edwagreen A lovely film to inspire children and adults of all ages is this 1952 Charles Vidor directed film starring Danny Kaye, the magnificent, in the title role.With songs such as Wonderful, Wonderful Copenhagen and Thumbalina, how can you go wrong.As the cobbler who spins his tales to children, Kaye is inspiring as he finds the true meaning of life when he and the orphan he has adopted leave their small town in Denmark to travel to the big city of Copenhagen. Falling in with a tempestuous ballet coordinator, Farley Granger, and his wife Jeanmaire, Andersen sees the very difficult Granger and falling in love with his wife,the ballerina, he writes a ballet, The Little Mermaid for her.When he realizes at the end the two despite their differences love each other, he returns with Peter to the small town to bask in his triumph of success as he once more sings and tells his stories to children.

MarieGabrielle as many other reviews have aptly described the technical aspects, it should be noted that this film was made for a younger audience, and unfortunately there are not many we see today, which may be cited for quality and originality.In particular, "The Ugly Duckling" story and "The Boy Who Cried Wolf" story- how many children have not read or even heard of these fables today? While it is a storybook land, small tales like this stay with us, which we may pass on to our children.This film used to be on during the 60's and 70's and was always a Christmas favorite. This along with "White Christmas" and "Rudolf" are a few I would heartily recommend for the holiday season. 9/10.

kd4ttc A few comments have been made about the ballet in this movie. More needs to be said. The ballet is really just wonderful. I am not a ballet fan, but this dance spoke to me. The movie itself tells a story of unattainable love and the ballet is placed in the movie at the point that Hans has just tried to approach the ballerina at the theater. The ballet then tells the story of the Little Mermaid in dance and ends with the little mermaid walking back to the sea. Thereafter Hans has the same experience. This was a much more enjoyable ballet than others I have seen, I think largely because in film one doesn't have the scene changes that are inherent in an on-stage presentation. Critics back in 1952 thought that the ballet was one of the best ballet performances that had ever been brought to the screen. In addition, that ballerina, ZiZi Jeanmaire, could act. Her performance as an woman in an odd relationship who found herself touched by Han's affections was nicely done.The more you read about Hans Christian Anderson, the more you appreciate this movie. Anderson's approach to his stories was, as he said, to take an adult theme and tell the story in a way children would enjoy it, but to have elements that adults would appreciate. This movie accomplishes this very well. Anderson's father was a cobbler. Anderson originally lived in Odense, a town that at that time was wedded to the past and tradition, who expected that people would remain in their class. He moved to Copenhagen where he found support and success. Eventually he started grammar school on a royal scholarship but was subjected to a stern schoolmaster who sought to put Anderson in his place and punish Anderson for his creative streak. Anderson was rescued by the kindness of others who saw his gift for writing. The movie itself tells the story of Hans Christian Anderson. As Anderson took an adult idea and made a children's story, this movie takes Anderson's life as a concept and relates a story that is enjoyable by children, but has much to say to adults watching. Anderson was confident of his abilities as a writer and movie Hans sang with confidence at to being a cobbler. He publicly courted two women both of which were unobtainable to him, and his infatuation with the ballerina in the movie paralleled this, as well as simultaneously expressing Anderson's love of ballet. He was also attracted to men, in later years one was a ballet dancer. The previous post about homo-eroticism with the boy in the movie being shirtless in one scene probably reflects that. (The movie doesn't have sexual tension between them. It is a father-son relationship.) For 4 years Anderson was at a school with a stern disciplinarian headmaster. The inchworm song, where the children in the background sing a rote sequence of math facts while movie Hans sings how the inchworm plods along measuring but ends up oblivious to the beauty of the flower was a short fable which both drew on Anderson's life and told a story to children, which was exactly the sort of thing Anderson would have done. Anderson frequently gave magical qualities to inanimate objects in his stories, and the scene where movie Hans had the table and chair relating to each other was charming in the same way. Another scene, where movie Hans tells the ugly ducking song to a child who had lost his hair ended with a shot of a policeman who was standing nearby giving Hans a nod and a smile to Hans for having done a kind thing for a child, which echo's how adults see messages in Anderson's stories. Anderson was not appreciated initially in his native Denmark, but after he had international success he gained great fame in Denmark. When he eventually returned to Odense he was welcomed a hero, which was reflected in the film and was a line where movie Hans said how nice it would be to return home well regarded for his success away from home. There was even a little match girl seen in the movie.Even the casting of Danny Kaye as Hans was inspired. Anderson was tall, lanky, awkward, and homely, but had a sweet melodious voice, and was able to tell stories so well that one forgot who was telling them and became enveloped in the story itself. Other than awkwardness, this was Danny Kaye.As many of Anderson's fairy tales were metaphors of his life, this movie is a metaphor of Anderson's life. Within the movie there is the ballet of the Little Mermaid. Thus there is metaphor within metaphor in the movie. There is subtlety in how this movie expresses facets of Anderson's life as there is subtlety in Anderson's fairy tales. Steve Hollandhttp://www.endicott-studio.com/jMA03Summer/hans.htmlhttp://www.powells.com/review/2005_06_03.html

allthings49 Watching this again (for only the second time) last night, I was just knocked out by the score. Presumably because of a Broadway-is-better-than-Hollywood bias, the piece tends to be dismissed in the Loesser oeuvre but every single number is a gem -- and the fullest score for a "family fantasy" since THE WIZARD OF OZ. I was particularly taken by INCH WORM, a really short song sung in counterpoint to the children's chanting of their mathematic tables after the schoolmaster has dragged them away from Hans' tales. Not long enough to have a commercial future (outside of a soundtrack album) it tells us more about Hans than most of the scene that precedes it.As others have noted, Danny Kaye is totally bearable and the kitsch side of the film is now enjoyable for that. (The colours also recall WIZARD.)This film deserves more recognition in the world of original film musicals. It's a rare classic score at the time of composer compilations or Broadway imports.