Hans Christian Andersen

Hans Christian Andersen (film: USA, 1952),
announces itself not as a biopic, but as a fairy tale about the Danish spinner of fairy tales. Within a framing narrative about a trip to Copenhagen are embedded songs and a ballet that bring to the screen a few of Andersen's 156 tales. As played by Danny Kaye, Hans is whimsical, charming, innocent, and fonder of making up fanciful stories than of getting on with his work as a cobbler. Persuaded to leave the town of Odense because his storytelling is keeping the children away from school, he goes to Copenhagen and meets a little match girl, a chimney sweep, and other characters he will one day write about.

When he gets a job making shoes for the Danish State Ballet's prima ballerina, Doro, he immediately falls in love with her. Seeing her quarrelling with her husband, who is also the impresario, Hans mistakenly assumes that they hate each other and writes ‘The [The entire page is 571 words long]

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