THE PIED PIPER (1986) + JIRI BARTA SHORTS
Label: Deaf Crocodile
Region Code: A.
Rating: Unrated
Duration: 56 Minutes 29 Seconds
Audio: DTS-HD MA 2.0 Dual-Mono (No Spoken Language, No Subtitles)
Video: 1080p HD Fullscreen (1.37:1)
Director: Jiří Barta
Cast: Oldrich Kaiser, Jirí Lábus, Michal Pavlícek, Vilém Cok
Czech director Jiří Barta's stop-motion animated film The Pied Piper (1986) is a Gothic dark fairy tale retelling of the classic legend of The Pied Piper of Hamelin, about a hooded, flute-playing ratcatcher who arrives at a village that is not only infested with greed and corruption, but also rats that have been wreaking havoc and making life difficult for the money-obsessed residents. The ratcatcher arrives and offers a solution to the town's problem, the local business owners agreeing to pay 1000 silver coins in exchange for eradicating their vermin infestation after a demonstration of how his flute-playing entrances the rats.
However, after vanquishing the vermin, entrancing them with his flute and leading the rats off a cliff into the sea, the corrupt business owners cheat the pied piper of his promised fee, and worse yet, they rape and murder a young, innocent woman he has feelings for, with the hooded pied piper then turning his magical flute onto the real vermin, the corrupt inhabitants of Hamelin.
This is a wonderful stop-motion telling of the tale, Barta's singular style and vision makes for an enthralling watch, the style is expressionistic and angular with grotesque looking cubist characters carved from walnut wood and metal armatures, backgrounds that look like woodcuts brought to life with an German expressionist veneer, it all comes together for a visually entrancing style that is tone perfect for the dark story unfolding, the rats themselves brought to life with a mix of actual rats and stop-motion puppets created with real rat fur.
Audio/Video: The Pied Piper (1086) arrives on region A-locked Blu-ray from Deaf Crocodile who originally released this as a single-disc edition back in 2023 as part of their original distribution deal with OCN Distribution. This new 2-disc release, offered through their partnership with DiabolikDVD offers the same excellent transfer, a 2023 restoration sourced from the 35mm, presented in 1080p HD framed in 1.37:1 original aspect ratio, with authoring by David Mackenzie of Fidelity in Motion. It's a handsome presentation, the source looks flawless, grain structures are intact and well-managed, the textures of the miniature sets and carved wooden stop-motion puppets looks fantastic, compression is never an issue, and the colors which tend towards earthy browns, grays and some occasional gold or bloody reds look terrific. Audio comes by way of DTS-HD MA 2.0 dual-mono, there is no actual spoken language other than some of the characters communicating in a made-up gibberish. There's some age-related distortion on the track but it's nothing egregious, and it has a terrific dark fairytale score by Michael Kocáb.
Disc one of this release offers the same transfer and set of extras as the 2023 Blu-ray, including the 13-min Chronicle of The Pied Piper, a behind-the-scenes documentary on the making of Barta’s film 1985 which gives a fly-on-the-wall perspective of Barta and his team making the film,whch was directed by Miroslava Humplíková, plus the 52-min Interview with director Jiří Barta, moderated by Dennis Bartok of Deaf Crocodile; and a Audio Commentary by Czech film expert Irena Kovarova of Comeback Company and film critic & historian Peter Hames, plus the 17-min The Vanished World of Gloves (1982) short film. This new 2-disc release brings more to the plate, and is well-worth a double-dip. The second disc featuring six more of Jiří Barta's Shorts, a 29-min Visual Essay 'Pushed to the Margins' by Czech film expert Irena Kovarova of Comeback Company, film critic & historian Peter Hames and Ryan Verrill of Someone’s Favorite Productions that explores the shorts, plus a 76-min New Video Interview with director Jiří Barta, moderated by Dennis Bartok of Deaf Crocodile that dives into the creation of these shorts. The shorts are fantastic, we get the 8-min Riddles for a Candy (1978), a kiddie friendly tale of a creature put through paces to obtain sweet treats, then into the 10-min Disc Jockey (1980, the tale of a disc jockey told through cutout animation, the 6-min The Project (1981) that features draughtsman planning industrialized apartments, we get the 17-min The Vanished World of Gloves (1982), repeated here, a wild ode to cinema through the ages with animated gloves, we get silent era, melodrama, sci-fi, dystopian, and creature features, plus we get the 11-min Ballad About Green Wood (1983), which is an interesting stop-motion set in the outdoors with animated logs and animals. The 21-min The Last Theft (1987) is a haunting vampiric tale of a thief who enters a seemingly empty building only to find himself in mortal danger, while the 25-min The Club of the Laid Off (1989) is an eerie piece about two different groups of mannequins living at odds inside a warehouse.
The 2-disc release arrive sin a clear, full-height keepcase with a 2-sided, non-reversible sleeve of artwork with artwork by regular Deaf Crocodile artist Beth Morris. At the time of this review the Deluxe Edition with the slipcover and 60-page booklet is still available from Deaf Crocodile and can be purchased here.
Special Features:
Disc 1:
- Chronicle of The Pied Piper, a behind-the-scenes documentary on the making of Barta’s masterpiece (1985, 13:13, dir. Miroslava Humplíková)
- Video interview with director Jiří Barta, moderated by Dennis Bartok of Deaf Crocodile (51:39)
- Audio commentary by Czech film expert Irena Kovarova of Comeback Company and film critic & historian Peter Hames
- Short Film: The Vanished World of Gloves (1982, 17:27)
Disc 2:
- New video interview with director Jiří Barta, moderated by Dennis Bartok of Deaf Crocodile (76:12)
- Seven Barta short films, newly restored by Craig Rogers for Deaf Crocodile: Riddles for a Candy (1978, 8:13), Disc Jockey (1980, 9:47), The Project (1981, 6 min), The Vanished World of Gloves (1982, 17:27), A Ballad About Green Wood (1983, 11 min), The Last Theft (1987, 20:57), The Club of the Laid Off (1989, 25:14)
- New visual essay 'Pushed to the Margins' by Czech film expert Irena Kovarova of Comeback Company, film critic & historian Peter Hames and Ryan Verrill of Someone’s Favorite Productions (29:40)
- Blu-ray authoring by David Mackenzie of Fidelity In Motion.
Screenshots from the Deaf Crocodile Blu-ray:
Extras:
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