Hans Christian Andersen [DVD]

I absolutely loved this movie growing up and this is a beautiful copy! I love the hardback book cover. The blu ray quality is excellent as well and came with lots of bonus features.

I loved watching this video as a kid at my grandparent's house. It was "vintage" then and a treasure now. They don't make movies like this anymore. This one reminds me of the style used in the 50's version of Babes in Toyland.

Hans Christian Andersen (1805-75) was an Ugly Duckling. He lived in the third largest town Odense, in Denmark. The son of a cobbler he was poverty ridden and a failure as an actor and it wasn't until he moved to Copenhagen and won the patronage of Frederick VI, through his poetry, that he wrote his fairy tales and developed into a swan. Like many artists he wasn't particularly happy, and never did marry, although he was very fond of Jenny Lind (1820-87) the Swedish Nightingale a soprano given the name by P.T. Barnum during her tour of the United States between 1850-52.) Charles Vidor's film does state at the beginning, This is not the story of Hans Christian Andersen but a fairy tale about the great spinner of fairy tales. The Danes objected to the way Hans Christian Andersen was portrayed even though Goldwyn had rejected 21 previous manuscripts, so the film company inserted this statement in the credits. Danny Kaye with his chiselled features does resemble H.C.Andersen when looking at his profile, but apart from this facial feature that's where it stops. Kaye had dark hair but Hollywood soon changed that and he became a blonde, Andersen also had dark hair but he kept it that way. Unlike some earlier musicals, this film does have a strong story line with loads of songs written by "Baby, It's Cold Outside", Frank Loessen, such as Thumbelina, Ugly Duckling, No Two People, and of course Wonderful Copenhagen. The scenery is very clever, the backgrounds look like illustrations from fairy tale books, but as the camera zooms in to the foreground the buildings and props become three dimensional similar to a pop-up-book. There are four ballet scenes that I probably found boring back in `52, but revisiting them now, they are visually very interesting, technically I wouldn't know if they are good or mediocre but for a Hollywood musical film, four ballets must of taken an enormous amount of consideration seeing as the film is really for kids. Once again the backdrops for the ballets also resemble fairy tale illustrations and pop-up-books. Instead of a soprano, Andersen falls in love with a ballet dancer and here's a musical that doesn't have a very happy ending because poor Hans gets mixed up with a married woman. The ballet dancer Doro, is played by Zizi Jeanmaire, and is married to Niels played by Farley Granger. During the last part of the film, the audience is taken behind the scenes of the ballet company playing at the Royal Theater in Copenhagen, but this isn't a film of a show included in a show, similar to earlier musicals, but an uplifting musical film with lots of music with catchy tunes helped by a ton of children. The last ballet scene takes 17 minutes, quite long for a popular movie. In the film Hans writes a story especially for his love Doro, unfortunately Niels locks him in a cupboard so Andersen never sees her perform but has to use his imagination. The ballet takes place on land and under the ocean. The surface waves are pop-up so that the dancers can be seen dancing in between the swells, it's really very clever visually, and there's no trickery here. Under the sea filled with monsters and witches, the heroine is probably attached to a pulley so that she can be seen swimming for the surface. There are no blue screens in this film, all effects are up-front and work perfectly similar to a staged ballet. Once again the technicolor process is used and this enhances the fairy tale effect with vivid colors. Hans Christian Andersen fairy stories are not violent when compared to the Grimm brothers, but the themes usually have a lesson, and in the story written for Doro's ballet, "The Little Mermaid," it is saying that aiming for the stars does not always bring happiness, but then of course Walt Disney hadn't yet arrived on the scene and he soon changed that philosophy.

I remember loving the songs from when I was little, and when I had the opportunity to get the film I jumped on it. The story was pretty lame, and from what I understand was not exactly and accurate view of Hans Christian Anderson. Still, Danny Kaye was great, and if you can get past the almost boring story that a lot of 50's movies suffered from, it is worth watching!

This is about the life and Times Hans Christian Anderson. From a poor cobbler to a famous writer. What inspired him to write his stories. The imagination his stories have brought to children to this day. The talents of comedian Danny Kaye in a serious role. He does it beautifully. Good talent can not be faked.

This review is more for the blu ray release than for the film itself. The movie is superb on many levels.As for the blu ray release, it offers a slight upgrade over the dvd. It's not a crisp HD transfer as some other films offer although you can notice a slight improvement in the colors. The sound is average.There are no extras or "making of" features other than the theatrical trailer. The blu ray case is a short booklet of pictures and brief articles on the film.With that said, the original dvd had been hard to come by for years and so this blu ray is a welcome release. I would recommend purchasing it over the dvd for the slight upgrade in quality but don't expect an amazingly crisp HD picture. It might be worth waiting for it to drop below $20 for a better deal.

Great movie. Danny Kaye sings beautifully. Sings are classics.

I am so sorry that not one reviewer is saying the one most amazing thing about this movie is about Hans Christian Anderson himself. Yes, the movie is one of the greatest children's movies(ok, I am prejudiced, my mother was a singer and did ballet). But H.C. Anderson was a real, honest-to-God author. He wrote The Little Mermaid, The Emperor's New Clothes, Thumbelina, The Ugly Duckling, The Little Match Girl, to name a few. If anyone has any negative things to say about this remarkable movie, they are young and have been raised by this insensitive, desensitized world, where everything and everyone has been told that good is bad, bad is good and if youdont agree then you are one of the 'bad people.' God bless those who made this movie. Every minute was perfect. Even the schoolmaster redeemed in the end.

Used but arrived in good time. I haven’t checked it yet.

One of the all time favourites with Danny Kaye playing the main part. You can’t resist singing along with the songs. Brilliant.

Forget you're an adult and enjoy that kind of movie full of poetry, beautiful songs by Frank Loesser,ballets withthe said ''Jeanmaire''!( Because we mustn't hear THAT French swearword in the USA_ My God!)But let's be serious andas usual we couldn't be without any admiration before that fantastic actor from another world full of poetic charm:he was called DANNY KAYE! A tender tale, good frames of a good movie's print, you're gonna find it in this DVD.But please, unless you are unable to do it ( of course!) you MUST see and HEAR it in ENGLISH !!Billy.

tout est bien

Loved this film as a child and love as an adult ,price quality excellent nothing else to say but ENJOY