The Pied Piper + Jiří Barta Shorts Blu-ray Review

Deaf Crocodile Films

Blu-ray Release: August 12, 2025 (following a 2023 limited edition release)

Video: 1.37:1/1080p/Color

Audio: Babble/Faux Language DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0 Mono

Subtitles: None

Run Time: 56:29

Director: Jiří Barta

When a corrupt, wealth-driven society is overrun by giant rats, a mysterious hooded figure appears. The rats appear to obey him when he plays his flute, so the town’s leadership offers him a pest control contract. When they refuse to fulfill the contract (and later kill his wife in a drunken stupor), the Piper uses his powers to turn the citizens into rats, themselves.

Often overshadowed by his more famous contemporary and countryman Jan Švankmajer, Czech stop-motion animator Jiří Barta’s storied career extends back to the late ‘70s, when he made his debut short, Riddles for a Candy (Czech: Hádanky za bonbón, 1978, available as part of this collection), at Trnka studios, so-named for the Godfather of Eastern European animation, Jiří Trnka. Barta continued dabbling in surrealist short subjects until 1986, when he released his first feature, The Pied Piper (Czech: Krysař), an adaptation of the German folktale The Pied Piper of Hamelin, on which he acted as director, character designer, and art director.

Given its country of origin, surrealistic slant, and medium of choice, it’s easy to tie The Pied Piper to Švankmajer’s work and, while there are explicit similarities, Barta’s stylistic approach is different. Švankmajer’s films tend to take place in our world, where reality is invaded by his twisted animation, but The Pied Piper exists entirely within its own reality, where every element has been built from scratch to fit an extraordinarily specific aesthetic tone.

The unique look was inspired by a litany of artistic sources, including German Expressionism, the Gothic horror films of the ‘30s and ‘60s, and the paintings of Northern Renaissance artist Jan van Eyck, known for his moody oil work. You can see the most direct influence taken from the design and palette of van Eyck’s most famous work, “Arnolfini Portrait” (1434). Unlike most of Švankmajer's features, I wouldn’t call this one a horror film, though its abstract gloominess, grim subject matter, and a few upsetting sequences (including an implied sexual assault) make it too disturbing for most young audiences.

The handcrafted designs and caricature dimensions actually remind me of the Clone Wars animated series, though I believe those faux-wooden characters were designed to resemble marionettes (possibly in homage to AP Films’ Supermarionation). The exception to the extreme stylization are the rats, which are represented by live-action close-ups of real rodents or by taxidermied animals, anchoring them in a sort of realism and tying them to Švankmajer’s own masterpiece, Alice, released two years later, in 1988, and reimagined Alice in Wonderland’s many creatures as animated taxidermy specimens. Barta’s implication appears to be that the rats are ‘real,’ while the wealth-addicted wooden people are soulless automatons.

One other mainstream modern release that I think may be reflecting The Pied Piper’s aesthetic and general themes is Graham Annable & Anthony Stacchi’s Boxtrolls (2014). A more whimsical and kid-friendly film for certain, but one that also explores a dreary world of underground creatures living beneath a grotesque society of greed and decadence.

Video

The Pied Piper is a rarity that was first released stateside by Kino Lorber in 2006 (now OOP) and Korea in 2017. Deaf Crocodile first released their single-disc limited edition restoration in August of 2023, following a Kickstarter campaign. This standard edition two-disc set is actually an upgrade, thanks to the inclusion of exclusive extras and a collection of Barta shorts (see extras). The Pied Piper is a dark and moody film with a subtle palette of mostly brown and grey tones. A weak transfer could easily turn to mud. Happily, this 1080p, 1.37:1 remaster clarifies finer textures and balances the delicate shading without sacrificing the intended gloominess. I suppose it could be sharper, but I don’t think that sharpness is what Barta was going for. 

Audio

The Pied Piper is presented in its original mono and uncompressed DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0. I’ve seen some specs list it as a Czech language track, but none of the characters are actually speaking a real-world language – it’s all just babble. The score is credited to prolific composer and former Czech Minister for Human Rights and National Minorities Michael Kocáb. The best pieces to my ears, aside from the haunting flute melodies, are those that combine bassy chamber music with distorted, reverberating electric guitars. Music and effects are sharp, but can warble a bit at higher volume levels.

Extras

Disc 1 (Blu-ray)

• Commentary with Irena Kovarova and Peter Hames – Kovarova, the Comeback Company curator and Czech film expert, and Hames, the author of The Czechoslovak New Wave (Wallflower Press, 2005) and Dark Alchemy: The Films of Jan Švankmajer (Praeger, 1995), explore the history of Czech animation, Barta’s wider work, The Pied Piper’s themes and style, and the making of the film.

• The Vanished World of Gloves (Czech: Zaniklý svět rukavic, 1982; 17:27, HD) – A film reel is discovered buried in a construction site. On the reel is an anthological homage to cinematic history, enacted by disembodied, animated gloves.

• Chronicle of the Pied Piper (13:13, HD) – An original, 1985 behind-the-scenes documentary short from director Miroslava Humplíková.

• Interviews with Jiří Barta (51:39, HD) – The first of two Zoom interviews with the director, moderated by Dennis Bartok. Kovarova acts as translator and, as I’ve mentioned before and will likely again, I’d really rather that Deaf Crocodile would subtitle these extended interviews, because they’re full of good information, but the speak-wait-translate approach makes watching them a real challenge.

Disc 2 (Blu-ray)

• Short films:

  • Riddles for a Candy (Czech: Hádanky za bonbón, 1978; 8:13, HD) – A whimsical, abstract combination of 3D shapes and 2D chalk illustrations.

  • Disc Jockey (Czech: Diskžokej, 1981; 9:47, HD) – Various musical genres are juxtaposed against the feelings they invoke, often mirroring the spinning of LP records. 

  • The Design (Czech: Projekt, 1981; 6:00, HD) – A live-action/animation hybrid in which an architect drafts out an apartment building, then gives it life by adding tiny animated people and furniture. Like an arthouse prototype version of The Sims.

  • The Vanished World of Gloves (Czech: Zaniklý svet rukavic, 1982; 17:27, HD) – See disc one extras above.

  • A Ballad About Green Wood (Czech: Balada o zeleném dřevu, 1983; 11:00, HD) – Another hybrid (live-action, time-lapse footage, and 3D animation), it appears to represent the eternal conflict between spring and winter, but it also has some very heavy religious implications.

  • The Last Theft (Czech: Poslední lup, 1987; 20:57, HD) – A thief breaks into a spooky manor and is confronted by what appear to be aristocratic Victorian ghosts that challenge him to a dice game. Things get worse from there. This short is largely monochromatic (a sort of green-tinted black & white) and live-action, but includes hand painted and drawn elements to amplify the tone and theme.

  • The Club of the Laid Off (Czech: Klub odložených, 1989; 25:14, HD) – The final short is a bleak, yet sometimes funny depiction of an abandoned apartment block full of broken-down mannequins that recreate the day-to-day lives of functioning humans. It’s sort of like an arthouse Toy Story for the late-stage Soviet Communist set. 

• Pushed to the Margins (29:40, HD) – A new visual essay with Kovarova, Hames, and editor Ryan Verrill of Someone’s Favorite Productions on the subject of Barta’s shorts. I recommend watching the films first, even though this featurette is ahead of them on the menu.

• Video Interview with Jiří Barta (76:12, HD) – The second and more recent of Bartok’s Zoom interviews with Barta, again, with help from Kovarova. The focus this time is on the shorts.

The images on this page are taken from the BDs and sized for the page. Larger versions can be viewed by clicking the images. Note that there will be some JPG compression.