Das gestohlene Herz

Das gestohlene Herz (1934)

*** (out of 4)

This silhouette short from German filmmaker Lotte Reiniger shows a small town and their love for music. Through the animation we see various people playing music on these instruments. Then an evil man shows up and steal the instruments and their happiness. THE STOLEN HEART works on two different levels. For starters, it's a clear love letter to music and the power that it can have on people and the happiness that it can bring them. Secondly, many people believe this was a film that was showing anger against the Nazi party and what they were doing during this era. With both of those things in mind, the film is certainly an entertaining one, although it's not nearly as created of some of the director's other works. Still, if you're a fan of this genre then this is certainly worth watching.

In a small town, everyone loves music. Boys on carts play flutes and in their homes, youngsters play fiddles, pianos, even accordions. Song fills the air as they prepare to sleep But a mishappen giant comes down from the mountains and steals their instruments, and growing ever larger, carries them to his cave to hang in a spider web.

Did Doctor Seuss know this example of Lotte Reiniger's work, and did it inspire him to write HOW THE GRINCH STOLE CHRISTMAS? Other reviewers, even the person who wrote the notes to the blue-ray collection this appears on suggest it was intended as specific anti-Nazi propaganda. Perhaps, but it works as a straight fairy tale, about how music and joy inspire us, and that's more than good enough for me.