Cool “Toys” of the Week

This week, instead of picking a cool current toy, I’m going to bring you a short film called “Toys”. This film, made by Grant Munro in 1966 for the National Film Board of Canada, starts out showing kids looking at a window display at a toy store during Christmas time. It seems innocent enough, and you can see all sorts of great vintage toys. But when they get to the GI Joes, the Joes spring to life, and start acting out violent real war scenarios via stop-motion animation. Now, at the time, the Vietnam War was raging, and this was supposed to be a striking anti-war message. Nowadays it stands as an example of some of the coolest vintage GI Joe animation ever made! Some of the toys shown here are worth more than some automobiles, if you can find them. So whether you prefer the anti-war message, or the cool animated GI Joe action, check out “Toys.”