Toys (1966)

This reminded me that when I was young, I had a toy submarine. You’d put a tablet - like an Alka Selzer - into it and it would sink to the bottom of the bath. As the tablet dissolved, the thing was supposed to rise to the surface but mine leaked so it was destined never to get to periscope depth! The toys here all start off similarly benign enough, but gradually they turn into playthings altogether more menacing as uniforms start to creep onto their frames, then they acquire guns, rockets, tanks and missiles before we remember that melted plastic is not pretty and looks distinctly akin to the after-effects of napalm. What’s probably most incongruous here is the jolly music that suggests a sort of enthusiastic television advertising campaign for something harmless rather than something that could just be seen as glorifying or celebrating violence, and even - to an extent - sexism, too. Maybe I’m overthinking the intention of the film here, but the gullible young eyes watching their potential Christmas gifts through the shop window did rather rankle a bit as this quickly paced and actually quite graphic short feature made it’s point.