The Pied Piper **** (1972, Donovan, Donald Pleasence, Michael Hordern, Jack Wild, Diana Dors, John Hurt, Roy Kinnear, Peter Vaughan) – Classic Movie Review 5195

Esteemed French film director Jacques Demy came to Germany and Britain to make this undervalued 1972 film version of the tale of the 14th-century strolling minstrel who leads a plague of rats out of Hamelin, where the Mayor’s daughter is marrying the Baron’s son. The Black Death has reached Northern Germany in the midsummer of 1349, and the minstrel promises to rid the town of rats for a fee, which the Mayor agrees to but then reneges on, prompting the Piper’s revenge.

In an inspired piece of offbeat casting, real-life troubadour Donovan stars as The Pied Piper and sings his own songs, quite attractively too. There is a fine comic gallery of lovely vintage British eccentric performers to support him. It co-stars Donald Pleasence, Michael Hordern, Jack Wild, Diana Dors, John Hurt, Roy Kinnear and Peter Vaughan.

Also in the cast are Cathryn Harrison, Keith Buckley, Arthur Hewlett, Peter Eyre, Hamilton Dyce, André Van Gyseghem, Patsy Puttnam, David Leland and John Falconer.

With a screenplay by Demy, Andrew Birkin and Mark Peploe, there is a sharp, adult telling of the tale with a realistic Middle Ages atmosphere. The exteriors are beautifully photographed by Peter Suschitsky in the German town of Rothenburg in Bavaria.

No rats were harmed during filming. They are all best-quality rodents flown in from England and fed on a balanced diet of grain, with all the essential vitamins and minerals they needed!

Demy is renowned for Lola, The Umbrellas of Cherbourg (1964), The Young Girls of Rochefort (1967), Model Shop, and Peau d’âne (Donkey Skin, 1970), and is the subject of the tribute film Jacquot de Nantes (1991).

© Derek Winnert 2017 Classic Movie Review 5195

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