Danny Kaye is well-cast, if exceptionally low-keyed, in title role of storytelling Danish cobbler in the 1820s who travels to Copenhagen in search of a better life and winds up falling in love with an already-married ballerina. Moss Hart's screenplay doesn't attempt to follow the actual journey the real-life Hans Christian Andersen took to get from shoemaker to beloved author, and some of his dramatic incidents fail to cohere (such as Andersen being told by his apprentice that members of the ballet troupe were laughing at him, or Andersen landing a writing job at the newspaper but leaving town instead). There are two ballet sequences and a fantasy wedding which are lovely in design but slow down the pacing (the first ballet--a dress rehearsal--actually has nothing whatsoever to do with Andersen); in the meantime, we see Hans arrested for something he didn't do, while a moody kid who doesn't go to school enters and exits the scenario at whim. The pleasant Frank Loesser songs are hummable though not singable, while the proverbial saccharin-factor is kept at a minimum thanks to an even-handed direction by Charles Vidor. ** from ****
Review of Hans Christian Andersen
