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1911Thanhouser Company1,000 feetLiterary adaptation

The Pied Piper of Hamelin

No copy you can watch online. No print is known to survive. What follows is what does: the release, the cast, the story, and what the trade press said at the time.

The story

“According to the tale found in the ancient annals, the little town of Hamelin in Hannover, found itself, 500 years ago, overrun with rats. The citizens tried every way to abate the plague, but without result. Finally a mysterious stranger appeared in the town and offered for the sum of 1,000 guilders to clear the place of vermin. His offer was accepted, for the mayor and council were at their wits’ end, and willing to try any expedient. The stranger was a piper, and the music he played lured the rats out of their hiding places. They followed him to the river, where they plunged in and were drowned. When the piper returned to the council and demanded his pay, he found the city rulers ungrateful and dishonorable. They repudiated their bargain and told the piper to take 15 guilders and be gone, for he was shabby and ragged and they thought they could swindle him with impunity. But the piper had his pipe left, and it was still potent, as the townsmen learned in their sorrow. He played another tune, and this time it was the children who followed him. They marched out of the city behind him, the citizens awoke to find that all their homes were desolate.

“One version of this old legend has that one little boy, crippled, was unable to keep up with the others, and when they followed the piper into a hollow hill, he was so far behind that the doorway was closed before he limped up. It is said that he lived a lonely life in a city of sorrow, where the voice of children, except his own, was not heard. But there is reason to believe that the piper was not so hard-hearted as some chroniclers have maintained. How could he make a whole town unhappy, and how could he blight the existence of a poor little cripple boy? So we like to believe that the piper listened to the prayers of the cripple, and restored him to his playmates. And that after a time there was joy in Hamelin, and the citizens learned a lesson, that dishonesty never pays, and that in the long run, if you cheat a man or a woman, you may expect some day, in some way, to pay the penalty.”

Summary from The Moving Picture World · 29 July 1911

Background of the scenario

This story had its inception some time around the turn of the 13th century, and before long it was popular in various forms throughout Europe. Written versions date from about 1450, with one of the most famous being the later work by Robert Browning, set in narrative verse in 1842. His story, like some older versions, tells of a rat catcher employed by the town fathers to solve their rodent problem. The Pied Piper leads the entranced rats from the town, only to be denied due payment. In retaliation he returns and pipes away the children of the town, who are never seen again. (For biographical information concerning Robert Browning refer to the entry under The Flight of the Duchess, released March 11, 1916.)

What the papers said

4 reviews · 1 advertisement

“If the producers had only presented the second scene showing the rats differently! If real rats could have been used—for truly these white toys do not look like animate rodents, and they follow in such nice straight lines, leaving the trail of their wheels or strings in their wake all too plainly. But this is the only serious subject of …

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“If the producers had only presented the second scene showing the rats differently! If real rats could have been used—for truly these white toys do not look like animate rodents, and they follow in such nice straight lines, leaving the trail of their wheels or strings in their wake all too plainly. But this is the only serious subject of this film on which we can pause for critical observation. The ancient legend is admirably related and one can fairly hear the old Pied Piper as he lures the flock of youngsters to his mountain cavern, where they make merry until the lame child pleaded for their return to the anxious parents in the village. The tale is closely followed in its original form, well acted, well staged, especially the out of door scenes and the caverns. Taken all in all the Thanhouser producer and manufacturers may well feel a sense of pride in their offering.”

The Morning Telegraph · 6 August 1911

“That film producers, leastwise American ones, are rapidly enlightening themselves to the superiority of the happy over the sombre picture themes, is evidenced every time one reads the film synopsis. The tawdry or too-heavy film plot is persona non grata at most studios today, and seems that the best producers are really going out of their way to turn out …

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“That film producers, leastwise American ones, are rapidly enlightening themselves to the superiority of the happy over the sombre picture themes, is evidenced every time one reads the film synopsis. The tawdry or too-heavy film plot is persona non grata at most studios today, and seems that the best producers are really going out of their way to turn out work that is free from the disagreeable. A good instance is furnished in the film-story of The Pied Piper of Hamelin, released by Thanhouser, Tuesday, August 1, where the producer had a quantity of versions to select from, none of them very pretty in their finish. This was due to the ripe age of each, their common source being a legend centuries old, which wound up as old legends will, with a heavy, horrible ‘lesson’ by way of moral. By walking away with a small army of children, a certain man—the Pied Piper, in fact—was to make their dishonest parents feel real bad. But modern ingenuity and modern plain common sense changed all that. The film producer had to send the Hamelin tots away after the piper, to conform with the main thread of the legend—but it shows that the piper was a human being with some very human emotions, and that a plea put to him by the right party in the right way got the right result. As the right result meant the restoration of the children to their parents, it was a logical ending for the film, and Thanhouser is to be commended for having it that way.”

