Starring Van Johnson, Claude Rains, Lori Nelson, and Jim Backus
Directed by Bretainge Windust
Music by Edvard Grieg; Lyrics by Irving Taylor
The success of the Mary Martin Peter Pan and the TV showings of The Wizard of Oz prompted a flurry of fairy tale and fantasy story adaptations on the networks in the late 1950's. This one was unusual in many respects. NBC filmed it in Technicolor rather than doing it live. They brought in big-name movie actors Rains and Johnson and based their story on the Robert Browning poem. How well does this tale of a German town and the piper who teaches them an important lesson come off today? Let's begin with the little crippled boy Paul (Rene Kroger) hearing the music of the Piper (Johnson) and seeing his magic in the mountains outside of Hamlin and find out...
The Story: The greedy Mayor (Rains) pushes the people of Hamlin to build a clock tower that'll rival buildings being constructed in rival towns. The winner will receive a special banner from the king. He even outlaws the children being able to play or attend school. This outrages the school teacher Truson (Johnson), but his pleas and complaints fall on deaf ears. So do that of the town Hamelout, when they're flooded out and desperately need food and aid.
The rats that no longer have a home in Hamelout invade Hamlin, getting into everything in town. The Piper appears and says he'll get rid of them for the gold in the town treasury. The mayor agrees to it, then goes back on his word and tries to trick the Piper into paying him. Truson angrily points out that the Piper helped them and deserves the money, but he's thrown into jail. His sweetheart Mara (Nelson) is promised to the King's Emissary (Backus). The Piper, however, isn't done with Hamlin...and his revenge for the Mayor's greed will have dire consequences for the children of the town...
The Song and Dance: Lovely little operetta with some decent music and a bravura performance by Johnson, who does equally well as the mysterious musician and the teacher who is too outspoken for his town. You really do believe they're two different people. Rains is an excellent greedy mayor, too, chewing every bit of scenery he can in his big speeches on the importance of beating the competition. As one of the very few TV shows of its era to still exist in its original color, it looks good even in the batter prints currently available. It's saturated, but bright and attractive, especially on the vaguely medieval-esque costumes.
Favorite Number: The first big routine is "Work Song," a chorus for the people of the town as they work tirelessly on the huge clock tower. Johnson asks "How Can I Tell You?" to Nelson twice, first just before his confrontation with the Mayor over the children not being able to work or play, and later when he's in jail. The Mayor and his counselors explain why "Prestige" is more important than anything, including children learning or their people being happy. "Feats of the Piper" gives his credentials to the eager townspeople and skeptical Mayor. He finally calls the rodents for a "Rat Exodus," which leads to "Morning Waltz" the next day as the people celebrate their departure.
The Piper warns the children that magic is real and they should see "Flim, Flan, Floo" with more than just their eyes. Tucson angrily insists that the Mayor is following "Fool's Gold" and should focus on taking care of his people and their needs instead. Mara wistfully begs "My Heart Will Fly to Heaven" after her father forbids her from seeing Tucson. Pop singer Kay Starr has a brief but touching bit near the end as one of the mothers whose children is missing and just wants to see her son again, "A Mother's Lament."
Trivia: The movie and its soundtrack album proved to be so popular, NBC repeated it in 1958. It turned up frequently in syndication, often as holiday programming. It was even briefly released in theaters in 1966, though it didn't do as well there.
Johnson went over so well as the Piper, he appeared as a villain called The Minstrel in the 1966 Batman series.
What I Don't Like: First of all, we get a happy ending tacked on to a rather creepy tale. In the original poem and most other adaptations, the children are never found and the Piper is not seen again. Sometimes, the rhyming dialogue comes off as stiff or uneven and doesn't flow the way it should. Nelson is dull in the thankless love interest role, and Starr has little to do besides her one number. Despite being filmed, it still looks like a TV movie of the 1950's, with simple sets and special effects.
The Big Finale: Catchy songs and Johnson's double performance makes this worth checking out for those looking for fairy tale musicals for younger kids, who saw this as children themselves, or for fans of the stars or 50's musicals.
Home Media: Easy to find on most formats, thanks to it being in the public domain. Tubi currently streams it for free.
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