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The Pied Piper Movie Review

The Pied Piper is a 1942 drama film directed by Irving Pichel and starring Monty Woolley in the main role. It is an unexpectedly solid, endearing flick.

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“I do not like children. Particularly you“

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While traveling in France during the Nazi invasion of 1940, an Englishman is entrusted with the care of a group of refugee children. Similar to ‘Life Is Beautiful’, The Pied Piper does a more lightweight, comedic take on a WWII story and it’s all the better for it. In a year that was straddled with way too many war pictures and straight propaganda pieces, it is a breath of fresh air to watch a film that is sweeter and warmer on the inside.

Based on a book that was itself obviously based upon the classic titular fairy tale, the film is far from original in its plot, but the execution is so good that the end result is pretty satisfactory. The main reason why this movie works as well as it does lies in the main performance from Monty Woolley. He was an underrated actor in the Golden Age of Hollywood and this is one of his best and most important roles.

He was so wonderful here as Howard, a kind soul and a man who would go on to help many children in this story. His dynamic with the kids is endearing and the children themselves are also solid here. Well, Roddy McDowall at least is as he got the most to do as Ronnie. It was great seeing this actor so early in his career and instantly showcasing a lot of potential.

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The Pied Piper is poorly paced and structured. The movie is over before you even know it. It is so short that this length hurt it in the long run as it was just getting so good when suddenly it was all over. The technical aspects aren’t all that great, but admittedly that could be due to the poor quality of all available prints of it in existence today. It was nominated for a couple of awards with the Best Actor nod being the most deserved one.