Going into The Pied Piper blind is the best way to experience this charmingly delightful World War II comedy drama. If you haven’t seen it before don’t look up a trailer or read a synopsis and don’t read the rest of this review until you have. That’s how I experienced this 1942 film from director Irving Pichel. I knew so little about this film that I initially assumed it would be a film about the fairy tale character leading the children of Hamelin away. Instead, what I found was a movie centered on the realities of war torn europe. The tone is kept relatively light while also not shying away from what was really going on in the world. This tonal balancing works well for a while, then it begins to unravel in the final act.
The year is 1940 and Howard (Monty Woolley) has gone to France near the Switzerland border to sulk about getting rejected for service in World War II because of his age. When the Nazis invade France he is determined to travel home to England. Mrs. Cavanaugh (Jill Esmond), the lady he has been staying with, is traveling with her husband to Geneva where he is posted and fears it may not be safe for her two children: Ronnie (Roddy McDowall) and Sheila (Peggy Ann Garner). She asks Howard if he can escort the children to her sister’s home in Plymouth. Howard reluctantly agrees.
A short distance into the trip their train is cancelled due to the invasion and they have to find new transportation. When they board a bus headed further north Ronnie sneaks along a little French girl, Rose, who, at her aunt’s request, needs to be taken to London. As the bus approaches Chartres, German aircraft attack the stream of refugees on the road leaving many dead. Once the attack is over Howard discovers yet another little kid is tagging along, this one named Pierre whose parents were killed in the attack. And so the story goes as Howard acquires more and more children on their way to England and, like the Pied Piper of the story, he must lead them away. In Chartres he meets up with Nicole (Anne Baxter), an acquaintance of his who spent some time with his son who was killed in the war. She helps hide them from the Germans, who have seized the city, and sneak them out since the Nazis have gotten word an Englishman is among them. Eventually they will all be captured by the Nazis where Major Diessen (Otto Preminger) interrogates Howard, assuming he is a spy for the British. But Major Diessen has a secret of his own, one that may just save Howard and all the kids.
Howard starts the movie off being annoyed by Ronnie and Sheila, specifically when Ronnie corrects him about his geography knowledge of the United States. This will end up being a running gag throughout the film. He portrays himself as the typical gruff old man but behind that exterior is a soft heart. He does accept taking the kids with him to London even though he is under no obligation to do so. He’s also protective of them, throwing his body over theirs when the German planes start shooting. He may profess to not like kids but he risks much to keep them safe.
Monty Wooley is an ideal choice for Howard. He was a big, imposing looking man who was too old to play roles like soldiers and officers but had an appearance to him that suggested pride and stuffiness. Shortly after this film he would be playing a similar character in another unique war drama, Since You Went Away. Despite his outward defenses he is at heart a softy. Monty is adept at playing this kind of role. It would be real easy to play this part overly broad and play up the comedic elements. Such a choice might work for a farcical comedy but it would undercut the emotions that this film is trying to tap into. Monty is playing things at just the right level and would be rewarded with an Oscar nomination for it.
The film makes good use of on-screen maps to help non-European audiences keep track of where they are at throughout the course of the story. This is especially helpful to understanding the location of the German troops in retrospect to Howard and the kids. Every time we see that map there is a vast darkness where it is blacked out and decorated with the image of the swastika. It’s a potent reminder of the looming danger and what is at stake. This builds tension and suspense as well as an overall sense of dread as they get closer to that dark part of the map.
Once Howard, Nicole and the kids are eventually captured and brought before Major Diessen the film loses much of its momentum. Part of this is because of the performance given by Otto Preminger who has shown he is capable of playing these kinds of roles in other films. He was perfect in Stalag 17 in a similar part but here he is just off. He’s trying to appear menacing, going on and on about torturing Howard until he confesses to being a British spy, but those threats never materialize. Now don’t get me wrong, this film doesn’t need scenes of Howard being tortured, but it feels wrong to play up the threat if it’s never going to be carried out. It takes away all the menace from his character. When he was being menacing in Stalag 17 there is no doubt he would carry it out. Here, it feels empty.
And then there is a turn in Diessen’s character that is so sudden it feels unearned. He has a deus ex machina half-jewish daughter he needs smuggled out of the reach of his superiors and Howard proves to be just the thing he needs to make it happen. This is the one part of the movie that is taking the premise too far and it just rings false. Otto was not good playing up the menace in the earlier scenes and he is even worse playing the worried and conflicted father in the later ones.
There is so much to recommend in The Pied Piper. It was a topical story about the ongoing invasion of France during the second world war and adds in the element of children in danger. It plays up the playfulness of young children without masking the real dangers being in Nazi occupied France. But it fails to satisfactorily stick the landing and then ends abruptly on a silly one liner. The solution to getting out of France is just a bit too convenient and feels unearned, too. It’s unfortunate because the rest of the film leading up to it was so well constructed. Not all of this failure is due to Preminger’s performance but a good deal of it is. The poor final act doesn’t ruin the film but it does deflate the tension and end the movie on a weak note.
Academy Award Nominations:
Best Picture: Nunnally Johnson
Best Actor: Monty Woolley
Best Cinematography - Black-and-White: Edward Cronjager
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Release Date: August 21, 1942
Running Time: 87 Minutes
Not Rated
Starring: Monty Wooley, Anne Baxter and Roddy McDowall
Directed By: Irving Pichel
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