The Pied Piper (1933) User Reviews

Though the basic story is here, it's been given the Disney "touch".

[llltdesq · 8/10 · 10 November 2014]

This is a color Silly Symphony produced by the Disney studio. There will be spoilers ahead:

If you know the basic plot of the poem upon which this is based, then you know the bulk of the story here. But since this was done by Disney, there have been changes to make it less dark in tone in some ways and to make the Pied Piper seem more kindly than simply a disgruntled contractor getting even with someone who cheated him.

This is essentially a mini-opera, with everything sung. The rats display more defined character than the humans typically do here and the scenes with the rats are better animated and more interesting.

The piper is hired to rid the town of rats, which he does slightly more humanely than the original does (they vanish in a block of cheese instead of drowning) and the piper is cheated by the mayor and the townspeople. He threatens to pipe the children away and the adults mock and deride him. The children are shown as being the only ones who do any work, so being taken is more a liberation than a kidnapping. One change made corrects what I see as an injustice (though I'm biased) and thus I like the ending. The colors are a bit off, but it's technically well done.

This short is available on the Disney Treasures More Silly Symphonies DVD set. It's worth getting.

The familiar story gets a few new twists from Disney...

[Doylenf · 6/10 · 30 March 2008]

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.

"You rid this town of rats, you'll get this bag of gold."

[utgard14 · 7/10 · 1 August 2016]

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.

A more whimsical cartoon from Disney.

[OllieSuave-007 · 6/10 · 16 August 2018]

A Silly Symphony where a piper saves a town from rat infestation. However, he gets mad and takes revenge when the King refuses to pay him.

Lots of singing and sappy songs, with weird-acting characters and over-imaginative scenes. Definitely one of the more whimsical cartoons from Disney.

Grade C+

A Silly Symphony of rats and muddled retribution

[Foreverisacastironmess123 · 6/10 · 22 August 2020]

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

"Rats! Rats! We gotta get rid of the rats!"

[classicsoncall · 7/10 · 8 July 2016]

Another reviewer cites this story as a morality tale with a happy ending. Well I don't know about that, I saw all those kids sealed off from the rest of the world behind that mountain entrance into an unknown place. The Piper called it Joyland, but how would we ever know?

So there's a bit of a creepy factor in all this that most viewers won't take the time to recognize or acknowledge. On the flip side though, I can't disagree with the Pied Piper's getting his revenge on the citizens and Mayor who promised a bag of gold to get rid of the town's rodent problem, and then reneged on the deal. They had it coming to them by and large, but it seemed a heavy price to pay.

I'm probably putting too much thought into this story, after all it was a Silly Symphony and I guess the objective was to be light hearted and silly. It worked for the most part, but maybe the Piper could have simply banished the Mayor to a life of servitude.

Excellent execution of a well-known story

[Horst_In_Translation · 6/10 · 23 December 2017]

These 7.5 minutes we have here are a Disney color cartoon from 1933, so the very early days of the Golden Age of Animation. It was directed by Wilfred Jackson, one of the company's finest. Well what can you say here. The looks of characters and landscapes are really amazing visually and this film is so far ahead of its time it isn't even funny. The music is also on a very high level and this one is evidence that Disney really is not relying on their trademark characters (Mickey, Donald) when it comes to making quality films. I am amazed and not surprised that this one really made it as a cartoon of under 10 minutes into the list of NBR's top10 films back then from that year. The story is good too and has a nice moral. Also this is really one movie where ecerybody has shades and you don't always see that in (old) animation. The rats early on, the piper and the townsfolk. Everybody is somehow bad in its own right, but you can make an argument for everybody too why they do what they do, even if it is certainly quite a challenge for the townsfolk. At the end, Disney keeps it light and charming with the kids arriving in Toyland and that boy even losing his crutches hides the fact very well that the parents all lost their children, even the innocents who maybe wanted to pay the piper for what he did with the rats. The stork scene was a nice addition and overall with this ending Disney definitely keeps it family friendly. I was tempted at times to give this one an even higher rating, it is definitely among the very best 1933 has to offer in terms of film, not just short film. I especially liked the piper's looks. So yeah, no hesitation here, I think you really wanna check this one out. Big thumbs-up.

Good Beginning/Ruined Ending

[Hitchcoc · 6/10 · 11 March 2019]

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.

Classic Poem Comes To Animated Life

[Ron Oliver · 10/10 · 19 August 2000]

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.

Good short hampered by an asinine ending

[MissSimonetta · 7/10 · 21 May 2014]

That Disney did not want to keep the sinister nature of the original poem is okay with me, but they could have improved this insipid ending. I was once in a musical children's production of The Pied Piper and the ending had the townspeople repenting and the Piper returning the kids. No, that doesn't have the punch of the original story's creepy conclusion, but it works better dramatically than, "The piper steals the kids and they all live happily forever in Toy Land!" That feels like a parody of a Disney film, not an actual one! I usually don't mind the changes Disney makes in their output, but this was too much.

