Somewhere in Dreamland (1936) Max and David Fleischer Productions at Fleischer Studios

Somewhere In Dreamland (1936) Max and David Fleischer

Watch it at: http://tinyurl.com/SomewhereInDreamland [Link last proved Active 1/2/09]

Somewhere in Dreamland is my personal favourite drawn animation, in fact, it was the first cartoon I remember watching as a child.

Fleischer Studios was founded in 1921 [as 'Inkwell Studios'] by Max and David Fleischer.
The brothers ran the company from its inception until Paramount Pictures, [the studio's parent company and the distributor of its films], forced them to resign in late April 1942.
In its prime, Fleischer Studios was the main competitor to Walt Disney Studios, and was responsible for bringing the world some of the most iconic cartoon characters to-date: such as, KOKO The Clown, Betty Boop, Popeye the Sailor, and Superman).

Strangely Disney's most successful characters were anthropomorphic animals, where as Fleischer's were human.

*WARNING THIS TEXT CONTAINS SPOILERS*


"I'm still Hungry mom!"


Somewhere in Dreamland is a very "cute" ode to the Depression era.
It seemed that the Fleischer Brothers knew no limits on how sickeningly cute one could design a character to be. None-the-less it certainly works proficiently and the piercing large black pupiled-eyes of the children certainly evoke the sympathy of the audience.
The first four minutes of action show a heart-wrenching sequence of events: The two wistful waifs are at work dragging a bundle of logs along the snow, scarecly dressed for the weather.


They pass a baker's shop and drop their logs to gaze at the cakes; unbeknown to them the baker spots the poor children's gaze and immediately sets about finding some cakes to give them... By the time he gets to the frontage they have continued to work and have left.


Later we see them arrive home to their mother, and sit at the table for dinner [which consists of a stale loaf of bread and some water]

"I'm still hungry mom!"

The mother breaks down into tears in anguish, leading her children to their beds; and sighing as she blows out their candle. The children climb in between their moth-eaten sheets and in a beautifully animated section weightlessly drift into dreamland.
The children find themselves in dreamland (candyland) and judging my Maslow's hierarchy of human needs, the plot delivers the children's strugle to breach the most basic need, physiological (food).

Below is a representation of Maslow's pyramid, and highlighted is the children's "need". Essentially Maslow's pyramid is one of the most well used tools for inscripting narrative and character motivation.
In most traditional scripts (boy meets girl, boy falls in love with girl; girl is taken away from boy, boy must face his own daemons to win back his love) it is the top of the pyramid -self actualisation that is desired. In actual fact this is a level very few people reach in real life because in order to achieve this, all other stages must be conquered. In more recent narrative structures the quest has been lowered in the pyramid to make the story more believable.

The background is finely painted oil paintings with very detailed animation layered on top. In my opinion this adds to the magic of the animation.

To be honest words cannot describe this animation, it has to be viewed to be fully appreciated.

The children wander through dreamland encountering magical plants and machines that deliver candies, toys and fine clothes, to finally settle in soft comfortable beds.
The dream is cut short by their mother, and the pair awaken to dissapointment, realizing they are still hungry.
The mother leads the children another room to reveal the baker [first scene], a toy maker and a tailor who have laid the room with fine clothes, toys and a feast.

To conclude, this is a beautiful animation, and probably one of the reasons I am in animation today, it is one of my earliest memories and certainly a magical short animation that can warm the heart of even the coldest scrouge.


BIBLIOGRAPHY

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Author: Rik Todd
Title: Somewhere in Dreamland
Date: 2006
Date Link last proved active: 01/02/09
URL: http://cinema4celbloc.blogspot.com/2006/04/somewhere-in-dreamland-1936.html