The Pied Piper

I read the novel twice many years ago and found it perhaps Nevil Shute's best story, and he wrote many, all outstanding. Still I am tempted to hint at the possibility that the film excels the book, much because of Monty Woolley's rendering of the grumpy old Englishman sick of everything who finds himself stranded in France by the war after Dunkirk and has to accept helping two children to England although he hates children. His long difficult odyssey through war-harried France to somehow reach England with constantly more orphaned children on his hands turns him into another and slightly different man, and the realism depicting this is what makes the film so impressing still today after 70 years for its more than just convincing character. It was made before any of the turning points of the war in 1942 after Pearl Harbour and the fall of Singapore while the Germans were still pounding Moscow and besieging Leningrad, in brief, when the war was at its grimmest. Nevil Shute's story is about humanity in the depth of the despair of this world crisis, which the film admirably conveys, underlining the realism. Monty Woolley, however, is finally matched by Otto Preminger as the German officer, who represents the final conversion to humanity and couldn't make it better as a perfectly brutal and revolting officer who finally has to fall to his own humanity. It's one of the greatest stories told from the second world war, and the film honours it. Strange though that this very important and wonderful film should be so hard to find on internet. A remake was made for TV in 1989 with Peter O'Toole which also pays credit to the story, such a story can only be told well, but that film can't be found at all.

Finally tracked down a tape of this 1942 filming of the Nevil Shute novel, and found it quite enjoyable. Monty Woolley is perfect in the lead, a crusty Brit on vacation in Switzerland who is persuaded, with WW2 imminent, to take a friend's two small children to safety in England. Other children join the group along the way, with the German army always around the next corner, leading to an exciting finale when the group is captured by a Nazi commander, played by Otto Preminger. Among the children are Roddy MacDowall and Peggy Ann Garner, and Ann Baxter plays a French girl who helps Monty and his charges elude the Germans. (Baxter's French accent is very convincing.) Two gripes: (1) the film is shot mostly in darkness and in close quarters, and one yearns for the director to open it up. (2) The aforementioned Preminger is over the top in his portrayal - which was of course standard in 1942. But the movie is worth seeing, and worth releasing on DVD. Now to find another "lost" Nevil Shute movie: Landfall. Any suggestions?

I have to admit it...I like Monty Woolley. You can count on the old curmudgeon to make any movie worth watching, Woolley is definitely one of the classic screen's best scene stealers!

In "The Pied Piper" Woolley plays an Englishman who is visiting France when the Germans invade in 1940. Realizing his place is back home, he packs up and begins his trek to England...but with the unwelcome addition of 2 French children (Roddy McDowall and Peggy Ann Garner) whose parents fear for their safety in Nazi-occupied France.

But what should be a relatively easy journey turns into a nightmare, as French civilization crumbles around them. Every time Woolley and his companions face a crisis, another desperate child joins the group, until he finds himself the leader of quite a menagerie.

Others in the cast include Anne Baxter as "Nicole," who helps Wooley outsmart the German occupiers and Otto Preminger as "Major Diesson," the ranking Nazi who also finds he has use for Woolley and his children.

"The Pied Piper" doesn't shy away from the grim realities of war and the suffering it imposes on everyone, both young and old. One can only imagine the impact this film had on moviegoers in 1942. The film was released just 7 months after Pearl Harbor.

I love "The Pied Piper." Although born in New York City, Monty Woolley strikes just the right note as a British tourist in Europe who gets roped into shepherding several French children, most of whose parents have been killed in the World War II, to safety in England or America. Woolley was nominated for a Best Actor Academy Award for this film, and the film itself was nominated for Best Picture also. The supporting cast, including Anne Baxter, Roddy McDowell, and Otto Preminger, are likewise superb.

It boggles my mind that this award-nominated film is not available on video is any form. Why is 20th Century Fox ignoring this worthy film while so many others of lesser quality are released? Heck, I'd even take it in the Fox Cinema Archives series, if nothing else.

I happened to be only 9 yrs old when I saw this movie for the first and only time in 1967 in Novato, CA ....Even I could understand it at that age...The 2 scenes I remember best were when Woolley's character: 1. ...Asked the Nazi officer if they've captured "him yet". The officer asks: "Who?", and Woolley replies firmly: "Hitler". Officer replies back in the negative, then Woolley defiantly but bravely yells back: ''BAHH!", then strides out of the officer's room. 2...Is brought another stray child to his group by someone unknown. A woman in Woolley's group tries to speak to the child to find out more. The child replies in an unknown language. Then the womans exclaims: "That sounds like Dutch!" (The reason I remember this so much is at age 9 I was shocked to see a war scene of an orphaned child speaking a foreign language. Where were the parents?, I thought. They must have been killed...)