Far and away, that's the most memorable song in this naïve and dated war-time fantasy, based on the novel "The Enchanted Voyage" by Robert Nathan, directed by Lloyd Bacon.
Since I'm a fan of 20th-Century Fox musicals of the Golden Age, I anticipated a great deal of lively, tuneful fun from "Wake Up and Dream", and I was disappointed by what I saw. A naïve, substandard children's fantasy, it mainly works as heavily sentimental reflection of its war-enshrouded time.
John Payne plays a farmer Jeff Cairn who, after he enlists in the Navy, disappears and is believed to be dead. Connie Marshall is his young sister Nella who is searching for him, along with a good-hearted old coot (Clem Bevans) in a boat called "Sara March".
June Haver, who deserved better than what she got, plays the saccharine waitress Jenny falling in love with Payne and goes along with the voyage, together with an eccentric dentist played by John Ireland.
The highlights are Payne's heartwarming rendition of "Give Me the Simple Life" at the beginning, and then later Haver, in a moment of sweet vulnerability, sings the song to show her love and adoration for Payne.
The Technicolor looks sumptuous, but the story is not that interesting. I suggest you skip it, unless you're interested in the stars or the subject.
Since I'm a fan of 20th-Century Fox musicals of the Golden Age, I anticipated a great deal of lively, tuneful fun from "Wake Up and Dream", and I was disappointed by what I saw. A naïve, substandard children's fantasy, it mainly works as heavily sentimental reflection of its war-enshrouded time.
John Payne plays a farmer Jeff Cairn who, after he enlists in the Navy, disappears and is believed to be dead. Connie Marshall is his young sister Nella who is searching for him, along with a good-hearted old coot (Clem Bevans) in a boat called "Sara March".
June Haver, who deserved better than what she got, plays the saccharine waitress Jenny falling in love with Payne and goes along with the voyage, together with an eccentric dentist played by John Ireland.
The highlights are Payne's heartwarming rendition of "Give Me the Simple Life" at the beginning, and then later Haver, in a moment of sweet vulnerability, sings the song to show her love and adoration for Payne.
The Technicolor looks sumptuous, but the story is not that interesting. I suggest you skip it, unless you're interested in the stars or the subject.