The Daydreamer

Those among us who treasure Rankin/Bass' annual holiday specials like RUDOLPH THE REINDEER and SANTA CLAUS IS COMING TO TOWN undoubtably have wondered at some point or another why the production company never tried any full-length feature efforts. Well, they did, with mixed results. The most ambitious effort of several was THE DAYDREAMER, Rankin/Bass' live action/stop-motion animation effort that was apparently supposed to be their masterwork but didn't quite deliver. Sure, it's a children's musical fantasy, and it's cast with a plethora of then-famous movie and television stars, but the whole thing just doesn't work. The story concerns an adolescent Hans Christian Andersen, learning life's lessons as he dreams himself into adventures(the animated sequences)that turn out to be several of the beloved Danish storyteller's famous stories, like Thumbelina, the Little Murmaid, etc. What really puts one's teeth on edge are the live-action sequences with Paul O'Keefe and Jack Gilford as Chris and Papa Andersen. Despite their distracting Brooklyn accents, what really spoils the mood is the degree of disfunction in this family. Papa Andersen is indecisive and easily put-upon by his harpie customers. Chris is selfish and is easily swayed into abandoning many of his new-found friends. Several of the animated sequences are atmospherically dark with less than happy resolutions. The songs are not on par with most of the television offerings, and the film drags intolerably so that, by the time it does end, you really don't care if Chris does get back home. As an adult, I found it hard to sit through, and I can't see a child today(or in 1966)watching this with any degree of sustained interest, with the exception of Tim Burton. And surely, the decision to have Robert Goulet sing the film's theme song was the kiss of death . . .

Viewed this film many years ago and it always was a great film for children and adults. The cast of actors were all veterans of the screen, namely: Jack Gilford, Ray Bolger(The Tin Man from the Wizard of Oz) and Margaret Hamilton(The Wicked Witch from the Wizard of Oz) and the king of Horror, Boris Karloff (Frankenstein Monster). It also featured the voices of: Burl Ives, Tallulah Bankhead, Terry-Thomas, Victor Borge, Ed Wynn, Patty Duke and Robert Goulet. Karloff was the menacing voice of "THE RAT" in this internationally produced, live-action puppet fantasy. It is a MUST SEE to find out the complete story and ending.

Award-winning animation producers Arthur Rankin, Jr. and Jules Bass, fresh from the success of the now-classic TV special RUDOLPH THE RED-NOSED REINDEER, aimed extremely high for this ambitious live-action/animated musical fantasy. The story is a fictionalized account of the young life of Hans Christian Andersen, with Paul O'Keefe (Patty Lane's brother on the PATTY DUKE SHOW) as "Chris" and Jack Gilford (COCOON) as his Papa. Chris enters the animated stories of THE LITTLE MERMAID, THE EMPEROR'S NEW CLOTHES and THUMBELINA. There are also references to other Andersen tales like "The Garden of Paradise," "Big Claus" and "The Ugly Duckling." Even though some of the production values betray the fact that Executive Producer Joe Levine expected Mary Poppins but only provided a Tom Terrific budget, there is a lot to like in THE DAYDREAMER: a star-studded, perfectly selected voice cast, impressive AniMagic stop-motion art direction, and a knockout score by Maury Laws (check out "The Cartoon Music Book" on amazon.com) and Jules Bass. Fans of the late AL HIRSCHFELD will want to see the caricatured opening sequence; fans of THE WIZARD OF OZ will enjoy Margaret Hamilton's feisty cameo, fans of THE LORD OF THE RINGS will have fun comparing this to the Rankin/Bass production of THE HOBBIT released 11 years later and how far they had come since. Even Oleg Cassini designed the Emperor's New Clothes! The live-action sequences were directed by Ezra Stone, who starred as Henry Aldrich on radio and by that time was directing THE MUNSTERS. If you visited the 1964 World's Fair, look for the Denmark pavilion doubling for the streets of Odense.

I loved watching this whenever it came on when I was a kid. I loved how they took a young Hans Christian Anderson and put him in the middle of the stories that would later bring him fame. The thing that I think was a great moral to this story was that it is better to stay and face your problems than it is to run away. Too bad it is not shown on broadcast television anymore for the few people who don't have cable or sattelite.

"The Daydreamer" is not really an "animated" kiddie film; it's a pretty clever blend of live action and stop-motion puppetry from the people who gave the world "Rudolph the Red-nosed Reindeer" and "Frosty the Snowman." Inventive and ambitious, it makes use of dozens of sets and numerous characters, all of them created from scratch and painstakingly photographed one frame at a time-- something no one today (except Nick Park) would take the trouble to do.

To label this film as "embarrassingly dated" is arrogant and absurd, unless you're willing to pass the same judgment on "King Kong" or "Jason and the Argonauts." Most films are a product of their time. A few are ahead of their time, and those films set the pace for others to follow. But to condemn something from the '60s for not being "Toy Story" is unfair, just as it is unfair for an adult to condemn a movie intended for children.

Apparently an unfortunate result of computer animation is to render much of the history of filmmaking unwatchable because the special effects don't live up to today's standards. It's like kicking away the ladder that got you onto the roof. Today's effects-laden blockbusters would not have been possible--indeed, the film industry itself would not have survived the lean years when television was making inroads--had filmmakers not been willing to "go ahead and tell the story," plowing through budget and technical limitations, doing the best they could with whatever was at hand. To me, using plastic sheeting to achieve the water effects is ingenious. Obviously they couldn't use REAL water in stop-action animation. I challenge anyone to come up with a better solution using 1966 technology.

Of far more importance than technical effects, however, is the effect a film will have on its viewers. Here "The Daydreamer" succeeds brilliantly. Wholesome fare for the current generation of value-starved children, it is to be applauded for its strong ethical stance on the dangers of selfishness and the importance of obedience and loyalty. Far from our present diet of bland postmodern gruel that can come no closer to a moral principle than "have self-esteem, be tolerant and everybody wins," this film teaches that right is right and wrong is wrong, and that actions have serious and often irreversible consequences.

Lament, if you must, the inclusion of so many songs, but again, this picture is a product of its time. '60s moviegoers still had at least a fading appreciation for music--something modern audiences cannot claim (witness the death of the entire musical film genre)--and any children's feature worth its salt was expected to include a smattering of musical numbers. And while the music may be forgettable, the film itself obviously is not -- I saw it ONCE as a small child 25 years ago, and it has remained with me vividly until I saw it again yesterday.

I look forward to the time when my own daughter is old enough to enjoy it as much as I did.