Customer Reviews

Pied Piper of Hamelin [VHS]

5 star:		(5)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

This Alpha Video DVD of 'The Pied Piper Of Hamelin' is the best source print of this film I have ever seen.

'Pied Piper Of Hamelin' (1956) is a family treat for all ages and for all holidays. First filmed in color as a Hallmark TV special, it is a masterful, musical re-telling of the legendary fairy tale using the beautiful mysterious, music of Edward Grieg with new lyrics.

The cast is first-rate, with movie great Van Johnson brilliantly playing the strange and often frightening piper, as well as the kind school teacher Trueson, who is also the village concience. Legendary movie villain Claude Rains is absolutely wonderful as the clever, sneering, and corrupt lord mayor of Hamelin. Rains has a ball playing him like Prince John of 'Adventures Of Robin Hood' (1938) in retirement! He even does a comical, show-stopping song and dance! Jim Backus also appears as the King's messenger, and his comedy is sorely needed as this fairy tale goes dark in it's second half.

One highlight of the film, is Van Johnson as the Pied Piper, leading the rats out of Hamelin to their deaths in the river. He is playing on his pipe the haunting melody of 'In The Hall Of The Mountain King' from Mr. Grieg's 'Peter Guint Suite' as the cleverly animated rats march to oblivion!

Unlike the fairy tale, this 'Pied Piper Of Hamelin' has a happy ending with a lesson for everyone about greed, selfishness, and false pride.

I just watched this film for the first time on PBS. I thought I must have been made in the 1930's because it seemed so dated, but discovered it was a made-for-tv movie in 1957. If I were just watching it as face-value entertainment, I would have thought it odd and boring, but I LOVED the cast and how it was made. I loved recognizing Edvard Grieg's (modified) music, and the rhyming dialog that I later discovered was from Robert Browning's poem. I had only seen Van Johnson in WW II movies, and so didn't know he sang, which was enjoyable. Same for Claude Raines. And Jim Backus was a great addition. There were a lot of special effects that must have been really "leading edge" at the time (Van Johnson playing himself double, animated rats being driven to the river, items magically appearing and disappearing), and color at the time was very new, especially on tv. I loved the quirkiness and had a great time watching it.

As a tiny tot I vaguely remember being mesmerized by this colorful children's production. Today I am able to see how contrived and staged a production it was. Nonetheless, it is a classic of the period.

If you are spoiled by some of the beautiful sight and sound restorations of old films available on DVD today, this one will leave you disappointed. On the DVD I purchased, both the film and soundtrack are filled with artifacts. During one production sequence called "Prestige" film frames are dropped and the sound is severely truncated, even going out of synch in one section. This may be the only source print available, however.

The DVD is also flawed by poor DVD authoring. The menu index does not correctly correspond to the film's content. In fact, the true Chapter I of the authoring is not accessible via the DVD menu at all on my copy. This is poor technical work and totally avoidable.

But, it is not an expensive issue and it does provide an opportunity to see some classic performances by Claude Rains, Van Johnson, and Jim Backus. The film includes a wonderful guest performance by Kay Starr.

This is a piece I'd like to see a fine team of restoration experts tackle. But for less than 10 bucks it isn't a bad deal. It's no worse than watching old film prints on Sunday afternoon local affiliate TV stations.

I highly recommend this film, and would give it more stars if I could. Van Johnson is great as the Pied Piper. This movie is for people of all ages. It's well worth seeing!

Was Van Johnson threatened with bodily harm to do this film? Yikes...this was awful. Extremely poor direction, awkard scenes, stilted sequences, bad acting, horrible music. The musical numbers sound like they was composed and played by a tone deaf carnival clown. The whole movie was just start-to-finish bad. What an embarrassing blemish on Van Johnson's otherwise very good body of work. Not recommended for kids, either. If you want a good Van Johnson movie, see Miracle in the Rain or Three Guys named Mike instead.

