Hans Christian Andersen (1952)

NR12/19/1952Music, Family, Comedy1h 52m
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The glorious story of the greatest storyteller of them all!

Overview

A small-town shoemaker with a knack for spinning yarns, Hans encounters happiness and heartbreak on his road to becoming a full-fledged writer.

Top Billed Cast

  1. Cast 1

    Danny Kaye

    Hans Christian Andersen

  2. Cast 1

    Farley Granger

    Niels

  3. Cast 1

    Zizi Jeanmaire

    Doro

  4. Cast 1

    Joseph Walsh

    Peter

  5. Cast 1

    Philip Tonge

    Otto

  6. Cast 1

    John Qualen

    Burgomaster

  7. Cast 1

    Erik Bruhn

    The Hussar - Danced by

  8. Cast 1

    Roland Petit

    The Prince in 'The Little Mermaid' Ballet

  9. Cast 1

    John Brown

    Schoolmaster

It's quite easy to be harsh with this rather fanciful depiction of the life of the eponymous Danish writer. It doesn't bear much resemblance to the life of the real man, and it's rather episodic construction really doesn't help the film flow particularly well at all. That said, however, Danny Kaye and Charles Vidor have clearly had a powerful vision of what they were trying to achieve - and that isn't a biopic. It's a colourful and large scale series of fantasies that tug at the heart strings, make you smile, wince and tap your toes - just as the vivid imagination of the author would have had ...