The Pied Piper of Hamelin

The Pied Piper of Hamelin is an American musical film based on the famous poem of the same name by Robert Browning and using the music of Edvard Grieg, arranged by Pete King with new lyrics by Hal Stanley and Irving Taylor. It stars Van Johnson, Claude Rains (in his only singing and dancing role), Lori Nelson, Jim Backus and Kay Starr. It was directed by Broadway veteran Bretaigne Windust. Nearly all of the dialogue in The Pied Piper of Hamelin is spoken in rhyme, much of it directly lifted from Browning's poem. Initially airing on NBC on November 26, 1957, The Pied Piper of Hamelin was the first television film not presented live, in contrast to the usual televised family specials of the era, but on motion picture film using three-strip Technicolor, a tactic whose previous use on television was solely for the one-hour science specials Our Mr. Sun and Hemo the Magnificent. Theatrical prints erroneously bill the film as having been made in Eastmancolor. Preempting that evening's telecasts of The Nat King Cole Show and The Eddie Fisher Show, the film's success spawned a record album, and it re-aired on NBC in 1958 before syndication on various local stations, where it was rerun annually in the tradition of other holiday specials. It received a brief theatrical release in 1966, though it did not fare nearly as well. Plot The Pied Piper is first spotted working magic in Hamelin by a disabled boy, Paul, and playing his signature tune "In the Hall of the Mountain King." Paul tells his best friend, the schoolteacher Truson (who bears an uncanny resemblance to the Piper), who is skeptical.