This delightful classic story for all ages is presented by fine actors using beautiful poetry and music. I enjoyed it with my grandchildren. All of us thoroughly enjoyed the magical tale and were singing the tunes for days. Modern-day producers could learn much from this well done video that captivates children without any inappropriate language or toilet humor.

I remembered seeing this one afternoon as a child and totally loved it.
This fantasy folktale holds up even today with its moral lesson of hoarded wealth and what's truly treasurable. Since getting it on DVD, I've shared it with kids and adults alike who thoroughly enjoyed it.

Van Johnson as the Pied Piper is terrific, as Trueson he is more low key, but my favorite in the production is Claude Rains who steals the show as the Mayor of Hamelin Town. The sound is muffled at times and drops in and out in volume and there are alot of scratches and dust all unfortunate, but to some extent acceptable. The real regret is during Claude Rains' big song number "Prestige". During the song and dance number there are several jump cuts or missing bits of footage, so some lyrics are actually missing. By the way, the music is based upon the works of the composer Edvard Grieg (NOT THE LYRICS).

There are no extras except for an index which is too bad given Van Johnson has just passed away at this writing and it would have been nice to have sub-titles as some of the songs like Prestige, Flim Flam Flue and another of the Piper's song are "sung spoken" so fast it's hard to understand what the singers are saying. There are many great names in this production Johnson, Rains, Kay Starr and Jim Bacchus (before Thurston Howell III or Mr Magoo).

The funniest part of the production is when the Piper reads the legal form he is asked to sign by the Council -- any legal beagle will get a kick out of it!

Some have critiqued this movie, which is actually a rather lavish television special, as weird, corny, dumb and who actually ridiculed other reviewers who remembered the Piper fondly from their childhood. Given this un-christian attitude and that they're not fond of musicals and dislike Van Johnson and hate the way Hollywood portrays things sort of reduces their credibility. Amusing that they did use the word "weird" given the ending of Browning's poem about a people with "outlandish ways and dress". Perhaps they actually read it, but then they would have known the story is based on a tale from the 14th century, sung, written about and eventually written down by Browning in rhyme. Thusly, the production was rhymed to emulate the poem and lifts a good bit from Browning. The Piper's costume is based on sketches and artwork of the Piper dating back centuries. Although the ending was changed to make it happier, the production generally follows the poem's moral lesson of keeping promises. Overall, this centuries old fantasy folk tale is an enjoyeable outing for any family.

One reviewer wrote "so many dumb songs." Yeah, sure -- how did that lousy composer Eddie Grieg ever get published? Too bad he never wrote anything worthwhile! [Note: for those who tend toward the literal I suggest putting your tongue firmly in your cheek and then reading this again]

This film is very good fun, with aging Star Claude Rains in a very typical role (with a couple of jolly songs as well!). Anyone who wants to hear Rains sing, this is the DVD to get, and for a steal at $7.98. The picture quality, though not restored, is still very watchable with only minor signs of age. The audio I would only give 3 stars. It is very easy to hear, but gets grainy in some parts. The music on occasion suddenly goes low, so I turn the volume up only to find out that 3 seconds later it goes back to normal. If the sound goes down, remember it will only be for a couple of seconds.

FOR THE SAKE OF YOUR EARS, DON'T TURN THE VOLUME UP!

I first saw this movie when I was 8-years-old and enjoyed it. The story in book form is a good story. So, 30-years later; I bought it to watch again, boring, slow, boring. The film remains only OK for very little kids.

I instead recommend the DVD, "Hans Christian Anderson", with Danny Kaye. This is another movie I first saw at 8-years-old, but still enjoy watching again today. Has some good songs, fanciful sets, and a lively story of charm, 5-stars.

The film "Tom Thumb", a children's film, has one good song, and holds your attention. Tom runs into some bad guys who deceive and use him. Some fanciful ideas like the dancing-shoes that dance when you put them on. Overall 3-stars.