Product Details

• Actors: Van Johnson, Claude Rains, Lori Nelson, Jim Backus, Kay Starr
• Directors: Bretaigne Windust
• Writers: Hal Stanley, Irving Taylor, Robert Browning
• Producers: Hal Stanley
• Format: Color, DVD, NTSC
• Language: English
• Region: Region 1 (U.S. and Canada only. Read more about DVD formats.)
  
• Aspect Ratio: 1.33:1
• Number of discs: 1
• Rated: Unrated
• Studio: Alpha Video
• DVD Release Date: April 16, 2002
• Run Time: 89 minutes
• Average Customer Review: 3.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (11 customer reviews)
• ASIN: B00006AUGG
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #43,284 in Movies & TV (See Top 100 in Movies & TV)
• For more information about "The Pied Piper of Hamelin" visit the Internet Movie Database (IMDb)

Editorial Reviews

PIED PIPER OF HAMELIN - DVD Movie

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

20 of 20 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars 'Pied Piper is a treat for all ages!', April 7, 2003

By 

Ralph Schiller (Winfield, IL, USA) - See all my reviews
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Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: The Pied Piper of Hamelin (DVD)

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.

9 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars enjoyable for film trivia buffs, June 25, 2007

By 

Phoebe Grigg (San Francisco) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: The Pied Piper of Hamelin (DVD)

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.

13 of 15 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Flawed technical job, but a reasonable price, May 8, 2003

By A Customer

This review is from: The Pied Piper of Hamelin (DVD)

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.