O Flautista Encantado

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.

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 early Disney Technicolor short, part of the Silly Symphonies series, tackles the old story of the Pied Piper of Hamelin. The story is the one most of us know - town is overrun by rats so the town leaders hire the Piper to lure the rats out of town. He does this but they refuse to pay him, leading the Piper to exact his revenge in a manner that has creepier undertones these days than it did when this was made. Anyway, this is a good cartoon version of the story and teaches kids valuable lessons about paying your debts and the power of wind instruments. I guess it also teaches kids if a strange man shows up playing a flute you should follow him because he'll lead you to Toyland. The animation is very good, especially the backgrounds. The color is just gorgeous. The music is lively. All of the voice work is fine. Really not much bad to say about it except that, while it's good, it's not great.

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.

We all know the story of the evil mayor of Hamelin who promises the Pied Piper a great reward for ridding the city of rats. But, of course, he decides not to pay up and the children of the city pay the price. The problem is that there is no repentance. The townspeople are just ignored at the end. Too saccharine.