The Pied Piper of Hamelin (1957) Review

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(More customer reviews)This Alpha Video DVD of 'The Pied Piper Of Hamelin' is the best source print of this film I have ever seen.
'Pied Piper Of Hamelin' (1956) is a family treat for all ages and for all holidays. First filmed in color as a Hallmark TV special, it is a masterful, musical re-telling of the legendary fairy tale using the beautiful mysterious, music of Edward Grieg with new lyrics.
The cast is first-rate, with movie great Van Johnson brilliantly playing the strange and often frightening piper, as well as the kind school teacher Trueson, who is also the village concience. Legendary movie villain Claude Rains is absolutely wonderful as the clever, sneering, and corrupt lord mayor of Hamelin. Rains has a ball playing him like Prince John of 'Adventures Of Robin Hood' (1938) in retirement! He even does a comical, show-stopping song and dance! Jim Backus also appears as the King's messenger, and his comedy is sorely needed as this fairy tale goes dark in it's second half.
One highlight of the film, is Van Johnson as the Pied Piper, leading the rats out of Hamelin to their deaths in the river. He is playing on his pipe the haunting melody of 'In The Hall Of The Mountain King' from Mr. Grieg's 'Peter Guint Suite' as the cleverly animated rats march to oblivion!
Unlike the fairy tale, this 'Pied Piper Of Hamelin' has a happy ending with a lesson for everyone about greed, selfishness, and false pride.

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Red Riding Hood Review

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(More customer reviews)My almost four year old granddaughter picked this film as she already knew the story of Little Red Riding Hood from her mom and dad. I was a little concerned it might be too scary as it is PG but I should have realized that she was able to handle it very well.
The wolf is a werewolf. Lainie Kazan is the grandmother and is reading the story to her grandchildren. Lainie is wonderful in this!! If you are over 50 you may remember her singing on the Mike Douglas Show or on Ed Sullivan.
While the wolf swallows people whole, it is done by special effects that make it look cartoonish thus not scaring even my granddaughter! She really loved the whole film and was very enthusiastically telling her aunt, one of my other daughters, how good it was!!
If you have a mature preschooler who understands pretend and cartoon violence, they will enjoy this as the singing and fun stuff are hilarious. There is a precarious situation for the two kids in the film but even that is broken by humor and turning out not to be as dangerous as it looks. Otherwise I would recommend the viewing be by at least 5 or 6 year olds.

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