Details

Release year: 1952

Storyline

The opening scene of the movie describes it best: "Once upon a time there lived in Denmark a great storyteller named Hans Christian Andersen. This is not the story of his life, but a fairy tale about the great spinner of fairy tales."

Top credits

Directors

Charles Vidor

Writers

Cast

Danny Kaye — Hans Christian Andersen
Farley Granger — Niels
Zizi Jeanmaire — Doro
Joseph Walsh — Peter

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Awards

0 wins & 6 nominations

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Did you know

• In order to cover the necessary camera tricks, and to add "magic" to the Little Mermaid ballet, it was decided that, rather than presenting it as an actual ballet, they would have Hans imagine how it would look. This allowed them to do things on the screen which would be impossible on the stage.

• Zizi Jeanmaire and Roland Petit, who choreographed the film as well as appearing as The Prince in The Little Mermaid ballet, would marry in 1954. They continued to collaborate on numerous ballets right until Petit's death in 2011.

• While this film directly adapts some of Andersen's best-known stories - "The Emperor's New Clothes", "Thumbelina", and "The Ugly Duckling" as songs; "The Little Mermaid" as a fantasy ballet sequence - it also subtly alludes to others. For instance, when Hans and his ward Peter first enter the Great Square of Copenhagen, they pass a woman selling matches. This is a hint to "The Little Match Girl". Also, a major subplot of the film is Hans' unrequited love for the beautiful yet detached ballerina Doro. This is an homage to "The Steadfast Tin Soldier", where a disabled toy soldier has a doomed romance with a ballerina doll.