The Pied Piper of Hamelin (also known as the Pan Piper or the Rat-Catcher of Hamelin) is the title character of a legend from the town of Hamelin (Hameln), Lower Saxony, Germany. The Pied Piper uses his musical talents to lure the pesky rodents away from a small German town. The legend dates back to the Middle Ages, the earliest references describing a piper, dressed in multicolored ("pied") clothing, who was a rat catcher hired by the town to lure rats away with his magic pipe. When the citizens refuse to pay for this service as promised, he retaliates by using his instrument's magical power on their children, leading them away as he had the rats. This version of the story spread as folklore and has appeared in the writings of Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, the Brothers Grimm, and Robert Browning, among others. The phrase "pied piper" has become a metaphor for a person who attracts a following through charisma or false promises. Our starring (Donovan) goes in search of fortune, equipped only with his inseparable guitar on his back. He stumbles upon a family of strolling players and a Jew alchemist called Melius (Michael Hordern) and his supporter , a teen (Jack Wild) , who helps him attain success and notoriety in a town called Hamelin . But rats invading Hamelin in droves; a magical piper, whose music only children (and rats) can hear, strikes a bargain...which, once the rats are gone, the Mayor and council renege on, to their subsequent regret. Come children of the universe, let Donovan take you away, far far away. Now! A giant color spectacle! From the pages of the immortal classics comes this famous story!.. The Enchanting Musical Version of The Pied Piper of Hamelin. A film classic for children. No rats in Hamelin! Just us adorable white mice kids'll love...

Known and classic story about a medieval town overwhelmed by rats, a medieval town hires a magical piper who can rid the town of the pest in exchange for gold but the crooked mayor has no intention of honoring the deal . This rendition The Pied Piper(1972) contains a sour critique to ambition , corruption, intolerance, racism ignorance, stupidity, and bigotry . Originally produced by David Puttman , this interesting picture boasts of a fabulous British cast with known actors such as John Hurt , Michael Hordern Peter Eyre , Jack Wild, David Leland , Roy Kinnear , Keith Buckley and Donald Pleasence . Agreeable songs by Donovan as the musician who leads away the town's rodents, and children, with his music in this rock and roll adaptation of The Pied Piper of Hamelin. The motion picture was well dit¡rected by Jacques Demy., though this adapatation isn't for kiddies due to its disturbing and grim events.

There are many contradictory theories about the Pied Piper. Some suggest he was a symbol of hope to the people of Hamelin, which had been attacked by plague; he drove the rats from Hamelin, saving the people from the epidemic. A number of theories suggest that children died of some natural causes such as disease or starvation, and that the Piper was a symbolic figure of Death. Analogous themes which are associated with this theory include the Dance of Death, Totentanz or Danse Macabre, a common medieval trope. Some of the scenarios that have been suggested as fitting this theory include that the children drowned in the river Weser, were killed in a landslide or contracted some disease during an epidemic. Another modern interpretation reads the story as alluding to an event where Hamelin children were lured away by a pagan or heretic sect to forests near Coppenbrügge (the mysterious Koppen "hills" of the poem) for ritual dancing where they all perished during a sudden landslide or collapsing sinkhole .

There're several renditions about this classy fairy-tale : The Pied Piper (1942) by Irving Pichel with Monty Woolley , Roddy McDowall , Anne Baxter, Otto Preminger. The Pied Piper of Hamelin (1957) by Bretaigne Windust with Van Johnson , Claude Rains, Lori Nelson , Jim Backus. Hamelin (1969) by Luis Maria Delgado with Miguel Ríos , Roberto Camardiel, Luchy Soto , Margaret Peters , Matilde Muñoz Sampedro.

Jacques Demy invariably wrote his own lyrics - I use the word loosely -and got away with their mediocrity because he usually hired Michel Legrand to set them. This time around he hired Donovan and lost out on both words and music so perhaps it's just as well that he (Demy) was clearly aspiring to something more than just a light musical but a Socially Significant document embracing usury, racial prejudice and pestilence. It wouldn't be Demy without some picture-book visuals and indeed the opening sequences in particular are reminiscent of Ingmar Bergman whose bitter black coffee had been slightly diluted to cafe-au-lait. The casting is Odd to Quaint and doesn't really work but it has to be said that the scenes with the wedding cake, the rat exodus and the children exodus have a certain style.

The original 303-line poem "The Pied Piper of Hamelin" was published by Robert Browning in 1842, and wow it's a doozy--thoroughly disturbing to the core and meant to be so. How we ended up with a cute bedtime fable is beyond me, but then again, in the original Sleeping Beauty, the Prince rapes her in her sleep. So.

Here in 1972, we get an excellent adaptation of the tale which retains much of the poem's disturbing nature but with a slightly softened tone, offering glimmers of goodness and hope despite the backdrop of 13th Century inhumanity, greed, religious murders and child marriages. Yea, did I mention this is not for kids?

What offsets the disturbing story is largely the wonderful performance and gentle voice of Donovan who plays the titular Piper. Whereas in the original poem the piper was sort of a mysterious opportunistic rogue, here we get a mysterious character who is more of a wise, savior figure. The songs he sings (written by Donovan) are not just beautiful to the ear, but the lyrics are tranquil and reassuring.

This contrasts brilliantly against the disturbing story which is about a small German village that is besieged not only by the plague but, even worse, besieged by a consortium of corrupt politicians, priests and landowners who would tax their own grandmother's false teeth. It gets even more disturbing as the plot revolves around a baron's shifty son who is preparing to wed an 11-year-old-girl so he can collect the dowry and fund his violent exploits, and all the while his father the baron is squeezing blood out of the villagers so he can build a cathedral in his own honor--much to the drooling approval of the local bishops. This is heavy stuff. This is not a children's fable. But it's a brilliantly done film.

Not only are the acting performances riveting, from Donald Pleasance as the tyrannical baron to John Hurt as his loathsome son to Michael Hordern as Melius the scholar who is the sole voice of reason, but the camera style is thoroughly engaging as it follows the action gracefully for long stretches without a cut. If you watch this film, notice how the camera moves through the scenery almost like a silent character in the film, and this draws us tighter into the drama in a voyeuristic way. The sets are enormous and authentic, and as I mentioned the music is first rate.

On a subtle note, the film also attempts to nudge history back toward the truth. In the original poem, as well as for centuries, it was commonly accepted and taught that rats were the cause of the Black Plague, but only in recent years have we learned that the plague was spread by people basically drinking water out of their own sewers (go figure). And in this adaptation, the rats are not shown to be the vile "vermin" which Robert Browning accused them of being, but instead they are shown to be more like symbolic warnings of what will befall man if man doesn't clean up his act.

There's a beautiful, sobering moment where the piper talks to a rat and says something like "I know you must treat each other much better than men treat each other" and that short scene summarizes the spirit of this film. Yes, it's disturbing, yes it shows the atrocities and cruelty that humans inflict upon each other, but there's a subtle undercurrent that tells us wisdom will eventually prevail. Will it? I dunno, nearly 50 years after the film's release we're still waiting.