Review – Hans Christian Anderson

On the surface the role of one of the great spinners of children’s stories seems like a natural fit with Danny Kaye. When I was a kid I loved listening to a record of Kaye reading Andersen’s stories, so even as an adult I remained more than ready to accept him in the part. The trouble is that it turns out to be a really odd role in a really odd musical. When the protagonist is being clever and telling silly stories to kids, the movie’s charming in a 50s-era juvenile musical kind of a way. However, once the action moves to Copenhagen and gets caught up with the Danish Ballet, the story turns strange. The long dance sequences are more than most kids can reasonably be expected to sit through. And even worse, our hero develops a fixation on the (married) prima ballerina, an affection that at the time of the movie’s original release might have been described as “lovelorn” but now merely evokes the word “stalker.” In short, it’s got too much silly kids’ stuff for most adults and too much arty ballet crap for most kids. Mildly amusing