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Movies that are 'all a dream', but you're told from the beginning

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Movies that are 'all a dream', but you're told from the beginning

Old 08-28-14, 02:29 PM
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Movies that are 'all a dream', but you're told from the beginning

We shouldn't need spoilers for this. It's common for TV sitcoms (or was, when dream episodes were common) to let the viewer know, at the beginning, that a character was dreaming the events. But I've wondered if there are any movies that let you know from the outset that it's going to be a dream. The only one I can think of is the Abbott and Costello version of Jack and the Beanstalk (1952). Babysitter Costello falls asleep and dreams he's Jack. The movie is assumed to be public domain and is readily available online.

Anyone know of other instances?

Last edited by digidoh; 08-28-14 at 02:54 PM. Reason: Spelling airurr
Old 08-28-14, 02:35 PM
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Re: Movies that are 'all a dream', but you're told from the beginning

They do it in Mulholland Drive, but it's a cue that almost every first time watcher misses and chalks up to David Lynch being David Lynch.
Old 08-28-14, 02:48 PM
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Re: Movies that are 'all a dream', but you're told from the beginning

A Nightmare on Elm Street
Old 08-28-14, 03:07 PM
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Re: Movies that are 'all a dream', but you're told from the beginning

Inception duh.
Old 08-28-14, 03:26 PM
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Re: Movies that are 'all a dream', but you're told from the beginning

I can think of two right off the bat, but I'm not sure if we're exactly told right at the beginning or not, so even if I put them in spoiler tags and you go in there and they're two films you haven't seen then they'll be spoiled if I'm wrong about being told from the beginning.

What a dilemma.
Old 08-28-14, 06:11 PM
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Re: Movies that are 'all a dream', but you're told from the beginning

Maybe not directly but in Aladdin, the whole movie is a story told by the merchant. Who knows if he's telling the truth, or just trying to peddle his wares with some tale.
Old 08-28-14, 06:21 PM
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Re: Movies that are 'all a dream', but you're told from the beginning

Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind
Old 08-28-14, 06:24 PM
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Re: Movies that are 'all a dream', but you're told from the beginning

The Princess Bride counts, right?
Old 08-28-14, 08:38 PM
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Originally Posted by bluetoast
Maybe not directly but in Aladdin, the whole movie is a story told by the merchant. Who knows if he's telling the truth, or just trying to peddle his wares with some tale.
I think the implication was that the merchant was the Genie after he's lost his powers.
Old 08-28-14, 09:42 PM
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Re: Movies that are 'all a dream', but you're told from the beginning

Jacob's Ladder

I don't think we're told from the beginning though...
Old 08-28-14, 10:54 PM
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Re: Movies that are 'all a dream', but you're told from the beginning

Originally Posted by kd5
[A FILM]I don't think we're told from the beginning though...
No, you certainly weren't. Thanks for spoiling it for everyone who hasn't seen it.
Old 08-28-14, 11:53 PM
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Originally Posted by dugan
No, you certainly weren't. Thanks for spoiling it for everyone who hasn't seen it.
It's not really a dream, although the above post was pretty much a spoiler. However, that movie was released 24 years ago, I don't think we should be worrying about spoilers.
Old 08-29-14, 12:18 AM
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Kermode and Mayo seem to have this discussion every week, I stand by my view that there is no moratorium on plot spoilers. Generations have loved And Then There Were None and Murder on the Orient Express for decades because of their surprises and delightful twists and turns, and it's not fair to assume that "everyone knows." But this was also the kind of thread which was bound to have spoilers in it too....
Old 08-29-14, 07:53 AM
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Re: Movies that are 'all a dream', but you're told from the beginning

Originally Posted by islandclaws
The Princess Bride counts, right?
No, that's not a dream - it's a fairy tale.

All I could think of were films like THE CELL and DREAMSCAPE - but the OP asked for movies that are ALL a dream (or most after a short intro), so I don't think these two apply. I'm not sure INCEPTION applies, either, for the same reason.
Old 08-29-14, 02:37 PM
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Re: Movies that are 'all a dream', but you're told from the beginning

I can't think of any where you are explicitly told right from the beginning that the whole story "is all a dream." That doesn't seem like it would service the plot in any way. The only films I could see doing that would be avant garde art films that are intentionally trying to undermine the traditional narrative experience. Even then, I can't think of any specific examples. Otherwise, it's movies like Inception or Total Recall where there are hints suggesting that everything could be a dream, but nothing stated definitively.
Old 08-29-14, 05:59 PM
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Re: Movies that are 'all a dream', but you're told from the beginning

Old 08-29-14, 08:54 PM
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Re: Movies that are 'all a dream', but you're told from the beginning

The narrative structure of Akira Kurosawa's Dreams is such that we are never told that we are watching a particular character's dreams. It's really just an anthology of different fantasy episodes. We only know they are supposed to be dreams by the title and the fact that the director says so.
Old 08-29-14, 09:37 PM
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Re: Movies that are 'all a dream', but you're told from the beginning

Originally Posted by dugan
No, you certainly weren't. Thanks for spoiling it for everyone who hasn't seen it.
Old 08-31-14, 12:16 PM
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Re: Movies that are 'all a dream', but you're told from the beginning

I came across another one. The 5,000 Fingers of Dr. T. (1953) by Dr. Seuss (!). Like the Abbott and Costello flick, it's a fantasy, and we're told from the outset that it's a dream. A young boy falls asleep practicing at the piano and has a dream/nightmare in which his martinet piano teacher, Hans (Snidely Whiplash) Conried, is now a fiend, holding him and his mother prisoner where 500 children will play his super piano.

Last edited by digidoh; 08-31-14 at 05:51 PM.
Old 08-31-14, 01:58 PM
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Re: Movies that are 'all a dream', but you're told from the beginning

The Jack Benny comedy "The Horn Blows at Midnight (1945) is one. As a trumpeter for a radio show orchestra, he falls asleep & dreams that he's an angel sent down to earth to blow his trumpet for the Final Judgement at midnight.

This one you don't know it's a dream until the end:

Spoiler:
Invaders From Mars

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