I like the storyline of this show,it attract me so much

It is a performances centric movie

An absolute waste of money

Unshakable, witty and deeply felt, the film will be paying emotional dividends for a long, long time.

There is a simplistic naiveté in this fictive family fare telling the story of Danish fairy-tale fabricator H.C. Andersen (Kaye) that lends the movie a tenderness even for the most hard-boiled souls. Charles Vidor's picture gallantly beefs up hooky singing snippets (composed and lyricized by Broadway songwriter Frank Loesser) spawned out of Andersen's world-famous stories (The Ugly Duckling, Thumbelina and The Emperor's New Clothes) with a main through-line of Andersen's infatuation of a prima ballerina Doro (Jeanmaire), which begets the genesis of The Little Mermaid and then is transmuted into a spectacular ballet choreographed by Parisian danseur Roland Petit, grafted onto the climax. In its not-so-complicated story-line, Andersen is dumb-ed down as a happy-go-lucky cobbler, and saddled with a sidekick, the orphan boy Peter (Walsh) who becomes increasingly protective towards him as he fears that Andersen is over the moon with an ungrounded idea that he is the knight-in-shining-armor for Doro, who is married to Niels (Granger, even so bratty and uppity), the troupe's stroppy choreographer. Their marriage comes off as habitually vacillating between lovey- dovey show-off and fiery squabbles, but is far from on the rocks as Andersen postulates, Peter witnesses and understands Doro and Niels' folie-à-deux, but fails to disabuse a hot-to-trot Andersen of his wishful thinking, so a slipshod break-up ensues, the only time Andersen appears as a heartless bastard, although in the end the hatchet will be buried in an equally rash fashion because no one should set feet in between Peter and Andersen, hooray! Danny Kaye has a soothingly mellow voice like a balm to a jaded ear, although his earnest performance is not a showstopper but his congenial amenity is a boon to its family audience, but indeed the money shot here are the ballet sequences, melded with cinematic bravura (its ravishing setting and montage dexterity) without an overarching pomposity and indulgence à la Powell & Pressburger's THE TALES OF HOFFMANN and interlaced with a basic narrative structure, they are condensed to light up the screen within a none-too-wearing allotted screen-time which can at once impress rubberneckers and intrigue balletomanes, for this reason alone, it has a decisive edge over other screen commodities touting the high-brow one-upmanship!

Danny Kaye is well-cast, if exceptionally low-keyed, in title role of storytelling Danish cobbler in the 1820s who travels to Copenhagen in search of a better life and winds up falling in love with an already-married ballerina. Moss Hart's screenplay doesn't attempt to follow the actual journey the real-life Hans Christian Andersen took to get from shoemaker to beloved author, and some of his dramatic incidents fail to cohere (such as Andersen being told by his apprentice that members of the ballet troupe were laughing at him, or Andersen landing a writing job at the newspaper but leaving town instead). There are two ballet sequences and a fantasy wedding which are lovely in design but slow down the pacing (the first ballet--a dress rehearsal--actually has nothing whatsoever to do with Andersen); in the meantime, we see Hans arrested for something he didn't do, while a moody kid who doesn't go to school enters and exits the scenario at whim. The pleasant Frank Loesser songs are hummable though not singable, while the proverbial saccharin-factor is kept at a minimum thanks to an even-handed direction by Charles Vidor. ** from ****

Artistically, "Hans Christian Anderson" is wonderful to look at with beautifully designed sets and costumes and a sprightly score that uses his fairy-tales for inspiration. And there's no doubt that DANNY KAYE was highly suited to this kind of material with its major appeal for children.But there are drawbacks--the biggest one being the length which drags in spots and is uneven throughout. The performances are fine and almost make you forget that the slow spots are there. FARLEY GRANGER is fine as the ballet director dealing with a temperamental ballet star JEANMAIRE. However, it doesn't help that the climactic LITTLE MERMAID ballet is dull and much too long.The score saves the picture from being too sappy at times, with numbers like "Thumbalina," "The Ugly Duckling" and "Wonderful Copenhagen" that brighten the story with clever lyrics and sprightly tunes.Kaye is less frenetic than usual as Hans and overall it's one of his best performances. Children should love it.

This is a movie that's based on the life of the Danish storyteller, H.C.Andersen (1805-1875).Except that it's not.It's more like a fairy tale of his life.Hans is a cobbler living in Odense, a small town in Denmark.He keeps telling fairy tales to local children, which makes the schoolmaster furious, since they rather listen to those fairy tales than attend classes.They then decide Hans has to leave.Hans' apprentice Peter doesn't tell him this, but awakes his old dream of going to Copenhagen.The pair sails off to big city, where he meets a beautiful ballerina, Doro.He falls in love with her immediately.Later he finds out she's married to her tyrannical impresario Niels.But he still keeps his dream alive of having her.Also, one of his tales, The Ugly Duckling, gets published in the Gazette newspaper.And The Little Mermaid is made into a ballet.It is Doro who gets to dance the lead.Hans Christian Andersen is directed by Charles Vidor.It's writers are Myles Connolly, Moss Hart and Ben Hecht.Samuel Goldwyn is the producer.This was his final production for RKO Radio Release.Danny Kaye is just the right man to play the lead.He was a great comedian, and he could nail the more serious roles, as well.The part of Doro is played by the now 85 years old ballet dancer Zizi Jeanmaire.This is her first film role.Farley Granger plays the husband Niels.Also her real life husband, Roland Petit, is in the movie as The Prince in The Little Mermaid ballet.The part of Peter is played by Joseph "Joey" Walsh.Philip Tonge is Otto.John Brown plays Schoolmaster.John Qualen is Burgomaster.Ex-dancer Sylvia Lewis is seen as Danseuse/Corps de Ballet.This is a wonderful film for kids and for the inner kids of us adults.It's a great musical with lots of brilliant songs that bring you in a good mood.Wonderful Copenhagen is very catchy.As are many other songs, including The King's New Clothes and I'm Hans Christian Andersen..It's a sweet moment when Hans sings the song of Thumbelina to the little girl outside the jail.The song was nominated for an Academy Award.Also a sweet moment is when he sings the tale of The Ugly Duckling to a friendless boy, who's head has been shaved due to illness.This is a positive movie, that shows us there's nothing a fairy tale can't fix.Of course life's not like that most of the times, but in a fairy tale anything is possible.