Hans Christian Andersen, Danny Kaye movie review

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Danny Kaye in Hans Christian Andersen - Family Classic in Glorious Technicolor - DVD - digitally remastered - Samuel Goldwyn - DVD

Editorial Review of Hans Christian Andersen, starring Danny Kaye, courtesy of Amazon.com

Of all the Danny Kaye movies, this musical biography of the legendary vagabond storyteller is definitely the most poignant, extending the performer’s range far beyond his usual comic shtick. It may not be as funny as Wonder Man, but it has so much more going for it. In fact, the film is really more about Kaye than Andersen, providing rare insight into his humanitarian ideals and rapport with children. The Frank Loesser score is beautiful, as is the Technicolor cinematography. Among the songs performed, “Inchworm,” “Thumbelina,” and “Ugly Duckling” are the standout favorites. --Bill Desowitz

Funny movie quotes from Hans Christian Andersen (1952), starring Danny Kaye

Hans Christian Anderson (Danny Kaye): Did you ever hear the story of the old woman who shook her head at the family so much that one night it fell off? Right on the dinner table.

Niels: You dance the waltz like an elephant in a snowdrift! No, like an elephant that’s fallen and trying to get up!

Hans Christian Anderson (Danny Kaye): You know I like to think that shoes have a mind of their own. The ones that squeak don’t want to leave the shop, and the ones that don’t fit don’t like the person that’s wearing them.

[about Hans’s stories]
Townsperson: The other day I asked my Gertie what time it was and she said that the minute hand and the hour hand weren’t speaking to each other. They were both in love with the second hand. And they wouldn’t make up until they met at twelve o’clock and no one could tell what time it was until then.

Hans Christian Anderson (Danny Kaye): You know, I never saw such a worrier as you, Peter. You want to worry? I’ll give you something to worry about. Two years ago I took you out of that orphanage and promised them I’d make you into a good carpenter. Two whole years! Look at that shoe. Glues all smeared the nails go in crooked. Two years an apprentice and still the nails go in crooked.
Peter: I’m not as bad as all that, am I? You’re not going to send me back are you?
Hans Christian Anderson (Danny Kaye): Ah! A new worry appears in the sky.

Peter: Hans has gone to Copenhagen!

Hans Christian Anderson (Danny Kaye): That’s the nice thing about the world, my friend: People.

Hans Christian Anderson (Danny Kaye): No one’s ever really alone.

Hans Christian Anderson (Danny Kaye): You’d be surprised how many kings are only a queen with a mustache.

[working on a beautiful ballerina’s shoes]
Hans Christian Anderson (Danny Kaye): I almost wish she’d asked me for something really impossible.