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In one of my movie books, this rated quite low, but when I was a kid, it was one of my favourite Faerie Tale Theatre productions. I still like it (I'm 17 now), though "The Pied Piper of Hamelin" starring Eric Idle in the title role (weird, eh?) is now my favourite. The two men (Alan Arkin and Art Carney) who con the emperor (Dick Shawn) are funny, as is the emperor himself. The poor village people are also great, and so is the one-man army (the uniform was so expensive that they could only have person--"we may have the smallest army in the land, but by God, it's the best dressed"). The costumes and sets are more lavish in this than in other Faerie Tale Theatre productions and the music, written by Stephen Barber, is of the period (very Baroque). I think this is a good rendition of Andersen's faerie tale, and though there are a couple of added twists to the story, they only heightened my enjoyment of the film. (i.e. the con men want the money for a duck farm.) Watch this film with your children--I really recommend this along with "The Pied Piper of Hamelin."
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