The Daydreamer (1966)An anthology of fairy tales by Hans Christian Andersen: "The Little Mermaid," "The Emperor's New Clothes," "Thumbelina" and "The Garden of Paradise." Director:Jules Bass |
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The Daydreamer (1966)An anthology of fairy tales by Hans Christian Andersen: "The Little Mermaid," "The Emperor's New Clothes," "Thumbelina" and "The Garden of Paradise." Director:Jules Bass |
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| Cast overview, first billed only: | |||
| Tallulah Bankhead | ... |
The Sea Witch
(voice)
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| Victor Borge | ... |
Zenith (The Second Tailor)
(voice)
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| Patty Duke | ... |
Thumbelina
(voice)
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| Jack Gilford | ... |
Papa Andersen
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| Sessue Hayakawa | ... |
The Mole
(voice)
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| Margaret Hamilton | ... |
Mrs. Klopplebobbler
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| Burl Ives | ... |
Father Neptune
(voice)
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| Boris Karloff | ... |
The Rat
(voice)
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| Hayley Mills | ... |
The Little Mermaid
(voice)
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Paul O'Keefe | ... | |
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Cyril Ritchard | ... |
The Sandman
(voice)
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| Terry-Thomas | ... |
Brig. Zachary Zilch (The First Tailor)
(voice)
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| Ed Wynn | ... |
The Emperor
(voice)
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| Ray Bolger | ... |
The Pieman
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Robert Harter | ... |
Big Claus
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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. Written by Brian Washington <Sargebri@att.net>
Despite a terrific "Emperor's New Clothes" episode, I'm hard-pressed to recall anything in "The Daydreamer" which really works, and that's a shame because the team of Arthur Rankin and Jules Bass are obviously working with love and sincerity. Plot concerns a young Hans Christian Andersen who runs away from home and meets up with all the fairy tale characters he'll someday write about. Live-action prologue and epilogue are cringingly awkward, animated middle not nearly as bad but certainly not magical. Top vocal talents abound, however they're weakly used (Hayley Mills voices the Little Mermaid, yet when it's Hayley's turn to sing, we are instead treated to some kiddie variation on Marni Nixon). "New Clothes" segment is funny and better paced than the rest of the film, and is certainly helped by Ed Wynn as the delightfully egomaniacal Emperor. ** from ****