The Daydreamer (film)

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This article is about the 1966 Rankin/Bass film. For the 1970 French comedy, see Le Distrait.
The Daydreamer
File:The Daydreamer DVD cover.jpg
Cover of the 2003 DVD release.
Directed by Jules Bass
Kizo Nagashima
Produced by Joseph E. Levine
Arthur Rankin, Jr.
Larry Roemer
Screenplay by Romeo Muller
Arthur Rankin, Jr.
Based on Hans Christian Andersen
(stories)
Starring Tallulah Bankhead
Victor Borge
Patty Duke
Jack Gilford
Margaret Hamilton
Sessue Hayakawa
Burl Ives
Boris Karloff
Hayley Mills
Paul O'Keefe
Cyril Ritchard
Terry-Thomas
Ed Wynn
Ray Bolger
Robert Harter
Music by Maury Laws
Cinematography Daniel Cavelli
(live action sequences)
Tadahito Mochinaga
(Animagic sequences)
Production
company
Distributed by Embassy Pictures
Release dates
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  • June 1, 1966 (1966-06-01)
Running time
 101 minutes
Country United States
(live action sequences)
Japan
(Animagic sequences)
Language English
Budget $2 million[1]

The Daydreamer is a 1966 Rankin/Bass stop-motion puppet animation and live-action musical fantasy film. Directed by Jules Bass, it was written by Arthur Rankin, Jr. and Romeo Muller, based on the stories of Hans Christian Andersen. It features songs by Jules Bass and Maury Laws. The film's opening features the cast in puppet and live form plus characatures of the cast by Al Hirschfeld.

Plot

Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found. It is early in the 19th century. The thirteen-year-old Hans Christian Andersen (called "Chris" for short; portrayed and voiced by Paul O'Keefe) is known in his native village of Odense, Denmark, as an incurable daydreamer. Actually, the boy's reveries are an escape from the hardships of his family's life.

Chris's father, Papa Andersen (Jack Gilford), who is separated from his wife and living in Copenhagen, is a gentle, humorous and absent-minded, stern but very poor shoemaker. He cannot even afford the delicious works of the Pieman (Ray Bolger), and he is forced to suffer the abuses of haughty customers, such as the ill-tempered Mrs. Klopplebobbler (Margaret Hamilton).

One night, having heard tales of a legendary Garden of Paradise from his father, Chris runs away, determined to find the fabled Garden. He begins his adventure at the river, where he is joined by the devoted friend of all daydreamers, the Sandman (voiced by Cyril Ritchard), who promises to help Chris make his wishes come true by spinning some daydreams.

Suddenly, a fierce storm throws Chris into the center of a whirlpool, and he sinks, unconscious, to the Animagic world, beginning through the ocean floor. He is found by the Little Mermaid (voiced by Hayley Mills), who, against the advice of Father Neptune (voiced by Burl Ives), exchanges a vow with the Sea Witch (voiced by Tallulah Bankhead) for a potion with which to revive the boy. The vow demands that if Chris will not remain with her in the underwater world, the Little Mermaid will become an outcast, neither of the earth nor of the sea.

Chris is revived, but he decides to continue his search for the Garden of Paradise, leaving the Little Mermaid stranded forever on a rock. As she sadly watches him go, she sings "Wishes and Teardrops."

When Chris's father sees the note that his son wrote, he immediately rushes out to search for him.

Meanwhile, Chris sees a baby duckling that is neglected by its family, and adopts it. This will become the basis for his fairy tale "The Ugly Duckling".

Next, Chris meets two crafty Tailors (voiced by Terry-Thomas and Victor Borge). They persuade him to serve as their apprentice and join them on a journey to an Emperor who is famous for his luxurious clothing. They find the Emperor (voiced by Ed Wynn) in his castle singing "Simply Wonderful," a song with which he expresses displeasure with some new royal robes. The fast-talking Tailors have gold lavished on them when they promise the Emperor a fabulous, invisible garment. They proclaim: "Anyone who can't see it is a fool!". Naturally, everyone pretends he can see it.

The next day, the Emperor dons his new "clothes" to appear in a Royal Parade, which is led by the Pieman singing "Who Can Tell." When a small child exclaims, "The Emperor is naked!", everyone realizes he indeed has been a fool, and Chris and the Tailors are chased out of the city.

Back in the human world, Chris is arrested on false charges of poaching by a Game Warden, known in a future fairy tale as "Big Claus" (Robert Harter), and is taken to the village jail. He hopes for a turn in his fortunes, singing "Luck to Sell." When he is set to work cutting logs, he begins to dream of escape and discovers tiny Thumbelina (voiced by Patty Duke) sitting on a tulip petal.

Meanwhile, Chris's father, who has lost his boat after landing on an island, soon sees Chris's boat. He paddles clumsily on the river until he lands up in the river with a long pole. When he reaches the island, he too is immediately arrested by the same warden (Big Claus) on the false charge of fishing in prohibited waters ("No Fishing") and is taken prisoner.

