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| Technicolor romance and upbeat fun is promised on this poster for Charles Vidor's Hans Christian Andersen |
Hans Christian Andersen goes with the orphan Peter from Odense in Funen to the capital city Copenhagen in 19th century Denmark, where he becomes hired at the ballet and falls in love with an already wed ballerina, all the while he finds inspiration for countless of his famous fairytales.
Hans Christian Andersen is written by Moss Hart (Gentleman's Agreement (1947)), with Ben Hecht (Casino Royale (1967)) contributing uncredited work, based on a story by Myles Connolly (Between Us Girls (1942)), and directed by Charles Vidor (Sensation Hunters (1933)). It is very loosely based on the life and fairy tales of Danish author Hans Christian Andersen (1805-75).
The story is completely preposterous make-believe, and the style is saturated with sentimentality and unreality. - Yet Hans Christian Andersen is nevertheless very terribly charming and visually attractive: Enormous and very well-made sets, gorgeously full Technicolor, a longer mermaid ballet sequence in the middle of the film, which is pure old Hollywood spectacle and more esteem the film immensely: Not least the camera work (by cinematographer Harry Stradling Sr. (Penelope (1966))), which - in a very gay and possibly (it has always been speculated that Andersen was homosexual) apt observation, - nurses Danny Kaye's (On the Double (1961)) Andersen in scenes with the handsome Joseph Walsh (Anzio (1968)) as his teenage assistant Peter. Their relation is acted with an unmistakable - although of course entirely platonic - tenderness.
Farley Granger (Black Beauty (1978, miniseries)) is good as the ridiculously big-headed ballet director. The realism is nowhere to be found in Hans Christian Andersen, SPOILER and the film's proposition that Andersen's inspiration for his The Ugly Duckling story for instance came from his meeting a beautiful, bald boy is laughable. But Kaye is wonderful. And Hans Christian Andersen is a delightfully strange and lovely film.
Related posts:
Charles Vidor: A Farewell to Arms (1957) or, Love in Spite!
The Bridge/The Spy (1929) - Time-playing fine short debut of Charles Vidor
Watch a trailer for the film here
Cost: 4 mil. $
Box office: 6 mil. $ (North-American rentals alone)
= Uncertain but likely at least a box office success (projected return of 3 times its cost)
[Hans Christian Andersen premiered 25 November (New York) and runs 112 minutes. Kaye was paid 200k $ for his performance. Shooting took place in California. The film was the 4th highest-grossing in North America with 6 mil. $ in rentals. With a projected world gross of 12 mil. $, the film would rank as a box office success. It was nominated for 6 Oscars, winning none: It lost Best Art Direction/Set Decoration - Color to Moulin Rouge, Cinematography - Color to Winton C. Hoch and Artie Stout for The Quiet Man, Costume Design - Color to Moulin Rouge, Original Song (Thumbelina by Frank Loesser) to High Noon (Do Noke Forsake Me, Oh My Darlin') from High Noon by Dimitri Tiomkin and Ned Washington, Score - Musical (Walter Scharf) to Alfred Newman for With a Song in My Heart and Sound to The Sound Barrier. It was also nominated for 2 Golden Globes, among other honors. Vidor returned with Rhapsody (1954). Kaye returned in Knock on Wood (1954). 5k+ users have given Hans Christian Andersen a 3.9/5 rating at Rotten Tomatoes.]
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