The Moving Picture News · 22 July 1911

More reviews2 · 22 July 1911 – 2 August 1911

22 July 1911The Moving Picture World2 min

“This well known medieval legend, celebrated again and again in poetry and music, has fared very well at the hands of the film maker. The gruesome feature of the legend has always been the punishment of the children whom the piper led away into the water, where they drowned or hid in caves and regions unknown. The adept touch of some gifted hand has wrought a most satisfying change in the old story. The faithless burghers, who would not pay the piper, are justly made to suffer by being reprieved of their children, but the children themselves are having ‘the time of their lives’ with the piper, who in the film is a very decent chap indeed. If he does not lure the little ones into a cave, he regales them with stories and teaches them all sorts of games and sports and leaves them no time to be homesick.

“The same clever hand which made this most welcome change in the old story has directed the production from beginning to end and has given the exhibitors a film for which they will, without exception, be duly thankful. A loving interest in the picture, a minute and artistic attention to all details, and a full grasp of the spirit of the legend are apparent throughout. The costumes and settings brought us back to the old town of Hamelin in the year of about 1300 A.D. The chief charm of the story is of course to be found in the children, and no one has realized this better and more fruitfully than the producer of the film. Great pains no doubt were taken with the children, for they went through their arduous tasks with understanding and enthusiasm. The outdoor scenes, the wandering of the children following the piping lure, the arrival at the entrance to the cave, and the passing in of the gay little procession formed a series of pictures that were a constant delight to the eye. The little fellow that played the part of lame Tim is a winner of hearts. Not a bit of self-consciousness, sweet, natural, full of genuine feeling, he is capable of throwing a gentle spell over any audience. The street scenes were well rendered. The whole production was singularly free from blemishes of any kind. One cannot help a wishing that there ought to be more of such reels. The Pied Piper of Hamelin is a star in any program.”

2 August 1911The New York Dramatic Mirror1 min

“A joyous and happy spirit pervades this interpretation of the old tale in pictures, and it is, furthermore, poetically conceived and well put on. The piper offers to free the city of rats for a thousand guilders. The city officials consent and the piper lures the rats into the river, where they are drowned; but when the piper appears to claim his reward, they give him only one guilder. Then he pipes the children away to the mountain, but brings them back to the plea of the little lame boy left behind.”

MUSICAL ACCOMPANIMENT. The following appeared in the “Music for the Picture” column conducted by Clarence E. Sinn, in The Moving Picture World, April 12, 1911:

“The Pied Piper of Hamelin (Thanhouser) calls for a peculiar sound effect (that of the pipes), difficult to obtain in most places. Those fortunate enough to have a flute, clarinet or violin in the orchestra will let that instrument play a lively minor strain unaccompanied by the piano in the piper’s scenes. An organ will answer the purpose, but if this is used, play a melody without accompaniment to imitate the pipes. Something weird and rather lively—a minor key preferably.”

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29 July 1911The Moving Picture World1 min

“The Pied Piper of Hamelin, who has come down through the ages in song and story because of his wonderful achievement in driving the rats into the sea with his magical pipes, has been done into a film, as you see, and you should make a strong effort to show your patrons his deed on the screen. Various versions of the piper’s achievements have been handed down, and the most pleasant of all is the one we have selected. We believe in light and sunshine in the stories, and the particular reel is wisely surcharged with these elements.”

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Cast and crew

Cast
Frank H. Crane
James Cruze
Marguerite Snow
Marie Eline as the little lame boy
Mignon Anderson
William Garwood
Writer
Lloyd F. Lonergan

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More about this film

Bowers’ notes
  1. Hamelin was misspelled as “Hamlin” in many notices. 2. This film may have represented James Cruze’s first appearance in a Thanhouser film. Cruze was to go on to become one of the company’s most important actors.

From Volume II: Filmography of Q. David Bowers’ Thanhouser Films: An Encyclopedia and History, reproduced with permission and unchanged. Read the history of 1911 →

Cite as: Bowers, Q. David. Thanhouser Films: An Encyclopedia and History, “The Pied Piper of Hamelin”. thanhouser.org/films/the-pied-piper-of-hamelin/

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