Review of Hans Christian Anderson

Introduction

Inevitably misspelt as "Anderson", Hans Christian Andersen (1952) is one of Danny Kaye`s finest performances in this sentimentalised non-biopic of Denmark`s King of the Fairy Tales. Full of classic Frank Loesser songs (The Ugly Duckling, Wonderful Copenhagen), the picture was custom-designed for Kaye who during the 1940s and into the 1950s was one of America`s top cabaret artistes and box-office stars.

Hans Christian Andersen is one of those perennial childrens` films of the sort tv programme planners and middle-class parents think are good for youngsters - sugary and sentimental while hammering right-wing, authoritarian values into their fragile little minds. Having said that, it is Danny Kaye`s distinctly restrained performance that lends much of the nostalgic charm of the movie. If the movie flags at all it is in the ballerina plot of the story which takes you away from Andersen`s charming storytelling.

Sixteen drafts of the screenplay were attempted up to the version presented here, and at one point Gary Cooper was being considered for the lead - one of those Twilight Zone moments as Kaye`s A Song Is Born (1948) is based on Cooper`s comedy Ball Of Fire (1941). When originally released in Andersen`s homeland, the film was greeted with anti-Semitic protest at Kaye portraying Denmark`s most famous son. In spite of this, the film was a huge international success which can be mostly attributed to Frank Loesser`s charming and catchy score. The song "Thumbelina" got the Oscar® nomination for Best Song.

The closest comparison to the movie is the interminable Grimm World Of The Brothers Wonderful - sorry - Wonderful World Of The Brothers Grimm, the Cinerama spectacle that airs regularly on TCM. Hans Christian Andersen is streets ahead of that picture, but like many movies of the immediate postwar period is inclined to wallow in sentimentality. You might want to watch it first before exposing the smallest members of the family to it, as hankies may be required.

Video

Shot in luxurious Technicolor by Harry Stradling (who earned an Oscar® nomination for his work), the film is reproduced here in its original 4:3 aspect ratio. The picture is not without signs of fifty-three years of wear and tear, but the transfer to DVD has gone a long way to preserving the vibrant colour of the original release. Who knows what could be done with a concerted restoration effort.

Audio

Although made in 1952, the film only carries a somewhat tinny mono soundtrack that has been reproduced without problems in Dolby Digital 2.0. Frank Loesser`s score includes the perennial favourites The Ugly Duckling, Thumbelina, Inchworm, The King`s New Clothes, and of course I`m Hans Christian Andersen. The film is worth getting for these songs alone, and if you can risk hyperglycaemia from the needlessly sugary script you`re on to a winner. Tellytubbie fans will probably lap it up.

Features

As an independent movie - produced by Samuel Goldwyn for Samuel Goldwyn Productions and released through RKO Radio Pictures - the movie has wound up with the company Goldwyn did scant more than found. MGM has released the movie as a bare-bones release, so the movie only comes with multilingual and hard-of-hearing subtitles.

Conclusion

A classic children`s film from the era before they invented post-modern cynicism. Yes its saccharine, yes its preachy and moralistic but it revels in its innocence and there are no more innocent than Danny Kaye`s eponymous hero the cobbler who leaves his village to makes shoes for a prima ballerina in Copenhagen. Full of catchy tunes, you might want to get this one on pure nostalgia grounds even if you don`t have small members of the family who tend to try to watch digestive biscuits on the DVD player.