The Pied Piper of Hamelin (1957 film)

The Pied Piper of Hamelin is an American ninety-minute musical

film in color, originally made as a television special and first The Pied Piper of Hamelin
shown by NBC on Tuesday, November 26, 1957,[1] as one of
their Thanksgiving Week offerings for that year. It preempted that
evening's telecasts of The Nat King Cole Show and The Eddie
Fisher Show.[2] Based on the famous poem of the same name by
Robert Browning and using the music of Edvard Grieg arranged
by Pete King with special lyrics by Hal Stanley and Irving Taylor,
it starred Van Johnson, Claude Rains (in his only singing and
dancing role), Lori Nelson, Jim Backus, and Kay Starr.[3] It was
directed by Broadway veteran Bretaigne Windust. In a direct nod
to Browning's poem, nearly all of the dialogue in The Pied Piper
of Hamelin was written in rhyme, much of it directly lifted from
the poem.

Unusually for a made-for-TV family special of the era, it was not

presented live but on actual motion picture film, and the color
process used was not NBC's usual "living color", but three-strip
Technicolor, which had previously been used on television only in
the one-hour science specials Our Mr. Sun [4] and Hemo the DVD cover
Magnificent. Theatrical prints, however, erroneously bill the film Written by Robert Browning
as having been made in Eastman Color. (poem)
Hal Stanley (writer)
The program was successful enough it spawned an LP record
Irving Taylor (writer)
album [5] and was repeated on NBC in 1958. It was then
syndicated to many local stations, where it was rerun annually for Directed by Bretaigne Windust
many years, in the tradition of other holiday specials. The film was Starring See below
briefly released to movie theatres in 1966, where it did not fare
Theme music Edvard Grieg
nearly as well.[6]
composer Pete King
Years later, Van Johnson's performance as the Pied Piper was still arrangements
so fondly remembered that he played a Piper-like criminal called Country of United States
"The Minstrel" on the 1966 TV series Batman.[7] origin
Original English
language
Contents Production
Plot summary Producer Hal Stanley
Cast Cinematography William E. Snyder
Music Editors Norman A. Cerf
Soundtrack Floyd Knudtson
Production history Running time 89 minutes
Home media Distributor NBCUniversal
References Television
Distribution
External links Release
Original network NBC

Plot summary Original release November 26, 1957

The Pied Piper (Van Johnson) is first spotted working magic in

Hamelin by a disabled boy, Paul, and playing his signature tune In the
Hall of the Mountain King. Paul tells his best friend, the schoolteacher
Truson (=true son), also played by Johnson, but Truson is skeptical.

The town of Hamelin has entered a competition in order to win a

banner from the King. To this end, the Mayor (Claude Rains) exhorts
the people to work incessantly, even the children, to the extent that
Stanley Adams (left) & Claude Rains
they are denied school and play. Truson protests, but his protests go
unheeded by the arrogant Mayor. As part of a competition between
several villages, the Mayor and his cabinet plan to construct golden
chimes to impress the King's Emissary, who is due to pay a visit to Hamelin. But their efforts are temporarily
halted when the town is invaded by rats, which have fled the neighboring city of Hamelout after the Weser
River flooded and destroyed the town.

It is then that the Piper magically appears before the Mayor and his councilors. (He can appear inside the
council room although the door is bolted.) Asking to be paid all the money in the town's treasury, (fifty-
thousand guilders) he offers to rid the town of the rats. An unusual element is introduced into the story here:
whenever the Piper plays a happy tune for the children, only Truson and the children can hear it. When he
plays "In the Hall of the Mountain King" and leads the rats to their doom in the river, the children quickly fall
asleep and only the material-minded adults such as the Mayor, but not Truson, can hear the music.

The Piper rids the town of the rats, but rather than simply paying him, the Mayor and his Cabinet attempt to
use legal pettifoggery to trick him into an agreement whereby he must deposit a certain amount of money as a
guarantee that the rats will not return, and if they do he must return the rest of the money that he has been paid.
Furious, the Piper leaves without his money, and the Mayor plots to use the gold to construct the chimes.
Truson, who is in love with the Mayor's daughter Mara (Lori Nelson) is thrown in jail for speaking out against
this injustice. The Mayor plans to marry off Mara to the King's Emissary (Jim Backus), but at this point, the
Piper takes his revenge. Playing a happy variation on "In the Hall of the Mountain King", he leads the children
of Hamelin away and into a beautiful kingdom concealed by a cave which magically opens to let the children
in. But Paul is accidentally left behind, after he falls while trying to catch up with the other children and the
cave closes before he can pass through.

The rest of the plot concerns the resolution of the Truson-Mara love story, the attempts of the adults to bring
back the children, and the townsfolk and the Mayor. A happy ending showing the Piper's forgiveness and his
returning of the children was added to the story in order to keep the program a family special.

Cast
Van Johnson as Pied Piper / Truson
Claude Rains as Mayor of Hamelin
Lori Nelson as Mara
Jim Backus as King's Emissary
Kay Starr as John's Mother
Doodles Weaver as the Mayor's Councillor
Stanley Adams as the Mayor's Councillor
 Carl Benton Reid as the Hamelout Mayor
Oliver Blake as Leading Villager
Amzie Strickland as Leading Townswoman
Rene Kroger as Paul
Brian Corocan as John

Music
As in the 1944 Broadway musical Song of Norway, many of Grieg's most famous pieces are heard here, albeit
with lyrics. The first movement of the Piano Concerto in A Minor serves as the tune for the lovers' duet;
Wedding-Day at Troldhaugen serves as a work song for the townsfolk of Hamelin, and Grieg's Peer Gynt
music is used for most of the other musical numbers.

