Irgendwo im Traumland

i feel like this cartoon is a good way to introduce "the way things were " you don't find a lot of cartoons with the quality of a good deed these days it was my favorite growing up i saved the movie and now is my son's fav.... the best 3 dollars my father ever spent, and my son and i sing the song somewhere in dreamland every night,it fills my heart with warmth every time i see the ending when they wake up to see all the food,also is a good way to show how we take things for granted. it makes me happy to know my family can still watch the same shows i grew up on also my parents and grandparents,............overall i think this is one of the best older cartoons,in my opinion it is up there with the wizard of oz

Somewhere in Dreamland (1936)

*** (out of 4)

Animated short from Dave Fleischer has two poor children crossing in front of a bakery where they see all sorts of great food. They then have to walk home where their mother (voice of Mae Questel) has just hard bread for them to eat. That night they go to bed hungry but dream about a place where there's all sorts of food. I was really surprised at how much I enjoyed this film as at first I wasn't sure much was going to happen. I thought the storytelling was extremely good and I liked all the little points that Fleischer is able to get across without being preachy or having it in your face. I also thought the title song was quite catchy and done in a very good way. As you'd expect, the animated is quite good from start to finish and I really liked the Dreamland sequence because, well, it really did seem like a real dream. I won't reveal the twist at the end but it's quite charming and makes it easy to see why this short has turned up on many Holiday collections.

One of Fleischer Studios' best and most imaginative. The high point is the animation, which still looks amazing. The colours are vibrant and atmospheric and the backgrounds are smooth and fluid with great attention to detail whether in the dreamland or showing the children's poverty. What makes the animation so good though is the use of the rotograph technique used in the dreamland(never in animation has there been a more magical dreamland, one which any poor child would want to stay in forever) which is put to stunning use, it is in Somewhere in Dreamland with the merry-go-around cake that signals one of the studio's most remarkable animation moments. The music has the right amount of whimsy and energy as well as being orchestrated so beautifully, and the title song is one of the catchiest of any Fleisher Studios cartoon. The story is one of the most imaginative of their cartoons too, and is difficult to resist. Yes it's sentimental and it's cutesy but they don't mar the cartoon at all, rather it is a lot of fun as well as adorable and touching. The children are cute and engaging without being too sickly sweet, carrying the cartoon nicely, and the mother while with a small role is a good character as well. Mae Questel's voice acting is lovingly maternal and sympathetic in some of her more subtle voice work. In conclusion, a magical cartoon from Fleischer Studios and among their best. 10/10 Bethany Cox

A lovely Dave Fleischer short animation, seductive for drawings, details, the spoon of nostalgia and the social message, for a dream easy to be assumed by poor people and about generosity.

Sure, an idylic story , its dosis of unrealism being the basic sin, at first sight. But significant, in this case , is the social context, the memories about Great Depression, in its many senses being not so far.

Off course, the children are exactly the same from many films by Mr. Fleischer, reminding, too much, the Renaiscence little angels.

But the care for details defining the trip in Dreamland, the imaginative solutions and the morning after are just beautiful and their are the most significant aspects in this case.

In short, just lovely..

These are really poor children with a mother who is at her wit's end to feed them. They are out in the cold collecting wood for a fire in their little hovel. They live for their dreams which take them out of this for a few hours. But don't underestimate the love of strangers. This is depression era and many found themselves in this type of poverty. Nice color animation.