Design for Dreaming

The male voice/singer in this little film is Howard Keel, a famous movie bass-baritone in such films as "Kiss Me Kate", "Seven Brides for Seven Brothers", "Kismet", "Annie Get Your Gun", "Showboat", "Calamity Jane", "Jupiter's Darling" with swimmer/actress Esther Williams (!), and many others. He also had a career on Broadway, and was an 80's TV star, becoming known to new audiences as 'Clayton Farlow' on DALLAS. Ravenscroft is a basso profundo, the deepest, darkest, fullest of the bass voices, and his sound is distinctly different from Keel's, at least to this trained singer! I recognized Keel instantly, and kept expecting to see him on screen; why waste that talent off-screen? I don't recognize the female singer.

Ok, maybe I'm a little bias, but I love every minute of this ten minute commercial (except maybe the minute where they show the cars.)

The reason why I love this short is the cute star, Tad Tadlock. It's fun watching her reactions to the new cars and the Kitchen of Tomorrow. She even gets the opportunity to perform the Dance of Tomorrow. This woman could sell me the goofy looking Firebird 2. It's a real shame that she didn't appear in any feature films at this poin in her career.

The singing is very good in this short. The woman singer has a cute voice and it complements Tad's character.

Some people criticize this short. This film shouldn't be taken so seriously. The story takes place in a dream. It's suppose to be a fantasy! The Highway of Tomorrow is neat, even if you can tell what it is. The film was made to sell cars, but it's a lot of fun to watch.

I recommend this film and the similar yet inferior "A Touch of Magic".

I just saw this weird assed film short recently on the Arts Channel (a free station offering short snippets of Classical & Jazz,along with film shorts,and excerpts of (some) classic films. This film short was directed by the legendary bad film director, William "one shot" Beaudine (aptly named for his penchant of using any take,no matter how good or bad it was), who directed such film classics as "The Bowery Boys Meet A Brooklyn Gorilla" & "The Ape Man". This film short reminded me of an uber surreal film I saw a few years back entitled "Dreams That Money Can Buy", about a dream agent that sets up various people with the kind of dreams one would probably experience after a midnight snack of fried clams & a chocolate malted. It would probably make for a perfect short film opening for such films as "W.R.:Mysteries Of The Organism", or even "Reefer Madness". I'm just wondering if this film short is available on DVD, or even the old school VHS format (I know that companies such as Video Wizard or Weirdo Video,that gets all sorts of whacked out film fare would probably have something like this available for mail order). A strange little item that's worth seeking out.

...was how Crow defined "Design for Dreaming" when he, Servo and Mike had to watch it. It portrays a happy-go-lucky woman living a fantasy in which a jolly man buys her any car that she wants, and a kitchen has all the appliances that a 1950s housewife could ask for. Very much a product of the 1950s.

A previous reviewer called this short "I Dream of Jeannie" on LSD. I thought that it looked like the Broadway sequence in "Singin' in the Rain" on LSD. But either way, the movie is beyond pathetic, just the sort of schlock that Dr. Forrester would cruelly beam aboard the Satellite of Love to torture Mike, Servo and Crow.

In conclusion, the movie itself is 0/10, but the "MST3K" is 10/10.

This is actually one film that airs both on Mystery Science Theater 3000 and on the Arts channel.

It is MST3K material, because this film is indeed goofy. It offers the characters plenty of material to poke fun at. Yet, the Arts channel also shows this film, as (presumably) an example of this genre of film, one that promotes GM products.

Do not take this film seriously. It was produced by GM in 1956 to promote its cars, and it reflects the era in which it was produced. Tad Tadlock is definitely attractive in the fantasy role in which she plays, and it is a shame she did not do more acting assignments.

I also think the production is the star of this show, and I can see where it might have influenced two shows, "The Twilight Zone" and "Batman":

--Tadlock's "Dance of Tomorrow" is very similar to the dance Suzanne Lloyd performed in the 1959 episode of "The Twilight Zone" she appeared in, "Perchance to Dream." Lloyd's character seems to have influenced the character of Catwoman in "Batman," which aired a full decade after "Design for Dreaming."

--Also, the production value and visuals (the rich color and fantasy sequences) remind one of the "Batman" series--as does the masked male figure. Holy tie-in!

Yes, this is a plug for GM cars, but it is fascinating to see what was offered for the future (especially the Impala and Firebird). Even if all of this is a fantasy, so what? This is real eye candy, and a fascinating piece of history that is available both on MST3K and the Arts channel, depending on what you prefer.