Movie Type: Children's Fantasy, Fairy Tales & Legends
Themes: Heroic Mission, Fantasy Lands
Main Cast: Cyril Ritchard, Paul O'Keefe, Jack Gilford, Ray Bolger, Margaret Hamilton, Hayley Mills, Burl Ives, Terry-Thomas, Victor Borge, Ed Wynn, Boris Karloff, Sessue Hayakawa
Release Year: 1966
Country: US
Run Time: 98 minutes
Plot
Four stories from Hans Christian Andersen appear in The Daydreamer, a feature using the Animagic process that uses live action combined with stop-motion puppets. Included are "The Little Mermaid," "The Emperor's New Clothes," "Thumbelina," and "The Garden Of Paradise." Songs and dances compliment an international all-star cast of voices used for the characters. Ray Bolger, Margaret Hamilton, Burl Ives, Hayley Mills, Boris Karloff, Cyril Ritchard, Patty Duke, Terry-Thomas and Victor Borge join Ed Wynn in his second-to-last screen role. This was the last film in which fans would hear the voices of Sessue Hayakawa and Tallulah Bankhead. Director Jules Bass provided the lyrics, with Murray Law providing the music for this entertaining children's fantasy. ~ Dan Pavlides, All Movie Guide
Review
Arthur Rankin and Jules Bass carved a successful niche for themselves and their "animagic" stop-motion animation process in such television outings as Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer. Their attempts at crossing over to the big screen, however, were less successful. The Daydreamer is not bad, but it's also not up to the level of Disney or most other studios attempting animation at the same time. By modern day standards, the animation is technically primitive, but even in comparison with other Rankin-Bass productions Daydreamer's "animagic" is a little sloppy (especially in those segments involving water). The live-action wraparound sequences are awkward and rather trying, and the film as a whole tends to drag. On the positive side, the "Emperor's New Clothes" section is quite good, helped enormously by Ed Wynn's marvelous Emperor and the thieves of Terry-Thomas and Victor Borge. The vocal talent throughout is of very high quality; rarely has an animated film boasted such a stellar line-up. The whimsical score is also a plus, with special mention going to the title song and the delightful "Isn't it Cozy Here," and the creators deserve credit for keeping intact the rather melancholy, downbeat air associated with Hans Christian Andersen. If they had also captured his magic, this might have been a special picture. Rankin and Bass would attempt one more feature production, the strange Mad Monster Party, a year later. ~ Craig Butler, All Movie Guide
Maurice Gordon - Art Director, Jules Bass - Director, Joseph E. Levine - Executive Producer, Jules Bass - Songwriter, Maury Laws - Songwriter, Daniel Cavelli - Cinematographer, Tad Mochinaga - Cinematographer, Arthur Rankin, Jr. - Producer, Arthur Rankin, Jr. - Screenwriter, Hans Christian Andersen - Short Story Author
Teen-aged Hans Christian Andersen daydreams instead of studying for school. He runs away from home. Whenever he falls asleep, he dreams that he is in strange adventures with tailors, a tiny girl no bigger than a thumb, a mermaid, a devil boy in Eden, and others. The dream sequences are puppet animation, complete with a puppet version of himself. These dreams become the basis for his fairy tale fictions, which he writes as an adult: The Little Mermaid, Thumbelina, The Ugly Duckling, The Emperor's New Clothes, and The Garden of Paradise.
Songs: Does Anyone Have Some Luck To Sell? and Who Can Tell A Wise Man from a Fool?
