THE DAYDREAMER (1966)
Article 2555 by Dave Sindelar
Viewing Date: 4-3-2008
Posting Date: 8-10-2008
Directed by Jules Bass
Featuring the voices of Tallulah Bankhead, Victor Borge, Patty Duke, and many others
Country: USA

A young boy dreams of leaving the drudgery of learning his lessons to find the Garden of Paradise. He meets a mermaid, two tailors, and a tiny girl in his quest.

Due to its inclusion in a filmography of Boris Karloff’s, I’d known about this movie for years and hoped to see it someday, largely due to the presence of the great horror actor as the voice of The Rat. Karloff’s presence, as well as that of many other well-known actors such as Tallulah Bankhad, Victor Borge, Patty Duke, Jack Gilford, Sessue Hayakawa, Margaret Hamilton, Burl Ives, Hailey Mills, Cyril Richard, Terry-Thomas, Ed Wynn and Ray Bolger can’t help but keep the interest level up, as also does the fact that it comes from Jules Bass and Arthur Rankin Jr. Unfortunately, the movie is marred by a somewhat aimless story and underdeveloped characters, and though many of the songs are melodic enough, they’re a bit on the treacly side and don’t really stand out much. It’s basically a hodgepodge of Hans Christian Andersen stories and characters, and though the movie is well-intentioned, it never becomes compelling or even much fun. For me, the most memorable thing was the giant frog who threatens Thumbelina and the title character at a couple of points in the story. Horror fans will enjoy Karloff as The Rat, of course, as well as the spooky house of his friend, the Mole.