Visual Arts, Jones read the book The Dot and the Line written by Norton Juster, which was adapted into an animated short that won the Academy Award for Animated Short Film. In January 1966, MGM optioned to adapt The Phantom Tollbooth into a feature-length film. Jones remarked, "It was a natural progression to another Juster work. On this one Les Goldman and Abe Levitow are my co-producers. Levitow and I are directing and Maurice Noble is production designer." Early into development, it was decided that the first few scenes of Milo would be filmed in live-action before transitioning into animation. In a departure from the novel, Ralph was added to the film to act as a friend to Milo. Jones explained, "It had to be a boy named Ralph. Anybody called Steve or Mike would have called with something to do. Ralph sounds like a wet tennis shoe."
Release On October 24, 1970, the film premiered in Los Angeles as part of MGM's children's matinee weekend engagements. The release was accompanied with six other films that were released across key cities throughout the United States.
Home media The film was released in VHS, Betamax, CED, and LaserDisc formats in the 1980s by MGM/UA Home Video. In 2011, it was released in a remastered DVD edition by Warner Home Video via the Warner Archive Collection label. 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"
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