edwagreen A lovely film to inspire children and adults of all ages is this 1952 Charles Vidor directed film starring Danny Kaye, the magnificent, in the title role.With songs such as Wonderful, Wonderful Copenhagen and Thumbalina, how can you go wrong.As the cobbler who spins his tales to children, Kaye is inspiring as he finds the true meaning of life when he and the orphan he has adopted leave their small town in Denmark to travel to the big city of Copenhagen. Falling in with a tempestuous ballet coordinator, Farley Granger, and his wife Jeanmaire, Andersen sees the very difficult Granger and falling in love with his wife,the ballerina, he writes a ballet, The Little Mermaid for her.When he realizes at the end the two despite their differences love each other, he returns with Peter to the small town to bask in his triumph of success as he once more sings and tells his stories to children.

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.

TanyaRFV I grew up watching old Danny Kaye movies. When I found this one, I couldn't resist.In the age of violence on TV, etc. I would sit with my girls and watch Hans and Peter leave their home and travel to Copenhagen and have wonderful adventures.Despite the other comment, both of my daughters sat riveted to the screen during the ballet sequences. They loved the beauty and elegance.But most of all, we all loved Danny. Hans was a character we quoted to each other on a regular basis. He said a few things that we still say. "That's what's nice about the world - people!" He reminds us that sex and violence don't need to be in entertainment in order to be enjoyable.

allthings49 Watching this again (for only the second time) last night, I was just knocked out by the score. Presumably because of a Broadway-is-better-than-Hollywood bias, the piece tends to be dismissed in the Loesser oeuvre but every single number is a gem -- and the fullest score for a "family fantasy" since THE WIZARD OF OZ. I was particularly taken by INCH WORM, a really short song sung in counterpoint to the children's chanting of their mathematic tables after the schoolmaster has dragged them away from Hans' tales. Not long enough to have a commercial future (outside of a soundtrack album) it tells us more about Hans than most of the scene that precedes it.As others have noted, Danny Kaye is totally bearable and the kitsch side of the film is now enjoyable for that. (The colours also recall WIZARD.)This film deserves more recognition in the world of original film musicals. It's a rare classic score at the time of composer compilations or Broadway imports.