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Poster for The Phantom Tollbooth
Watch trailer for The Phantom Tollbooth Watch trailer

The Phantom Tollbooth

Director: Abe Levitow, Chuck Jones, Dave Monahan Run Time: 90 min. Format: 35mm Rating: G Release Year: 1970

Starring: Butch Patrick, Hans Conried, Mel Blanc

A mysterious gift transforms a bored boy’s life into one big mathemagical adventure in THE PHANTOM TOLLBOOTH! Presented in 35mm!

Norton Juster wrote The Phantom Tollbooth in 1961.

Milo is bored…really bored…until one day after school a tollbooth suddenly appears in his house. So he hops in the pint-sized car, sets course from the map, and heads out of San Francisco into a magical parallel universe of the Kingdom of Wisdom. The Phantom Tollbooth is a mixture of live action with animation (actually the last of the MGM films to combine the two) and is pretty trippy. Milo is accompanied by his watchdog “Tock” who has a last pocket-watch in his body as they travel to places like  Mountains of Ignorance, the Doldrums, Dictionopolis, Digitopolis, and the Castle in the Air. The goal? To rescue Princess Rhyme and Reason! The eccentricity in this film is certain to enchant and educate the young ones while blowing the parents’ minds. Plus Chuck Jones (from Looney Tunes fame) co-wrote, co-directed and animated the film!

Part of Nitehawk’s February LITTLE BOOKWORMS brunch series.

Trailer