7.2 | / 10 |
Users | 3.8 | |
Reviewer | 3.5 | |
Overall | 3.5 |
A fantasy/musical re-imagining of the life of the great Danish writer of children's stories. Expelled from his village for distracting the local children from their studies, he travels to Copenhagen, where he falls under the spell of a glamorous opera diva.
Starring: Danny Kaye, Farley Granger, Renée “Zizi” Jeanmaire, Joey Walsh, Philip TongeMusical | 100% |
Family | 47% |
Comedy | Insignificant |
Biography | Insignificant |
Video codec: MPEG-4 AVC
Video resolution: 1080p
Aspect ratio: 1.37:1
Original aspect ratio: 1.37:1
English: DTS-HD Master Audio Mono (48kHz, 24-bit)
English SDH, French, Spanish
25GB Blu-ray Disc
Single disc (1 BD)
Region A, B (C untested)
Movie | 3.5 | |
Video | 3.0 | |
Audio | 3.5 | |
Extras | 1.0 | |
Overall | 3.5 |
Films rarely come more pedigreed than Hans Christian Andersen. The producer was the legendary Samuel Goldwyn, who labored for years to create a film worthy of the Danish fabulist, commissioning script after script, none of which satisfied him. The writer who finally produced a screenplay that pleased Goldwyn was Pulitzer Prize winner Moss Hart, of the famed Broadway hit-making team of Kaufman and Hart, best known for The Man Who Came to Dinner. The songs were by Frank Loesser, the tunesmith of Guys and Dolls (and later of How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying). The director, Charles Vidor (not to be confused with "King" Vidor), had helped make Rita Hayworth famous in Cover Girl and Gilda. And the star was funnyman Danny Kaye, who had formerly been under contract to Goldwyn, for whom he'd made such films as The Secret Life of Walter Mitty. Goldwyn was less interested in Andersen the man than in Andersen the storyteller; so Hart's script adopted the clever convention of reimagining Andersen's life as one of his own stories. A disclaimer at the opening of the film warns that none of it is true. This liberated the filmmakers to do whatever they wished. During production, Goldwyn promoted the film by inviting the great CBS newsman Edward R. Murrow behind the scenes for an episode of his "See It Now" program. Long before the era of "electronic press kits", Goldwyn created his own on live TV. (Sadly, no recording seems to have survived.) He also invited photographers from top publications to shoot one of the film's ballet sequences, and he arranged promotional appearances on the TV show hosted by Dinah Shore. The result was a box office smash when Hans Christian Andersen was released for Thanksgiving 1952. The film left such fond memories that, when ABC first showed it on TV in 1966, they decided not to trim it to fit a two-hour time slot, with commercials. Instead, they expanded the time slot by a half hour and had the presentation hosted by Danish musician Victor Borgia. But enough nostalgia. How has the film aged?
Two-time Oscar winner Harry Stradling (for My Fair Lady and The Picture of Dorian Gray) shot Hans Christian Andersen. Overall, Warner's 1080p, AVC-encoded Blu-ray reproduces Stradling's lush Technicolor photography effectively. However, fine detail is not as well-resolved as one might expect from a properly preserved 35mm Technicolor source from this era. Morever, in a handful of shots—and they're usually long shots—video noise rears its ugly head. It has been suggested that these flaws are the result of irremediable defects in the existing source materials, since Warner's current digital processes for reproducing, and addressing problems with, three-strip Technicolor preservation elements are known to be first-rate. However, no one outside the technical crew really knows what the cause is. We can only report what we see. For the most part, the Blu-ray image is sufficiently detailed and vividly colorful that these issues amount to a minor distraction. (Note that video noise is frequently hard to spot on screen captures. It only fully reveals itself in motion.) The film's grain pattern appears undisturbed by filtering or other inappropriate manipulation. Although Hans Christian Andersen runs almost two hours, the only disc-based extra is a trailer, and there is only one audio track. A BD-25 accommodates the film without challenging the compressionist, and no compression artifacts were observed.
The film's original mono track is presented in lossless DTS-HD MA 1.0, and it sounds quite good for its age. Voices are clear enough, whether speaking or singing, and while the orchestra may lack the range it might have with a contemporary stereo or 5.1 recording, it certainly has enough presence to convey the grandeur of the titular storyteller's imagination and the grace of the ballet dancers' disciplined moves. Warner should be congratulated for leaving well enough alone and providing the film's original mix, without any attempt to pull it apart electronically and repurpose it for modern home theater systems. Those mixes almost always end up sounding artificial, whereas this one sounds like it belongs with the film.
One of the many reasons why Hans Christian Andersen is so fondly remembered is the separate record album released to coincide with the film, on which Danny Kaye re-recorded the Frank Loesser score. More people probably know the songs from that album than from the film. The album is currently out of print, although it is available on various import CDs, but the songs sound quite good on Warner's Blu-ray. Much of the film that surrounds them is also worth seeing. Just be prepared to use the fast forward button. Recommended, with appropriate caveats.
1967
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