The Pied Piper

Streaming video - 1986

Director Jiří Barta’s stop-motion animated masterpiece, based on The Pied Piper of Hamelin, is set in a dark and twisted medieval village of narrow streets and weird Gothic arches, half-CABINET OF DR. CALIGARI and half-Jan van Eyck. The money-obsessed citizens, carved out of wood blocks and speaking in an onomatopoeic babble (invented by Barta himself) are like George Grosz caricatures, literally spouting coins from their mouths instead of words. The rats are far more organic and sympathetic, made of real fur and whiskers, constantly tunneling and burrowing under the towering arches and cobblestone streets above. (In one of the film’s many surreal moments, a rat emerges from a gargoyle’s gaping maw.) Fans of fellow Czech animation l...egend Jan Švankmajer and the Brothers Quay will adore Barta’s weird Expressionist gem.

Saved in:
Subjects
Genres
Feature films
Published
[San Francisco, California, USA] : Deaf Crocodile Films 1986.
2024.
Language
Czech
Other Authors
Jirí Barta (film director), Jirí Lábus (actor), Oldrich Kaiser
Online Access
A Kanopy streaming video
Cover Image
Item Description
Title from title frames.
Film
In Process Record.
Physical Description
1 online resource (streaming video file) (53 minutes): digital, .flv file, sound
Format
Mode of access: World Wide Web.
Access
AVAILABLE FOR USE ONLY BY IOWA CITY AND RESIDENTS OF THE CONTRACTING GOVERNMENTS OF JOHNSON COUNTY, UNIVERSITY HEIGHTS, HILLS, AND LONE TREE (IA).