Everything that happens before is great though. The character animation experiments with a more realistic human form and the music is fantastic. It's a shame the ending had to be so bad, because I would otherwise give this cartoon an 8 out of 10.

"Rats! Rats! We gotta get rid of the rats!"

[TheLittleSongbird · 9/10 · 27 March 2010]

With a few new twists on the classic poem, this is an interesting and charming Silly Symphony. What I loved most was the beautiful animation and the sweet, charming music that is playful, whimsical and simple. I found myself chanting along the townspeople in the chorus "Rats!Rats!We Gotta Get Rid of the Rats!" The characters aren't too bad either, the pied Piper of the title is very likable, the children are cute and the Mayor is seen as quite greedy and manipulative.

The pacing is a little uneven here, but compared to how much I enjoyed The Pied Piper it is a minor criticism. Overall, this is very enjoyable and charming with a few new and nice twists on the poem. 9/10 Bethany Cox

Too many deviations from the original tale....

[planktonrules · 6/10 · 16 November 2010]

The Pied Piper of Hamelin is a hard-edged story about honoring your commitments. This is because what exactly happened to the kids at the end was always kind of vague. For all we know, the Piper was a pedo or fed the kids to a dog food company! But since this is a cartoon for kids and comes from Disney, they weren't about to allow the story to go that way!

The artwork was okay--not up to the standards of many of the better Silly Symphonies but still much better than the competition. The faces of the characters (especially the kids) are very simple--with little character. And, like some of the Silly Symphonies, this one has quite a bit of singing--a definite minus. But what bothered me is, as I said above, the stupid need to make this tough story happy--with the children all being taken to Toy Land AND the little kid who could barely walk being carried into this wonderful world by the nice Piper (in the original, he could not keep up and was left behind). All in all, not a bad cartoon--but it played too fast and loose with the original story to be of more interest.

The Pied Piper (1933) Review

[zebunker · 5/10 · 14 November 2019]

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

Very nice

[belubocesban · 7/10 · 18 December 2020]

This shorty movie is surpreendentemente nice. Very funny, but...

Good...

[RosanaBotafogo · 8/10 · 4 July 2021]

Based on the true story of the disappearance of 130 children around the year 1200, a tragic story that gave life to a legend that ended up uniting peoples, the City of Hamelin receives thousands of tourists, a cute, vindictive and meaningful short film ...

I would see this masterpiece hundreds of times while I'm alive.

[MK_Movie_Reviews · 9/10 · 23 August 2021]

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.

This is probably the silliest of ALL the symphonies . . .

[pixrox1 · 10/10 · 17 October 2021]

. . . with its contention that children are rat-like vermin, and must be disposed of permanently. Based upon a True Story that actually happened in Hamelin, Lower Saxony on April 20, 1284, THE PIED PIPER illustrates how rodents and kids march to exactly the same music. This nefarious musician permanently eradicates the long-tailed pests to an imaginary Cheese-Land and the tailless tykes to a Fantasy Toy-Land. No survivors of either race are ever seen again. In Real Life, this cursed town surrendered to Napoleon without a fight, after which the Little Corporal razed much of the blighted village. Another corporal oversaw hundreds of murders there during the short-lived "Thousand Year Reich," after which hundreds of the losers were hung in this Charnel Town for their War Crimes. Therefore, THE PIED PIPER captures the true essence of this Lower Saxony anathema, Past, Present and Future.

The Hero Pied Piper

[flaviomarcelo · 8/10 · 4 October 2022]

The Pied Piper of Hamelin is the 39th short film by Silly Symphony, where it is about a town or a castle where it is infested with rats everywhere, so much is the overwhelm of the villagers that they come to complain to the king and demands that he do something about the rats, so the king tired of the rats offers to give a reward to whoever gets rid of them, then miraculously a flute player enters and hears what he says the king offers his service, then he begins to play his enchanted flute causing the rats to follow him to a huge giant cheese and disappear. The Pied Piper returns and asks for his reward, but the King refuses to pay it back. The Pied Piper tells him to take the children, which he does. He takes them to a place of entertainment since the children in town were slaves of his parents. When he arrives he feels a total relief and they play forever.

The Pied Piper is one of my characters that I always think I did the right thing by taking the children because they were being exploited.

The king is ambitious and selfish who only thinks of himself and his ambitions cost him dearly.

In conclusion: A short film that teaches a lot to this generation that sees it, not to abuse the characters that offer some help, because in the end everything is paid for in a certain way. The music and the spectacular animation always in rhythm with everything. The flautist gets the credit.