The Summary for this unviewed film was based on contemporary reviews and information from AMPAS library production files.
       According to the 21 Feb 1975 LAT review, the documentary ends with statistical information about the U.S. military’s support of Spanish dictator General Francisco Franco. The film is dedicated to the 3,200 troops in the Abraham Lincoln Brigade, half of whom were killed in the Spanish Civil War. The picture combined color film shot by cinematographer Stevan Larner, black-and-white newsreel footage of Depression-era America and Spanish battlegrounds during the war, and an “illegally made Spanish underground film” which depicted student protests, striking workers and police brutality. According to the 19 Feb 1975 HR review, the black-and-white film of “anti-government activity” was illegally smuggled out of Spain.
       As stated in his 11 Apr 2008 NYT obituary, producer-director-writer-narrator Abe Osheroff was a political activist from the time of his youth in Brooklyn, NY. Soon after joining his first demonstration at age twelve, Osheroff was arrested for moving evicted tenants back into their apartments. He later worked as a labor organizer for steelworkers and coal miners and eventually ran for office in the New York Legislature as a Communist Party member. Osheroff was reportedly inspired to volunteer for the Abraham Lincoln Brigade after watching newsreel footage of German planes bombing Guernica, Spain, and on his voyage to the Civil War in May 1937, Osheroff’s ship sunk, forcing him to swim two miles to shore. After four combat missions, Osheroff returned home in August 1938 with a shattered knee. Osheroff continued to fight for social justice at home and abroad, but he was persecuted by the U.S. government’s House Un-American Activities Committee (HUAC) for being a Communist and often led a transient lifestyle. In 1956, Osheroff ended his affiliation with the Communist Party but remained politically active throughout his life, protesting the Vietnam War and defying real estate developers in Venice Beach, CA. He produced an unreleased documentary about Spanish Civil War posters, Art in the Struggle for Freedom, in 2000. Screenings of Dreams and Nightmares often accompanied Osheroff’s public speaking engagements. According to NYT, Osheroff contended that an international victory over Franco during the Spanish Civil War would have prevented WWII. Various contemporary sources, including the film’s 26 Apr 1974 NYT review, noted that Dreams and Nightmares was more successful as a personal memoir than as a documentary.
       The NYT review, as well as Box on 20 May 1974, listed director-editor Larry Klingman as the film’s producer instead of Osheroff; however, as of Sep 2012, no sources were available with conclusive information about which man produced the picture.
       The film premiered in Los Angeles, CA, on 23 Feb 1975 at the Los Feliz Theater, but only played for one day, according to the 21 Feb 1975 LAT review.