The Daydreamer (1966)

Set in Denmark, a young boy (Paul O'Keefe) who is the son of a poor shoemaker (Jack Gilford) dreams of a better life. In his dreams, he has many adventures which he will later put down on paper as the writer Hans Christian Anderson. Directed by Jules Bass (WACKY WORLD OF MOTHER GOOSE), this family movie uses stop motion animation for the fairy tale dream sequences and live action for the rest. The stop motion animation looks rather crude next to today's computer generated animation but it exhibits a certain "antique" charm. However, it's a rather drab movie with unmemorable songs except for Isn't It Cozy sung by three bats which I kind of liked. I would imagine most contemporary children would be bored by it. With Ray Bolger, Margaret Hamilton in the live action portion and doing voice work in the animated sequences: Hayley Mills, Tallulah Bankhead, Burl Ives in THE LITTLE MERMAID, Ed Wynn, Terry Thomas, Victor Borge in THE EMPEROR'S NEW CLOTHES, Patty Duke, Boris Karloff and Sessue Hayakawa in THUMBELINA and Cyril Ritchard as The Sandman.