I saw this movie on TV when it first came on (I was about 5) and it ranked right up there with Cole Porter's ALADDIN as an immediate favorite. I remember having the record album (which had expanded versions of some of the Grieg songs, including the WEDDING DAY AT TROLDHAUGEN, a wonderful piano piece adapted for the mounting of the gold chimes that the corrupt mayor - Claude Rains - had fashioned by melting down the guilders in the town treasury!) When I was in high school I saw this film again and tracked down the Grieg selections which are not just from the Peer Gynt Suites as another commenter wrote but spanned the Piano Concerto - which became one of my favorites as a result - the above mentioned "WEDDING DAY", and many of the sections of the Peer Gynt Suites as well.
While today I see the tremendous limitations of this film and would not expect today's children to suspend their belief and enter this world like I did when I first saw it, it had a real effect on me and I'm glad to be able to see it again from time to time. I don't see Kay Starr's lament to the tune of Ase's Death as a "torch song" as suggested by an earlier commenter...I remember seeing this again, as a young teenager in the mid-60's and being very moved by that song, sung after the piper lured the children into the mountain. (I also remember how MAD I was once when it was shown on New York local TV and the song - and ONLY that song - was CUT).
Now, I see the complete lack of credibility of the ending - not only did the children come home, but the corrupt mayor was deposed in favor of the forthright school master, played in a double role by Van Johnson who also was the Piper - and then joined in the resultant gaiety by playing a tune from the Piper's flute instead of being hauled off in CHAINS like one would expect...oh well.
Perhaps there is one five, six or seven-year-old who will see and hear this and it will spark his curiosity and interest as it did mine. Given the jaded nature of today's youth, mixed with the decidedly dated nature of this as a movie and a musical, I'm not holding my breath. Still, it joins "THE MUSIC MAN" (the ORIGINAL with Robert Preston) and the Alastair Sim "CHRISTMAS CAROL" as one of my three childhood favorite movies.
While today I see the tremendous limitations of this film and would not expect today's children to suspend their belief and enter this world like I did when I first saw it, it had a real effect on me and I'm glad to be able to see it again from time to time. I don't see Kay Starr's lament to the tune of Ase's Death as a "torch song" as suggested by an earlier commenter...I remember seeing this again, as a young teenager in the mid-60's and being very moved by that song, sung after the piper lured the children into the mountain. (I also remember how MAD I was once when it was shown on New York local TV and the song - and ONLY that song - was CUT).
Now, I see the complete lack of credibility of the ending - not only did the children come home, but the corrupt mayor was deposed in favor of the forthright school master, played in a double role by Van Johnson who also was the Piper - and then joined in the resultant gaiety by playing a tune from the Piper's flute instead of being hauled off in CHAINS like one would expect...oh well.
Perhaps there is one five, six or seven-year-old who will see and hear this and it will spark his curiosity and interest as it did mine. Given the jaded nature of today's youth, mixed with the decidedly dated nature of this as a movie and a musical, I'm not holding my breath. Still, it joins "THE MUSIC MAN" (the ORIGINAL with Robert Preston) and the Alastair Sim "CHRISTMAS CAROL" as one of my three childhood favorite movies.