It’s no secret that the Hollywood Comet loves musicals.
In 2010, I revealed I had seen 400 movie musicals over the course of eight years. Now that number is over 500. To celebrate and share this musical love, here is my weekly feature about musicals.

This week’s musical:
“Hans Christian Andersen” –Musical #46

Studio:
Samuel Goldwyn Productions

Director:
Charles Vidor

Starring:
Danny Kaye, Farley Granger, Zizi Jeanmaire

Plot:
A fictitious telling of the life of Hans Christian Andersen. The film was not meant to be a biography of Andersen’s life but a “fairy tale about this great spinner of fairy tales,” said producer Samuel Goldwyn.
Hans Christian Andersen (Kaye) is shoe cobbler and journeys to Copenhagen. He becomes a cobbler and tells stories such as Thumbelina, The Ugly Duckling and the Emperor’s New Clothes to the local children. With his stories he also become a famous writer. Andersen does work as a cobbler for a temperamental ballerina (Jeanmaire) named Doro and falls in love, not realizing she is married to Niels (Granger). Andersen confesses his secret love by writing the ballet “The Little Mermaid” for Doro. After Doro tells Hans that she is married, he returns home to Odense.

Trivia:

Danny Kaye as Hans Christian Andersen tells stories to village children.

-Goldwyn had writers working on a “Hans Christian Andersen” musical in 1938, but the time was never right to produce it. Before starting, according to the A. Scott Berg biography “Goldwyn.”
-Farley Granger thought the film was ridiculous and said it was beginning to be a joke around town, “Boy meets girl, boy loses girl, boy gets boy,” he said, according to the “Goldwyn” biography.
-“Hans Christian Andersen” cost $4 million to make, according to “Goldwyn.”
-Danes did not appreciate the depiction of Hans Christian Andersen and Andersen scholars said Kaye looked nothing like Andersen, according to “Goldwyn.”
-“Hans Christian Andersen” is the second highest grossing Goldwyn picture behind “The Best Years of Our Lives,” according to “Goldwyn.”
-Actress and ballerina Moira Shearer was supposed to play the role of Doro couldn’t because she was pregnant.
-Samuel Goldwyn originally wanted animated
-Zizi Jeanmaire dances with Roland Petit in the Little Mermaid ballet sequence. The two were married in 1954 and remained married until Petit’s death in 2011.
-The film opened the week of Thanksgiving in 1952. It was first aired on television in 1966.
-Actress Barie Chase has an uncredited role has a ballerina.
-The soundtrack released after the film includes Jane Wyman singing the female songs with Danny Kaye.

Highlights:
-There are two notable dream sequences in the film:
1. Hans falls in love with Doro the ballet dancer has a colorful dream sequence of the couple singing “No Two People.”

2. Andersen gets locked in a closet and can not see the performance of “The Little Mermaid.” As he’s locked in the closet, he imagines how it is performed. The imagined performance is the one he audience sees.

Zizi Jeanmaire as Doro performs the ballet of “The Little Mermaid” in “Hans Christian Andersen” with dancer (and future husband) Roland Petit

Notable Songs:
It’s hard to pick a favorite song from “Hans Christian Andersen” because there are so many lovely songs that are all very catchy:
-“Wonderful Copenhagen” sung by Danny Kaye, Joseph Walsh and sailors (a personal favorite of mine)

-“No Two People” sung by Danny Kaye and Zizi Jeanmaire (but Jane Wyman on the commercial soundtrack release)
-“Thumbelina” sung by Danny Kaye
-“The King’s New Clothes” sung by Danny Kaye
-“Ugly Duckling” sung by Danny Kaye
-“Inchworm” sung by Danny Kaye (another personal favorite)

My review:
I can’t deny that the premise of this film is a little silly. The film and main character named after a real historical figure but purposefully and admittedly has nothing to do with his life?
But I also can’t deny that I love this movie. It’s so light-hearted, happy and lovely.
It’s an interesting change of role for Danny Kaye. In films like “Up in Arms” (1944), “Wonder Man” (1945) and “The Kid from Brooklyn” (1946)- Kaye’s characters sang the fast talking songs (written by his wife Sylvia Fine) and played ridiculous zany characters. But Hans Christian Andersen allows Kaye to demonstrate his true vocal talents and play a calm, caring character. Kaye was interested in the film before even seeing the script, and I think it was a wise decision on his point.
I can see why Farley Granger didn’t like this film, because he does look rather ridiculous in his period costume and is an unsympathetic character. I’ll admit, his talent was wasted on this movie. It’s such a small role, you wonder why he was picked.
But that aside, “Hans Christian Andersen” is a film that simply makes me happy.
I love the music, I love the color and I love Danny Kaye.

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