THE PIED PIPER
US, 1971, British, 90 minutes.
Jack Wild, Donald Pleasence, Donovan, John Hurt. Michael Hordern. Roy Kinnear. Diana Dors, Peter Vaughan.
Directed by Jacques Demy.
The Pied Piper is not merely a children's film. Younger audiences would find it difficult, despite Jack wild (who really does not do much) and Donovan and some songs (which are not very engaging).
However, as a story about life and customs in the Middle Ages, the film is of interest. The relationship between Church and State in the building of Hamelin Castle for the Baron and the emerging of the newly-rich with the mayor and his wife are all to the fore. So too is anti-Semitism, cruelty, death and the plague. The film is reminiscent of Ingmar Bergman's The Seventh Seal in its use of strolling players as a framework for a pilgrimage through the Middle Ages. This is not as serious although at times it is grim.
Performances from Michael Hordern, Donald Pleasance, Roy Kinnear and John Hurt are excellent. Direction is by Jacques Demy (Lola, Umbrellas of Cherbourg, Model Shop) who usually uses the lighter touch.
1. For what audience was the film made? Was the medieval setting and way of life well presented? How? Comment on the atmosphere of the Black Death for the film.
2. The film opened with the 'good characters' and closed with them going on their way. How did we enter and leave Hamelin with this group? What did they, and we, learn about Hamelin and about human nature?
3. What was the importance of the pilgrim, the plague, the relics, his confidence tricks, his joining the players?
4. Did Donovan make real impact as the Piper? Was the Piper a significant figure - as a person, his flute, his songs?
5. Did the film present an interesting picture of Hamelin, its way of life, problems of Church and State? The building of the Cathedral, workmen and funds? obsession of the Baron with building despite opposition? The relationship of Baron, Bishops and Mayor? The power and Inquisition attitudes of the Clergy? The ambitions of the newly-rich mayor and his wife? The Baron and his son in need for dowry money? The arranged marriage? Arrogance, lovelessness and power ambitions of the Baron's son? The place of the Jews? The imminence of plague and facing the crisis?
6. How did each of the characters illustrate these problems, the Baron, mean and obsessed; the Mayor, jovial, cringing, ambitious, stupid, (his wife); the Bishops, ambitious, hateful of opposition, Jews; the Jew as the kind figure, concerned about the plague and about people, about cures, Gavin, his mock trial, his torture, hatred of him, his martyrdom and its significance; Gavin, his importance to the film, relationship with the mayor's daughter; the Baron's son, marriage, money, military, his forcing the Jew to make fool's gold and ignore the plague, his cruelty, the irony of his death by plague; the Mayor's daughter, a child, used and locked away; the players at the marketplace, at the wedding at the Baron's whim; the pilgrim and his death; the Piper, his music, his contract for ridding Hamelin of rats, his taking of the children?
7. Comment on the effectiveness of the wedding sequence and the significance of the rats in the cake.
8. Was the Piper sequence with the rats convincing, effective, or prosaic and low key? Why did the Piper take the children?
9. Was this a good film? For what audiences? What relation did it have to Browning's poem?
