El Flautista de Hamelín

A Walt Disney SILLY SYMPHONY Cartoon Short.

Hamelin Town is beset with an infestation of rats and the harried Mayor is only too glad to offer THE PIED PIPER a bag of gold to rid them of the plague. But once the rodents are removed, the Mayor reneges on his promise, leaving the Piper to take a most effective revenge...

This cartoon offers a good interpretation of the story from the famous Robert Browning poem. Notice how some of the elements of the original have been altered by Disney: the rats no longer drown, they are simply made to vanish into thin air; and the Hamelin children are shown to be used almost as slave labor by their parents, making their removal by the Piper more like a rescue.

The SILLY SYMPHONIES, which Walt Disney produced for a ten year period beginning in 1929, are among the most interesting of series in the field of animation. Unlike the Mickey Mouse cartoons in which action was paramount, with the Symphonies the action was made to fit the music. There was little plot in the early Symphonies, which featured lively inanimate objects and anthropomorphic plants & animals, all moving frantically to the soundtrack. Gradually, however, the Symphonies became the school where Walt's animators learned to work with color and began to experiment with plot, characterization & photographic special effects. The pages of Fable & Fairy Tale, Myth & Mother Goose were all mined to provide story lines and even Hollywood's musicals & celebrities were effectively spoofed. It was from this rich soil that Disney's feature-length animation was to spring. In 1939, with SNOW WHITE successfully behind him and PINOCCHIO & FANTASIA on the near horizon, Walt phased out the SILLY SYMPHONIES; they had run their course & served their purpose.

Oh y'all know how the story of the Piper goes! So I think the animation of this is pretty good, bit rough, not as well done as they were capable of, but it has a nice medieval-esc look to it, I get some proto-Pinocchio vibes from some of the town scenes. I like the opening action of the Mickey Mouse headed rats eating all the town's food in a very rhythmic and adorable fashion, there's some cute sight gags to enjoy during that part. I would have liked this short more if it wasn't for the slight deviation as to why the children of the town get taken away, I think it was a real mistake that to me makes the whole short feel a little off and unsatisfying, a lot of the old fairy tales get changed and softened over the years to make them less frightening, but when you tamper with the formula you can lose the vital lesson of the tale, how good or bad the lives of the children were before they were hypnotised away is besides the point. The moral of this particular story is meant to be a little unsettling and dark - go back on your word and break a promise and you may pay for it dearly one day... This short tries to make the ambiguous Pied Piper into some kind of hero who saves the children from lives of practical slavery to the cruel adults and takes them to a fantasy land of endless candy and playtime, even the crippled boy who couldn't keep up with the rest gets to join in the eternal fun - yuck! I also don't care for the bizarre moment when the Piper lures the rat horde into a giant piece of Swiss cheese and vanishes them into oblivion, but I do suppose they couldn't very well had them all march into the river and drown like in the story! It's not a horrible Symphony I just wish they'd have changed the story in a different and more interesting way than what they did but as it is I must conclude that they squandered one of the most haunting of fables for the sake of an unnecessary 'happy' ending. A poor rendition of a classic tale and not remotely one of my favourite chapters of a very varied and mostly wonderful series of vintage animations. X

This great classic short movie is underrated.

Please watch this movie with kids and take the hidden messages. If you lose control of temptations around you, what you get is what you got.

The Pied Piper is one of the most re-told stories in modern times, there have been countless tellings of the story. This Disney version has some cute moments, but nothing really memorable or outstanding. It examines the story in the lightest terms and abruptly seems to end without a final conclusion or wrap up.

The town of Hamlin is infested with rats and the mayor offers up a reward to drive the rats from the town just as a guy with a long pipe walks into the gates and offers his services. Without any trouble or character development he bygones the town of rats, expects payments and gets the shaft. So he steals the kids of the town away at that very moment, without resistance and takes them away to some magical candy land inside of a mountain. The the end credits pop-up? Where is the rest of the story you will cry out.

The film feels more like a verse, rather than a story. The film focuses on the rats and its rather charming and interesting, but the animators spent more time on the rats than scenes with stealing the children, making you feel sad for the rats that got killed off rather than the city's problems.

One of the allegories the story is focused on is The Black Plague. The Pied Piper is a representation of Death or the Dark Angel. The Mayor and the rulers destroyed the town with their greed. The rats represent The Black Plague. The Piper is taking the kids off to Heaven. Many people watching this short or talking about this story fail to grasp this idea or deeper meaning behind the tale. All of which is completely pulled from the friendly Disney version.

The animation is nice and the music and sound are vastly improved having now been crated by RCA rather than Disney's first shorts using Cinephone. The audio is easy to be heard and understood on like the latter shorts. This short is largely forgettable and rather tame.

Best Scene: Rats Taking Over

The early scenes where the rats are rampaging the town are fun. There is a lot of animation going on. The rats resembling Mickey Mouse find creative ways to eat foods and cause havoc. They behave almost like pets, rather than disease carrying black plague card holders.

Worst Scene: Pied Piper Steals Kids

The Piper because they mayor did not pay him so in that moment he begins to steal the kids without any resistance. The parents just watch as he whisks away thousands of kids and then looks at the mayor like they are unable to think for themselves. Some parental instincts would take over and an exciting chase and war would breakout if this really happened. My money is on the Piper, who knows what other gadgets he's got up his sleeve.

Best Actor: The Rats

Even though millions of animated rats died in the film, they had great fun before their demise and served as wonderful BBQ to feed the newly captured kids of Hamlin.

Worst Actor: Townsfolk

They just stand by as their kids are taken away to a permanent day-care in the sky.

Improvements: More Depth Please

The film feels like they took a one paragraph story and stretched it out to 8 minutes long. We need more tension and threat. Pipe Piper is a Mary-Sue with no resistance.

Hits

• Fun animations of rats eating and dancing.
• Lots of characters on screen.
• Nice songs and music.

Misses Feels too short.

• Questionable voice-acting.
• Needs more magic.

Final Grade: C

This Silly Symphonies cartoon begins with a graphic example of how rats are overpowering Hamelin Town, all to the tune of a spirited song about the little creatures. The mayor of the city offers a bag of gold to anyone who will help the townspeople get rid of all the rats. The Pied Piper turns up, announcing he'll reduce the overrun rat population and accept the bag of gold for reward.

Next thing you know, the little critters are all following him down a country road far away from town and he's ready to return for his gold.

"I've done my work as I was told and now I'll take my bag of gold."

The Mayor refuses to carry out the bargain and the townspeople say all he did was play a tune, so the Piper declares he'll remove all the children of the town from their influence. And so, he woos them off to a childhood paradise where they can sing and play rather than be used as little more than hard-worked servants by their parents.

Charming animation helps make it a morality tale with a happy ending.