It’s tricky to guess which audience the
producers had in mind when they made this dreary, quasi-musical fantasy, which
is set in medieval times. Seeing as how the Pied Piper myth involves a minstrel
using his magical music to escort children from a corrupt village, it would
seem as if The Pied Piper was made to
attract young viewers. Then again, because the producers cast grizzled British
character actors in many key roles and infused scenes with lengthy debates
about political strategies, perhaps the film was meant for adults. Making the
whole business even more perplexing is the presence of Scottish pop star
Donovan in the title role. A real-life minstrel whose ethereal music and lyrics
epitomize the hippy-dippy 1960s, Donovan would have been appealing to college
kids and young adults circa 1972. Oh, and parts of the movie are disgusting, what with shots of plague-carrying rats crawling through houses and neighborhoods. The Pied Piper looks expensive, Donovan sings a few tunes,
and the script is fairly intelligent—but the picture is too glum
for viewers seeking escapism, and too lightweight for those craving something
serious.
It’s not a mess, per se, but it’s not really much of anything.
It’s not a mess, per se, but it’s not really much of anything.
Set in
the German town of Hamlin during the year 1349, the movie opens with Piper
(Donovan) joining a group of traveling players before entering the town. Inside
Hamlin, the bürgermeister (Roy Kinnear) worries over his ailing daughter, so he
demands assistance from “Melius the Jew” (Michael Hordern), the local
alchemist. When that doesn’t work, the bürgermeister realizes that his daughter
reacts to Piper’s music, so Piper is hired to play for the daughter. That’s why
Piper is at the center of the action when the bürgermeister and other officials
discuss solutions for a rat infestation. (Little problem: Officials risk heresy
if they embrace Melius’ theory that rats carry plague, since Vatican
doctrine defines the plague as God’s work.) Piper offers to solve the
problem by using music to lead the rats from Hamlin, and the situation spirals
from there.
Considering that he plays the title character, Donovan isn’t in the
movie very much, which is no big loss, given his stiff line deliveries. With
the Piper character sidelined, the story focuses on Melius’ plight. This
creates problems for the viewing experience: Whereas the Melius
scenes are grounded, the Piper sequences are fanciful, and vignettes depicting a
love story between the bürgermeister's daughter and Melius' assistant are
sickly-sweet. None of this material hangs together very well, and by the time Piper’s
legendary exodus gets intercut with a scene of a character burning at the
stake, The Pied Piper has become as
unpleasant as it is tonally inconsistent.
The
Pied Piper: FUNKY
1 comment:
Apparent;y the audience it was intended for was kids because my pal Terry and I caught it at a weekend-only "kiddie matinee" here in town, complete with screaming kids shooting spitwads at the screen through their straws. Being 13 at the time we both decided we were too old for that stuff anymore.
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