The Daydreamer
(1966, U.S.) color live-action/animated 101/98 minutes
With: Jack Gilford (Papa Andersen), Margaret Hamilton (Mrs. Klopplebobbler), Paul O'Keefe (Chris Anderson)
Voices: Talullah Bankhead (the Sea Witch), Victor Borge (Zenith), Patty Duke (Thumbelina), Sessue Hayakawa (the Mole), Burl Ives (Father Neptune), Boris Karloff (the Rat), Hayley Mills (the Little Mermaid)
Plot Outline (IMDb): A fictional account of a teen-aged Hans Christian Anderson. In this film, young Hans runs away from home and each time he falls asleep he experiences in his dreams the different characters he would later write about including The Little Mermaid, Thumbelina and The Ugly Duckling.
***
This most obscure and engaging Animagic production from Messrs. Rankin & Bass, of RUDOLPH THE RED-NOSED REINDEER fame, is an interesting pastiche of live-action and puppet animation, charming in spots but overall perhaps a bit meandering. Improving on the crudity of their first "Animagic" feature, WILLY McBEAN AND HIS MAGIC MACHINE (1964), THE DAYDREAMER wisely eschews literal storytelling for lyrical passages of extreme charm and beauty.
The all-star cast gets turns both as puppets and as Al Hirschfeld caricatures (in the opening credits); quite an honor!
THE DAYDREAMER benefits from enchanting dimensional animation from Japanese film artists Kizo Nagashima and Tad Mochinaga. These geniuses behind the Animagic technique are buried in the credits, here as in other early Videocraft product.
Also superb is a nice Maury Laws score, including some snappy tunes that are almost as punchy as his subsequent TV work. The theme song by Robert Goulet is quite touching.
This film features some unusually gorgeous, simplistic set design and wonderful pastoral landscapes that evoke a strange nostalgia for lost, pure childhood
memories.
The villain of the piece, a monster frog, looks and croaks suspiciously like the incredible weenie-beast in the previous year's classic HORROR OF PARTY BEACH; could they have been influenced by this cult king?
The film winds up with a wild, bizarre biblical climax in an erstaz Garden of Eden, a sublime paradise ruled over by a creepy devil kid; the fiery apocalyptic finale is sure to scare the small fry.
Weird, beautiful and tender, THE DAYDREAMER is a most odd duck in film animation, imperfect but perfectly lovable. The next year, Rankin/Bass & Embassy were to release MAD MONSTER PARTY?, a wild departure from the cloying sentimentality of this fairy tale, and sadly, the last stop-motion feature to be released for many years.
Trivia note: According to Kevin Butler, who spoke with actor Paul O'Keefe in the 1980's, THE DAYDREAMER was not filmed on location in Odense, Denmark, but at the Denmark Exhibit at the 1964 New York World's Fair, and in upstate New York!
***
(01-26-05) Phil Lindholm submits this note regarding the new DVD for THE DAYDREAMER: "Aside from being full frame, the transfer is otherwise excellent (better than the tape, which was not bad at all) as is the sound. I had originally seen THE DAYDREAMER in the theater back in 1966. It remains an utterly charming film, with an excellent cast and musical score, truly a memorable film."
Video/DVD availability: VHS & DVD (Anchor Bay), VHS (Solar Video, oop)
Links of related interest:
the official Maury laws website
Embassy Pictures Corp. / Videocraft International
Story: Hans Christian Andersen
Screenplay: Romeo Muller, Arthur Rankin Jr.
Music: Maury Laws
Theme song sung by Robert Goulet
Cinematography: Daniel Cavelli
Animation: Kizo Nagashima, Tad Mochinaga
Produced by Joseph E. Levine, Arthur Rankin Jr., Larry Roemer
Directed by Jules Bass
the official Rankin Bass website