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Billy Ollie Through painfully honest and emotional moments, the movie becomes irresistibly relatable

thejcowboy22 Before we get started I was always captivated by a spinner of yarns, a great storyteller who has you hanging on every word as your mind is fixated in their world. I remember going to sleep listening to the radio with the help of Jean Shepard and his stories growing up in America's mid west during the early part of the twentieth century. Bill Cosby with his take on urban life in Philadelphia with his unique cast of characters. Or the deep country humor from Jerry Clower doing his southern fried narratives will transport you to the needle in the hayloft before the end of the story. Most of these individuals have checkered pasts and their character can be questioned. I 'm only basing them on their storytelling. Hans Christian Anderson Denmark's storybook king of children's fables is no different as his character was in questioned through out his lonely life. The Producers at Samuel Goldwyn and Screenwriter Moss Hart took this master of the fairy tales and spun this movie into a fictitious story telling cobbler who allures the young impressionable Danish children away from the school master. Time and time again Hans the cobbler (Danny Kaye) would keep the children engaged in his stories about naked emperors while the Schoolmaster would threatened to leave the town if the cobbler doesn't stop his antics in disrupting precious school time. Some viewers would analyze this as a form of pedophilia or even a gay sub-text. Regardless I found these scenes regarding the children very tasteful throughout the picture. Peter, Han's assistant played by Joseph Walsh convinces Hans to trek out to Copenhagen and take some time off when in reality the townspeople are infuriated with his disruptions with their children. Hans takes Peter's impromptu advice and walks alone along the countryside. Peter joins Hans with his entire cobbler wagon in tow figuring they have to support themselves while visiting the "City of Towers". Hans and Peter take the boat ride over as the crew sings "Wonderful Wonderful Copenhagen". Upon their arrival Hans performs his formal introduction to the merchants but Hans makes a fatal mistake buy standing on a sacred statue and is arrested. Peter escapes the law and runs for cover in a theater storage room where he overhears two ballet personnel argue about ballet shoes as their prima ballerina is complaining about comfort. Peter comes forward and offers Han as an expert cobbler. The Ballet manager releases Hans from Jail as Hans is employed by the royal ballet company as the ballerina's personal cobbler. Hans gets more than he bargains for as he is smitten with the ballerina's loveliness. The Ballerina is played by the very French Jeanmaire. There's one problem Doro our ballerina is married to the hostile and volatile director of the ballet played perfectly by Farley Granger. The extreme range of the couple will throw you as one minute there at each others throats and the next they are billing and cooing to each other like nothing ever happened. Jeanmaire carries herself as the lovely Dora who plays with Han's emotions. Hans is outraged which leads him to write the story of The Little Mermaid and our story continues. There is also a little bit of Walter Mitty in this film as Hans dreams of his wedding day to the lovely Dora in a well put together sketch. The appeal of this movie is the life lessons Hans shares with the children as each story is accompanied by song. One huge flaw is the long Ballet scene at the end of the movie which to this day doesn't hold my attention. I had nothing but plaudits for song writer and musical director Frank Loesser. The lyrics have a lesson or moral within the narrative verbally orchestrated by the shear genius of the master Danny Kaye. The thing I find most interesting about Danny Kaye movies is the tongue twisting lyrics and songs that flow so naturally out of his mouth. Thumbalina , The Ugly Duckling songs are poignant and should be shared with current generations. The homely skinny Daniel Kaminsky, the kid from Brooklyn become a very fine swan indeed!

beresfordjd I saw this as a child and it enchanted me and it stayed with me for years. How disappointed was I as a grown up that it had dated so badly. It was annoying and trite and made me a little uncomfortable. Danny Kaye was a favourite of mine many years ago with his Mitty movie and The Court Jester ( the pellet with the poison routine still cracks me up). He was rather subdued in this film and I now find the songs I loved too cheesy and very much fifties. The ballet sequences are terrifically staged and still work brilliantly. Who knew Zizi Jeanmaire was the person in Peter Sarsted's song?! Perhaps it still works for children even now but not for adults. The songs I remember were a staple of fifties radio and are a part of my childhood and speak of a much more innocent time.

mike48128 Samuel Goldwyn was a genius. This is an oft-overlooked classic where the songs (by Frank Loesser) are better known than the movie: "Wonderful, Wonderful Copenhagen", "Inchworm", "Ugly Duckling" and "Thumbelina."Presented as a fairy tale, it bears no resemblance to a biography of Hans Christian Andersen, and says so right at the beginning. Hans is a cobbler in an obscure Danish village and wants nothing more out of life that the right to enjoy it and tell stories to the children. The schoolmaster wants Hans to leave town because he disrupts the school. He is persuaded by his "apprentice" to visit Copenhagen. So he does. He falls in love with a beautiful ballerina there.(Jeanmarie) He fantasizes marrying her and writes the story of "The Little Mermaid," which becomes a successful ballet with her in the starring role. He makes special ballet slippers for the ballerina to wear. He returns home, after realizing that she is very happily married, where he is now a celebrated author, loved and respected by all the townspeople.The Emperor's New Clothes" (The "King is in the All-Together") is sung to the children, as are all the stories he tells. No animation here, although Walt Disney's Studios were considered. They are all well-acted out by Danny Kaye, especially Thumbelina, with a thumb puppet and a handkerchief. All of his stories have a moral and enrich the lives of the children that hear them.The ballet scenes are a real stand-out, but they might be a little slow for some, and were often shortened for TV viewing. Good special effects, and "flying on wire" to simulate mermaid swimming. Not exactly the Wizard of Oz, but very well-filmed in brilliant Technicolor, with beautiful sets and costumes.Some of the reviewers obviously do not appreciate this movie, making comments about the ballet and the film's dialog. I suppose they think that maybe Danny Kaye was gay just because he sang and danced? He was married and had one child, a daughter, Dora.Danny Kaye gives a somewhat subdued performance here and, as noted before, this film is often overlooked. I believe it is one of his best.

brommersop Firstly the 10 out of 10 is for the songs and NOT for the film itself.Watching this film again for the first time in about 50 years I was again impressed by the Loesser songs. The music, words and rhyming patterns of this man who gave us Guys and Dolls are just perfect for this film.The only part that bored me to tears was the interminable ballet sequence at the end. Fortunately, watching the DVD I could fast forward through this section.I also suspected a subtle homo-erotic subtext in the Andersen scenes with Peter (Joey Walsh) Was that bare-chested scene really necessary? Also the dialog towards the end might subtly suggest this: "Do you mind if I walk beside you? We both seem to be going in the same direction, and there is really only one road." By the way, modern research indicates that Andersen was possibly gay or asexual.