For whom the bells toll? Maybe for the bourgeois from Hamelin, for sure for Demy too: this can be considered as his last really successful movie. During the sixties, he was at his peak with such works as "parapluies de Cherbourg" "Lola" and "Peau d'âne". Some might say that "une chambre en ville" (1984) should not be passed over in silence, but it's a step back, a return to the musicals of the sixties when we could expect something new,an extension of the previous work.

It's strange that Demy was anxious to film this Germanic story in the United Kingdom. After all,he did film "Peau d'âne" in the beautiful châteaux of my dear France, notably Chambord for the final scenes. And he would not have filmed "les demoiselles de Rochefort" in San Francisco, would he? Maybe he wanted Donovan so bad he could not do any other way. And Donovan is a very good choice, he who often wrote for the children gentle ditties. And he duly sings a wonderful song called "sailing homeward" (it was included in his "essence to essence " album in 1973). But only this one, if my memory is not at fault. This is not a musical. The plague is not a subject for such a kind of movie. Some critics complained that the pied piper was not really part of the cast: he seems to go his own way, completely on one side, hardly speaking to the other characters. But ,as he is a magician,he is not allowed to join the mere mortals.

The legendary Middle Ages are well recreated. There's a terrific banquet scene:a cake, in the shape of a castle, is brought on the table in honor of the newlyweds: suddenly, big black rats get out of it... The end of the legend is cruel and ruthless, but Demy could not help but modify it a bit.

The Pied Piper is not a Disney Fairytale

The bubonic plague often began with the death of the rats before it spread to the people. This movie's version of the pied piper seems far closer to the origin of the story than anything else I've seen.