The Pied Piper

G

1972

1 hr. 30 min.

Fantasy

List

50%

10 Reviews

Tomatometer

25%

50+ Ratings

Audience Score

A caravan of performers travels to Hamelin, Germany, to celebrate the marriage of Franz (John Hurt) to the burgomaster's ailing daughter, Lisa (Cathryn Harrison). Fearing that they carry the plague, however, the townsfolk will not let them in until it is discovered that the music played by the group's piper (Donovan) has cured Lisa. Once inside, the piper strikes a deal with the burgomaster to also rid the town of rats. But when the piper doesn't receive his due, he exacts a terrible revenge.

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Audience Member

I uh wasn't expecting this to be so straight forwardly bland. It's literally just the like most text book version of this story with absolutely zero personality, take, additions... like cmon, spice this shit up Demy, I know you have it in you. Yeah sure it's a darker take than say like your average children's book but nothing you wouldn't expect. I mean, not gonna lie, Donovan is literally the ideal guy to cast as the pied piper. Maybe that's the whole premise?? Like, a "this just needs to exist" kinda thing. "Lookat this fuckin guy, we can't NOT make him the pied piper I mean," "Okay okay, lets just build the damn set, wrangle a buncha rats and children and be done with it."

Rated 2.5 out of 5 stars

02/06/23

Full Review

Audience Member

Nach PEAU D'ANE ein weiterer MÃ¤rchenfilm von Jacques Demy, der stilistisch nach den Exzessen der Perrault-Adaption schon beinahe naturalistisch daherkommt. Demy ist hier offensichtlich vor allem an einem dÃ 1/4ster-schmutzigen Portrait einer von der Gier des eines sich ankÃ 1/4ndigen Kapitalismus und der Grausamkeit des Klerus und der Inquisition gezeichneten mittelalterlichen Gesellschaft interessiert, und setzt den Hippie-Barden Donovan vermutlich sehr bewusst als FremdkÃ¶rper in diese finstere Welt hinein. Ob das Versprechen des Blumenkindertums nun als ein utopischer Lichtblick funktionieren soll, oder doch - wie das vom Papagei nachgekrÃ¤chzte Liebeslied von Catherine Deneuve in PEAU D'ANE - als naive TrÃ¤umerei demaskiert wird, das bleibt jedenfalls am Ende relativ offen.

Rated 3 out of 5 stars

02/11/23

Full Review

Audience Member

Jacques Demy trying to take Peau D' Ane a step ahead combining the magic of fairy tales with reality. I don't think he succeeds as much as he'd like.

Rated 2.5 out of 5 stars

01/16/23

Full Review

eric b

Jacques Demy's retelling of "The Pied Piper" is nowhere near as enchanting as his earlier "Donkey Skin," and the reasons are easy to see. First and foremost: Donovan. Which would you prefer, a movie starring Donovan with music by Donovan, or one starring Catherine Deneuve with music by Michel Legrand? Not much of a contest, is it? Both Demy and Donovan realize the problem with the pop star's acting, and thus he is given few lines. More often, he's singing songs (three of them) with an acoustic guitar or blowing melodies in character on his pipe. Otherwise, most dialogue centers on the good/evil battle within the townspeople, as all struggle to combat the apocalyptic outbreak of the plague. Michael Hordern plays Melius, an alchemist who hopes to whip up a solution in his cluttered hovel. Jack Wild (a couple of years after his much-loved work on "HR Pufnstuf") plays Melius's lame assistant, showing mostly that he's quite good at scuttling around on a crutch. Donald Pleasance is the corrupt burgermeister, while John Hurt plays a privileged jerk aiming to marry a young -- very young -- ingenue (Cathryn Harrison, so fascinating a few years later in "Black Moon"). A posse of intolerant cardinals also storms about, and you're starting to picture scenes from a concurrent Monty Python sketch, you're easily forgiven. Except there is little, if any, humor in this tale. Surprisingly, Demy's "Piper" is not so well-suited for children. The visuals are unavoidably short on dazzle since it's a story not about kings and castles but about a poor, rat-infested village. Also, the ending is quite downbeat, and includes a character being burned at the stake, the failed attempt to stop the plague and, of course, the piper luring away all the town's children. Demy soft-pedals the latter by not suggesting the kids have been led to death and (strangely) not even depicting the townspeople's anguished discovery of the abduction. But still, this is hardly a "happily ever after" finish.

Rated 2.5 out of 5 stars

03/31/23

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Jacques Demy

Director

Donovan

The Pied Piper

Jack Wild

Gavin

Donald Pleasence

The Baron

John Hurt

Franz

Michael Hordern

Melius

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Dan Callahan

Slant Magazine

Jacques Demy's version of The Pied Piper is as distanced and uncertain as his masterpiece The Young Girls of Rochefort is ecstatically sure of itself.

Rated: 2/4

Jun 7, 2008

Full Review

J. Hoberman

Village Voice

A dark and smoky affair that, although set in Germany during the Black Death summer of 1349, suggests something brainstormed in a St. Marks Place head shop.

Nov 14, 2007

Full Review

Time Out

Too often Demy has seemed to be doing little but produce cinematic candy floss; this admittedly imperfect film of Browning's poem is at least trying for more.

Oct 28, 2006

Full Review

Serge Daney

Cahiers du Cinéma

With this English film, beautiful and inexplicably unprecedented, Demy refines his mythology.

Nov 29, 2023

Full Review

Nicholas Bell

IONCINEMA.com

More of a curio piece for fans of Demy, The Pied Piper mostly seems a missed opportunity of the creepy legend.

Rated: 2.5/5

Sep 12, 2020

Full Review

Emanuel Levy

EmanuelLevy.Com

Rated: B-

Jul 27, 2012

Full Review

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Synopsis

A caravan of performers travels to Hamelin, Germany, to celebrate the marriage of Franz (John Hurt) to the burgomaster's ailing daughter, Lisa (Cathryn Harrison). Fearing that they carry the plague, however, the townsfolk will not let them in until it is discovered that the music played by the group's piper (Donovan) has cured Lisa. Once inside, the piper strikes a deal with the burgomaster to also rid the town of rats. But when the piper doesn't receive his due, he exacts a terrible revenge.

Director: Jacques Demy
Production Co: Paramount
Rating: G
Genre: Fantasy
Original Language: English
Release Date (Streaming): Jan 16, 2017

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