Hans Christian Andersen Details

Children should enjoy this sentimental Hollywood fabrication of the life of the great storyteller, and sophisticated adults will appreciate the superb Frank Loesser songs, notably the charming Inchworm, the unforgettable Ugly Duckling, and the rollicking Wonderful Copenhagen. They're all performed by star Danny Kaye, unusually subdued in possibly his best screen performance, a role that became identified with him. A big hit in its day, it's worthwhile recalling the anti-Semitism that erupted in Scandinavia back in the 1950s over the Jewish Kaye playing Denmark's treasured raconteur. Nevertheless, the movie helped put Copenhagen and the Little Mermaid well and truly on the world's tourist map.

Artificial, sugary confection with little humour and far too little magic of any kind; the star carries it nicely, but he is on his own apart from the songs.