Il favoloso Andersen

Whoever reviewed this film for Maltin's Guide (I wish they'd indicate who the reviewer is by initials or something. It'd make the book more useful) does not share my tastes. I personally don't care that it bears no relation to Andersen's life. They admit it up front. Judge a film by itself, not on it's supposed relation to reality! Given Andersen's real life and his moody, pessemistic nature, I doubt being more accurate would have been a good thing. The score is beautiful, the sets and Costumes are great and Danny Kaye was wonderful! I haven't seen the movie for a couple of years and I stll remember most of the score! Granted, it's not one of the all-time greats, but it's better than the Maltin review implies. A worthy effort. Recommended.

Every single biopic of a creative artist tells the same story, whether it's true or not: the Philistine World, or some part thereof, rejects the artist, and fails to see his greatness; but later on, perhaps during his lifetime, perhaps not, it sees the error of its ways. That happens here. Hans Christian Andersen is a village cobbler whose compulsive inventiveness is little thought of until he makes good in Copenhagen, after which...

But there's much more going on.

There's no doubt that Andersen was a great artist, in some sense. `The Ugly Duckling' and `The Emperor's New Clothes' are two of the greatest short stories - fables, folktales - all of these - ever composed. But he had his limitations. There were many kinds of stories he just couldn't write. His fertile talent for anthropomorphising was often a millstone. In many respects he seems to have been a childish and naive man. But get this: all of these limitations make it onto the screen. Both the story and Danny Kaye's performance (a great performance) make Andersen into a human being who is NOT the greatest storyteller since Shakespeare, but who can be admired for what he is.

The main story isn't the `unrecognised genius' bit: it's a story of unrequited love. While in Copenhagen Andersen spends most of his time banging his head against the wall over an unattainable ballerina, whose interest in him is, as they say, purely professional. He manages to be quite cruel to a close friend in the process, right up to the point where it's unclear that a reconciliation is possible. (Indeed, it's unclear whether or not one occurs.) When he realises what a fool he's been he just trudges back, defeated, to his village. And it's here we have the obligatory scene where the villagers realise how great he was after all, mainly by singing the highly memorable refrains of the movie's songs, one after the other. Well, the film needed some ending. I'm inclined to forgive this one.

There's also a lengthy Little Mermaid ballet - seven minutes long? more? - danced in its entirety. (We see a LOT of the ballerina's craft in Copenhagen.) This sort of thing wasn't too unusual in the 1950s but it's a genuine gamble in context - and one that I think pays off. By the time the ballet appears the cheery story of an eccentric village storyteller had become surprisingly dark. Vidor, it seems, would rather risk having people leave the cinema than insult those who remain. Good for him. I can't claim that this film works in every respect, and perhaps you won't like it, but I'm sure you won't feel cheated by it.

This rather sophisticated musical appears to have been inspired by the visionary and dreamy Powell/Pressburger classic THE RED SHOES. It's as much a stylized romance as it is a kiddie picture, with Kaye refraining from indulging in the manic twittering he's generally known for, and becoming a rather poignant protagonist. That's not to say the whole family can't get something out of it, but the script makes no small point of creating sexual tension within it's romantic framework. Goldwyn wanted to make this picture for years, but couldn't find a script to satisfy him. Moss Hart finally came up with this one, and it's a surprisingly multi-dimensional one. Frank Loesser's music and lyrics are wonderful.

So the opening written words say to us the very thing that many across the movie forums have failed to spot, namely that they wasn't going for first tier autobiographical on this! just a celebration of the name and his work is all.

Who better to bring the great Dane to the screen than the ebullient Danny Kaye, his exuberant approach to the topic befits the glorious colour that positively sparkles in every frame of Charles Vidor's film.

The story tracks the Cobbler Andersen as he leaves his hometown of Odense to seek a new life in the beautiful city of Copenhagen. It is here that he becomes known for his stories that bring about much joy to the children of Denmark - and here that he writes his glorious ballet version of The Little Mermaid. He gets into scrapes, he falls for a pretty girl, and most of all he discovers his vocation in life, this is indeed a delightful fairytale in itself.

Sit back and enjoy The Emperor's New Clothes, Wonderful Copenhagen, Thumberlina and The Ugly Duckling, and then fall silenct for the 15 minute showing of The Little Mermaid in all its balletic glory. Hans Christian Andersen is a smashingly buoyant film, one that may come wrapped up in treacle for some folk, but for those of us with a sweet filmic tooth then the pleasures are there to be had. 8/10

"Once upon a time there lived in Denmark a great storyteller named Hans Christian Andersen. This is not the story of his life, but a fairy tale about the great spinner of fairy tales." This is a roundabout way of saying that this story of Andersen is NOT actually a biography and any resemblance to him and his life is strictly coincidental!! For folks like me who are retired history teachers, this is a very bad way to begin a story.

The story is very much a mixed bag. On the positive side, Danny Kaye is incredibly charming in the title role, at least most of the time. The film also is beautifully made...and looks marvelous. A few of the songs are delights. But what keeps this film from being better is the story....and Andersen's creepy fixation on a young ballerina. This actually isn't too far fetched for the real Andersen...as he had a habit of becoming infatuated with unattainable women. But this portion of the film ALSO brought with it ballet...lots and lots and lots of ballet. In fact, a very large chunk of the film consists of ballet...which is just fine if you like ballet AND thought the film was mostly about ballet. However, for me, it just frustrated the heck out of me...and eventually I found myself fast forwarding through this...it was just something I didn't enjoy and it seemed very much out of place in a family film. I am sure a lot of kids loved parts of the film...and practically died as they had to sit through all that dancing!