Soundtrack

All music by Edvard Grieg, and lyrics by Irving Taylor. Orchestra conducted by Pete King.

"Pied Piper’s Morning Romp/In the Hall of the Mountain King" (orchestral arrangement adapted
from Peer Gynt)[8]
Doodles Weaver and chorus - "Work Song" (adapted from "Wedding Day at Troldhaugen")[9]
Van Johnson - "How Can I Tell You?" (adapted from "Piano Concerto in A Minor")[10]
Claude Rains, Doodles Weaver, Stanley Adams and Councilors - "Prestige"[11]
"Befriendment Of The Children/In the Hall of the Mountain King" (adapted from Peer Gynt)[12]
Van Johnson and Villagers - "Feats of the Piper" (adapted from "Anitra's Dance" from Peer
Gynt)[13]
"Rat Exodus/In the Hall of the Mountain King" (orchestral arrangement adapted from Peer
Gynt)[14]
"Morning Waltz" (adapted from "Morning Mood" from Peer Gynt)[15]
Van Johnson - "Flim Flam Floo" (adapted from one of the "Norwegian Dances")[16]
Claude Rains, Doodles Weaver, Stanley Adams and Councilors - "Prestige" Reprise[17]
Van Johnson - "Fool's Gold" (adapted from "Solvejg's Song" from Peer Gynt)[18]
Lori Nelson - "My Heart Will Fly To Heaven" (adapted from "Wedding Day at Toldhaugen")[19]
Villagers - "Welcome Emissary Song" (adapted from "Arabian Dance" from Peer Gynt)[20]
Van Johnson and Lori Nelson - "How Can I Tell You?" Reprise[21]
"Exodus Of The Children/In the Hall of the Mountain King" (orchestral arrangement adapted
from Peer Gynt)[22]
Kay Starr - "A Mother's Lament" (adapted from "Aase's Death" from Peer Gynt)[23]
"Return Of The Children/In the Hall of the Mountain King" (adapted from Peer Gynt)[24]

Production history
The film was one of several telecasts in the 1950s of musical fantasies aimed at children and shown as
specials. This trend was caused by the enormous success of the first two live telecasts (in 1955 and 1956) of
the Mary Martin Peter Pan, which had gained the largest audience for a TV special to date. In late 1955,
Hallmark Hall of Fame had presented a live telecast of the 1932 stage adaptation of Alice in Wonderland. This
had been followed in 1956 by the first telecast of MGM's 1939 film The Wizard of Oz (starring Judy Garland),
and the first, live version of Rodgers and Hammerstein's only musical for television, Cinderella (1957),
starring Julie Andrews. Both The Wizard of Oz and Cinderella also drew large audiences on television. And
only a month before the telecast of The Pied Piper of Hamelin, NBC had presented live a live-action musical
adaptation of Pinocchio, with Mickey Rooney as the puppet who longs to be a real boy. In 1958, a live
musical version of Hansel and Gretel, with Barbara Cook and Red Buttons, would also be televised. Both
Pinocchio and Hansel and Gretel boasted scores by Alec Wilder. Cole Porter would follow in 1958 with
Aladdin, starring Sal Mineo and Basil Rathbone, and that same year, ABC, with the help of Serge Prokofiev
and Ogden Nash,[25] would combine the elements of musical comedy, marionette presentations, and classical
music in a successful special entitled "Art Carney Meets Peter and the Wolf".

Home media
Rarely telecast now, The Pied Piper of Hamelin is currently available on DVD and can also be seen online,
though there has never been a restored release, because the movie is now in the public domain. The DVD was
re-issued in 2004 by Digiview Productions.

References
1. https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0050842/releaseinfo
2. https://web.archive.org/web/20070523193621/http://www.getty.net/texts/tv-48-66.txt
3. https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0050842/
4. https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0159620/
5. https://lpcover.wordpress.com/2016/04/20/the-pied-piper-of-hamelin/
6. http://www.kiddiematinee.com/kgm_f12.html
7. http://www.musicals101.com/tv2b.htm
8. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bW6P2es34NY
9. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ByG7iIwY6do
10. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_G7UBcZvmfA
11. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YhkSnaQF11Q
12. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bW6P2es34NY
13. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NheUDT-yeJA
14. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bW6P2es34NY
15. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e_sL5afMzCc
16. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eFdpWoQcHIY
17. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z-iw7LXJ09g
18. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PssEgvepry4
19. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bW6P2es34NY
20. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2uLZE_4nPcw
21. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=myoRkurDL9c
22. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bW6P2es34NY
23. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QbftNs1BZuc
24. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bW6P2es34NY
25. http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,864518,00.html

External links
 The Pied Piper of Hamelin (https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0050842/) on IMDb
The Pied Piper of Hamelin (https://archive.org/details/The_Pied_Piper_of_Hamelin) is
available for free download at the Internet Archive (small bits are missing)
The Pied PIper of Hamelin on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?
v=bW6P2es34NY&feature=share

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