The Daydreamers (1966) {Kino Lorber Blu-ray Review}

Reviewed By Jason Lockard

The creative team of Rankin/Bass brought us such amazing classics as Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer, Frosty the Snowman and many other classics. Well in 1966 they joined their amazing stop motion animation with live action and brought fans something extremely special with The Daydreamer.

Now the good folks at Kino Lorber have joined forced with Scorpion releasing to bring the fans this family classic to Blu-ray for the first time ever. And as a huge fan of those Rankin/Bass films I am so excited for this release.

The Daydreamer follows a young Hans Christian Andersen as he daydreams his future stories such as "The Little Mermaid", "The Emperor's New Clothes", "Thumbelina", and "The Garden of Paradise".

While The Daydreamer maybe one of the Rakin/Bass forgotten releases. In my opinion it shouldn't be. It may be as iconic as Rudolph the red nosed reindeer, I consider this a very good film. I love the live-action and dream sequences in stop motion animation. It was a beautiful idea. It give those scenes a real fantasy quality.




The music is this film is sweet and included the title song "Daydreamer", "Wishes and Teardrops", "Simply Wonderful", "Who can tell", "Luck to Sell", "Happy Guy" and "Isn't It Cozy". The Daydreamer has all the musical sweetness of Rudolph, in my humble opinion.

Rankin/Bass put together a real star studded cast for this release. It truly is a tremendous collection of Hollywood stars including Tallulah Bankhead, Victor Borge, Patty Duke, Jack Gilford, Sessue Hayakawa, Margaret Hamilton, Burl Ives, Boris Karloff, Hayley Mills, Terry-Thomas, Ray Bolger and more.

Kino Lorber along with Scorpion Releasing have transferred this family classic on Blu-ray in 1080p in it's original full screen format 1.33:1 aspect ratio, with a DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0. When I examine this film restoration it is gorgeous. The colors are are so vibrant, it's like candy for the eyes. And the audio is crystal clear.





Now Kino Lorber added some really nice bonus features on this Blu-ray release take a look at what is included;

* Audio Commentary by Rankin/Bass Historian and Author Rick Goldschmidt with Film Historian Lee Gambin

* Trailers for other Kino Lorber Blu-ray releases

* Optional English Subtitles

The Rankin/Bass films are not for everyone. Fans who grew up on their films will love this one as well. But average film fans may not be into the stop motion animation. For me I am so proud to add this one to my Rankin/Bass collection.  

So if you love Rankin/Bass films as much as I do and you would like to get a copy of The Daydreamer on Blu-ray. I highly recommend adding this Blu-ray to your collection. You can order your copy by heading over to Amazon.com and ordering your copy today.

Out of 4 Film Reels (4 Being the Best) KL Studio Classic's Blu-ray of The Daydreamer receives...