Chris's new friend gives him a magic seed to shrink him to her size, as she sings "Happy Guy," and they sail off, back again to the Animagic world, in her walnut-shell boat. They lose their way and have a scary encounter with a big bullfrog, who tries to go after the two of them, but finally are given shelter by a sneaky Rat (voiced by Boris Karloff), who plots to sell Thumbelina as a bride to a miserly Mole (voiced by Sessue Hayakawa). Before Chris and Thumbelina encounter the mole, they come across an unconscious sparrow that Thumbelina thinks is dead. When they encounter the Mole in order to receive the medicine for the Rat, the Mole joins three Bats in singing "Isn't It Cozy," with a bunch of spiders and insects. After the two of them leave the Mole, they come across the same sparrow, and discover that her heart is beating and she has a chance to live. That evening, Thumbelina states that the sparrow, when she is well, has promised to transport her to a "Garden of Paradise." However, when she states that it's for "Little People," Chris is turned off, because he does not want to be identified as "Little". That evening, while Thumbelina is asleep, Chris breaks out alone and takes the walnut-shell boat upstream. He encounters the same scary bullfrog, which causes the boat to collapse.

Chris returns to his normal size and again meets the Sandman, who decides to lead him into the Garden of Paradise on the condition that Chris will not eat the fruit of the Tree of Knowledge. If he does, he will be lost forever in the Valley of Nothingness. Chris romps in the magnificent Garden, but a mischievous boy named Puck teases him into trying the forbidden fruit. The world around him explodes and he is plunged into darkness.

Chris, finally back in the human world as before, is waking from a bad dream, as the warden wakes him up and scolds him for not working. Papa Andersen finds him, and explains to Chris about his arrest. The only way to release the two prisoners is if the father pays for the bail, but the father has no money, and the warden forewarns them that they will be prisoners for a long time. However, the father remembers the wedding ring that was given to him by Chris's mother, stating that it is just a piece of metal. The warden accepts the ring, releasing both the father and son from their labor, and the father takes his son home. Once they return home, Chris is being taught basic mathematics ("Doing the Table") when the Sandman makes a last appearance to remind the world that Chris "did finally find his Garden of Paradise. Not in the way he dreamed, but through his wonderful and ever-lasting fairy stories."

Musical Numbers

  1. "Daydreamer" - Robert Goulet
  2. "Overture" - Maury Laws
  3. "Wishes and Teardrops" - The Little Mermaid
  4. "Simply Wonderful" - The Emperor and His Three Minstrels
  5. "Who Can Tell" - The Pieman of Odense
  6. "Luck to Sell" - Chris
  7. "Happy Guy" - Thumbelina, Chris and Chorus
  8. "Isn't It Cozy?" - Three Bats and the Mole
  9. "Luck to Sell"- Chris
  10. "Finale (The Daydreamer)" - Chorus

Cast

Additional voices

Crew

  • Director: Jules Bass
  • Writer/Producer: Arthur Rankin, Jr.
  • Executive Producer: Joseph E. Levine
  • Associate Producer: Larry Roemer
  • Adaptation from the Stories and Characters: Hans Christian Andersen
  • Music and Lyrics: Maury Laws and Jules Bass
  • Live Action Sequence Stager: Ezra Stone
  • Animagic Sequence Stager: Don Duga
  • Additional Dialogue: Romeo Muller
  • Recording Supervisor: Bernard Cowan
  • Assistant Director: Kizo Nagashima
  • Live Action Cinematography: Daniel Cavelli
  • Animagic Technician: Tadahito Mochinaga
  • Puppet Makers: Ichiro Komuro, Kyoko Kita (both uncredited)
  • Animation: Fumiko Magari, Hiroshi Tabata (both uncredited)
  • Emperor's Clothes: Oleg Cassini
  • Set Design: Maurice Gordon
  • Makeup: Phyllis Grens
  • Mobilux Effects: John Hoppe
  • Optical Effects: Coastal Films, Inc.
  • Production Manager: Sal Scoppa, Jr.
  • Choreography: Tony Mordente
  • Music Composer and Director: Maury Laws
  • Title Song Orchestration: Don Costa
  • Sound Recorders: Alan Mirchin, Eric Tomlinson, Peter Rage, Richard Gramaglia

Soundtrack

A soundtrack album was issued by Columbia Records[2] featuring all of the songs and the partial score from the film. In 2006, the album was reissued on CD by Percepto Records in a limited edition release that included four bonus tracks.[3]

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Main article: The Daydreamer (soundtrack)

Tales referenced

DVD

The Daydreamer has been released on DVD twice; in 2003 by Anchor Bay, and recently by Lionsgate in 2012 via Amazon.com as a MOD (Manufacture On Demand) disc.

See also

References

  1. ↑ Stephen Jacobs, Boris Karloff: More Than a Monster, Tomohawk Press 2011 p 468
  2. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  3. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.

External links

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