Hans Christian Andersen

The opening and ending cast credits differ slightly in order. The following written prologue opens the film: "Once upon a time there lived in Denmark a great storyteller named Hans Christian Andersen. This is not the story of this life, but a fairy tale about this great spinner of fairy tales."
       The real author Hans Christian Andersen (1805-1875) was born in the Danish town of Odense, near Copenhagen, but he did not work as a cobbler as portrayed in the film. Although he came from a humble background, with help of a friend in Copenhagen's Royal Theatre, Andersen received a formal education and began writing plays. By the 1840s he had written many of the fairy tales for which he later became famous, including some that were dramatized in the film, such as "The Ugly Duckling" and "The Little Mermaid."
       Hans Christian Andersen features four dance sequences: "The Ice Skating Ballet," "The Dream Fantasy," "The Wedding Fantasy" and the climax of the film, "The Little Mermaid." The following written prologue introduces this final ballet: "This is the story of the Little Mermaid who fell in love with a Prince and turned to the terrible witches of the sea because they alone possessed that magic thing-a veil which can make a mermaid human." According to the Daily Variety review on the film, choreographer Roland Petit, who dances the character of the "prince" in "The Little Mermaid," used 28 supporting dancers in the ballets. Hans Christian Andersen marked famed ballet master Petit's first American film credit. The music for "The Little Mermaid" is based on works by composer Franz Liszt.
       According to the press material found in the AMPAS production file on the film, producer Samuel Goldwyn conceived of the idea for the film in 1936 and over time employed twenty writers on early drafts of the screenplay. A July 9, 1941 Hollywood Reporter article stated that Goldwyn was considering a deal with the Walt Disney Studios to produce the film. By August 1941, Hollywood Reporter reported that the deal was canceled and then reinstated; however, no further information about Disney's involvement has been found. By November 1946, Los Angeles Times reported that Joe Pasternak purchased the film from Goldwyn as a vehicle for Van Johnson, possibly for an M-G-M production; however, no mention of Pasternak or Johnson is found in later production materials on the film. In an March 18, 1953 Variety article, Frances Goldwyn recalled that her husband Samuel Goldwyn had been negotiating with Richard Rodgers and Oscar Hammerstein II to score the film, but they were later replaced by Frank Loesser. A January 6, 1952 New York Times articles stated that during initial phases of development Don Hartman, Mel Shavelson, Jo Swerling and Samuel Taylor worked on the screenplays and set construction for the film, but the extent of their contribution is not known.
       Moss Hart's screenplay, which was completed in 1951, finally met with Goldwyn's approval and the film was slated to roll in January 1952. According to a July 2, 1952 Daily Variety article, Hart asked the Screen Writers Guild to review the onscreen credit proposed by Myles Connolly, who claimed that he was the author of the original story. A July 13, 1952 New York Times article explained that the Screen Writers Guild determined that the onscreen credit should read, "Screenplay by Moss Hart based on a story by Myles Connolly."
       A October 26, 1950 Los Angeles Times article stated that Goldwyn was considering Moira Shearer and Margot Fonteyn for the film; however, an March 18, 1953 Variety article stated that Shearer became pregnant. Shearer and Fonteyn were replaced by Parisian-born ballerina Renée Jeanmaire. As noted in the Hollywood Reporter production charts for the film, the ballerina's name was changed for Hans Christian Andersen to the single name Jeanmaire, as seen in the onscreen credits.
       As noted in several reviews and the press materials, the film cost over $4,000,000 to produce. An March 18, 1953 Variety article stated that Goldwyn demanded that exhibitors charge higher admission prices for the film. According to a April 21, 1953 Hollywood Reporter news item, the United States Department of Justice requested that RKO furnish information regarding possible "price fixing" on the film. The Anti-Trust Division had received complaints from exhibitors accusing Goldwyn of forcing them to increase admissions to compensate for the film's large production costs. Angry exhibitors complained, but according to the March 1953 Variety article, exhibitor contracts did not have specific clauses regarding admission prices.
       Before the film's release in December 1952, March 1952 Los Angeles Times articles stated that the Danish Foreign Office considered making a formal protest against the film due to its inaccurate portrayal of Andersen. Goldwyn then invited representatives from the Danish Foreign Office to view the film. According to a August 5, 1953 Daily Variety article, they dropped their complaint after the film was credited with drawing large tourist crowds to Copenhagen. A January 10, 1953 Daily Variety article stated that the film's release in Denmark was delayed due to a problem in negotiating the percentage of profit Goldwyn and RKO were requesting. Hans Christian Andersen was Goldwyn's last film for RKO. The film was released finally in Copenhagen on September 6, 1953; however, according to a October 3, 1953 Hollywood Citizen-News article, Hans Christian Andersen was not well received in the author's hometown of Odense, Denmark.
       The film received Academy Award nominations for Best Cinematography (Color), Best Art Direction and Set Decoration (Color), Best Sound Recording, Best Music for the song "Thumbelina," Best Scoring of a Musical Picture and Best Costume Design (Color). The film marked the screen debuts of Jeanmaire, teenage actor Joey Walsh and Roland Petit, who danced in several ballet sequences as well as choreographed the film.
       On April 13, 1952, CBS broadcast a fifteen-minute segment on the See It Now television program featuring the production of the "Ice Skating Ballet" sequence from the film. This was the first time a television broadcast featured a "behind the scenes" look at a film production.
       Although there have been many film and television versions, as well as musicals and operas of Andersen's famous fairy tales, Hans Christian Andersen appears to be the only American cinematic portrait of the author released as a feature-length film. According to an November 18, 1952 Hollywood Reporter article, Hoffberg Productions was releasing a British-made film by the same name based on Andersen's writings, many of which were autobiographical, which was to have a brief theatrical release and broadcast on television. A Danish production entitled Tales of Hans Christian Andersen was reported to have been released in 1952 and then made into a series of half-hour television films. A November 1, 1999 Variety article notes that Sebastian Barry and Martha Clark were developing a stage musical adaptation of the film utilizing composer Frank Loesser's score; however, as of spring 2003 the production had not been staged.