Advertised variously as a "musical romance" and an "operetta style drama", Children of Dreams was the last of three Warner Bros. musicals written directly for the screen by Sigmund Romberg and Oscar Hammerstein II. The story revolves around a group of singing migrant workers, laboring away in a Western apple orchard. One of the more talented of the workers, pretty Molly Standing (Margaret Schilling), manages to achieve fame and fortune as an opera star. This turn of events was reportedly inspired by the career of real-life diva Anna Case, who is about the only New York stage personality not seen in this picture. Children of Dreams offers a few amusing turns by vaudevillian Tom Patricola and by Show Boat's original "Captain Andy," Charles Winnigner.
by Hal Erickson
synopsis
