Lack of good storyline.

Brilliant and touching

If the ambition is to provide two hours of instantly forgettable, popcorn-munching escapism, it succeeds.

The tone of this movie is interesting -- the stakes are both dramatic and high, but it's balanced with a lot of fun, tongue and cheek dialogue.

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!

My vote is largely for the superb score by Frank Loesser; written a scant two years after his great Broadway masterpiece Guys And Dolls the most striking thing about it is its complete difference to the Broadway musical with the only commonality being the melodic melodies and literate lyrics. Danny Kaye, of course, phones it in, and whilst its easy to see how a child may be captivated by his easy charm the adult will note the cynicism at work and the calculation that goes into every smile to ensure just the right amount of sincerity, not too little, not too much, in some ways Kaye was the Olivier of the cinema. On the other hand Sam Goldwyn clearly instructed his creative team to come up with an entertaining, schmaltzy musical full of sentiment and songs and, let's face it, he got just that.

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.

A fictional account of the life of storyteller Hans Christian Andersen. First, if you haven't read his stories, then you probably won't appreciate this movie as much as you should. It's a perfect excuse to read them with your family, then watch the movie. Second, if you're expecting a sophisticated, adult-oriented story, you will be disappointed; however, the morals to Hans' stories, as well as the movie's lessons, are very worthy. That said, the musical numbers are an absolute delight -- Danny Kaye never fails to deliver a wonderful performance, and where else can you learn to sing stories, instead of tell them, for your children? -- and the ballets are great for this venue. We even get to see the movie's choreographer dance in one of the numbers. This movie was nominated for several Oscars. It deserved those nominations. Don't skip this one, especially if you have small children.