Van Johnson
Pied Piper / Truson
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Audience rating
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Synopsis
Hamelin's leaders want a magnificent clock tower to impress a royal visitor, even at the expense of the town's children. When rats invade, a mysterious musician offers a solution and asks to be paid. Music and verse carry this television adaptation of the folktale toward the consequences of a promise that officials do not intend to keep.
Cast
DirectorsBretaigne Windust
Historical context
The production belongs to the 1950s wave of ambitious television musical fantasies for family audiences. It was filmed for broadcast rather than performed live, and later reached cinemas, crossing the boundary between television special and theatrical feature.
Inspirations
Robert Browning's poem supplies the story, while music by Edvard Grieg is repurposed into a musical score with new lyrics. Rhymed dialogue gives the adaptation a deliberately storybook quality, and Claude Rains's performance includes an unusual singing-and-dancing turn.
Sources and availability
The synopsis and editorial text were written for this collection. The references below were cross-checked to identify the film and its copy; each editorial section identifies its reference.
Work catalogued as public domain in the United States.
The reference concerns the original work. Restorations, colorization, translations and other territories may have different conditions. This site uses the player enabled by the channel.
Availability checked on September 10, 2026.
Photograph credit
Photographs cropped, resized and optimized as WebP, displayed in monochrome.
- Van Johnson — Photographer: Eric Carpenter (1909–1976) · Public domain
- Claude Rains — Elmer Fryer · Public domain
- Lori Nelson — Max Factor · Public domain
- Jim Backus — California National Productions · Public domain
