The Daydreamer is a wonderful piece of artfully combined live-action and stop-motion animation, also combining several classic folk tales. But what stuck in my mind since I first saw it in 1967 was Hayley Mills' poignant vocal on "Wishes & Teardrops", among the most intimate and affecting performances I have ever heard, an overlooked gem. Mills has a brittle vibrato which uncannily matches the undersea motif of her character, the Little Mermaid, and combined with the faintly comic bubble sounds in the background and lush orchestral accompaniment to her unusual surprisingly powerful alto range reminiscent of Karen Carpenter, and a thoroughly natural and idiomatic interpretation, produces a powerfully intimate connection reinforced by a superlative lyric impeccably matched to a captivating musical theme and a perfect choice of 3/4 waltz time signature, so evocative of the sea, a musicality reminiscent of Debussy's La Mer. Although this apparently represents Ms. Mills' sole adult commercial musical work, for me it's easily worth a lifetime of contribution to the universe of music. Almost half a century later, it still feels as if I'm hearing it for the first time.
Review of The Daydreamer
