It’s fitting that the fine folks at Deaf Crocodile have taken on Jiří Barta’s pitch black take on The Pied Piper. There’s a bit of sorcery in Barta’s films that takes any filmgoer to the wonderful land of fairy tales, though the type that are from the old country (of wherever you are from). The ones that are more akin to an old-world type of horror, teaching you lessons. It feels endemic of what DC does as a whole… taking films of substance that we’ve forgotten or never known about and giving them the best possible foot forward.
Running at a brisk 53 minutes without a word of dialogue, other than the gibberish that is spoken but never “understood,” BUT is very understood. Barta’s film is one of purely visual and cinematic construction. It thrives in a way that literal handmade and carved imagery can, with the sort of wonder and astonishment that recalls what cinema must have felt like in its infancy. Though never simple in any aspect. There’s a complexity here in not only visuals but thematics, character, and emotions that go beyond what Western audiences consider in animation.
The Pied Piper is a film that needs to be experienced in all of its dark, cynical, and brilliant glory. One that has inspired the likes of FX Legend Phil Tippet to Travis Knight and LAIKA Studios, to the Brothers Quay, to even Guillermo del Toro’s Academy Award Winning Pinocchio.
The Transfer
Six Barta short films, newly restored by Deaf Crocodile with Blu-ray authoring by David Mackenzie of Fidelity In Motion, continue DC’s commitment to producing some of the best Home Video presentations. The seven short films: Riddles for a Candy, Disc Jockey, The Design, The Vanished World of Gloves, A Ballad About Green Wood, The Last Theft, and The Club of the Laid Off all look outstanding. Some people may find slight issues with the images BUT that is not the fault of DC. The optical process of animation and the FX of the era do imbue the image with some imperfections. The fact that DC has kept these artifacts speaks to the beauty and these processes and keeps the image uncompromised in the way it looks, the way someone would have seen it back when these were first released. Their work here continues to be as accomplished as ever.
The restoration of The Pied Piper by Craig Rogers of Deaf Crocodile with Blu-ray authoring by David Mackenzie of Fidelity In Motion is a stunner even by Deaf Crocodile standards. The image is crisp and near flawless. The transfer itself is imbued with a beautiful grain structure giving it a wonderful filmic look that works in tandem with the “hand crafted/carved” imagery of the film. There isn’t a fault, blemish, or scratch through the run time. Make this a priority purchase for the image alone. DC has truly outdone themselves with a Blu-ray that truly pushes the boundaries of what’s possible in the format.
The Extras
They include the following;
DISC ONE:
THE VANISHED WORLD OF GLOVES (1982, 16 min.)
CHRONICLE OF THE PIED PIPER, a behind-the-scenes documentary on the making of Barta’s masterpiece (1985, 13 min., dir. Miroslava Humplíková)
Video interview with director Jiří Barta, moderated by Dennis Bartok of Deaf Crocodile
Audio commentary by Czech film expert Irena Kovarova of Comeback Company and film critic & historian Peter Hames
DISC TWO:
New video interview with director Jiří Barta about his short films
Pushed to the Margins: The Shorts of Jiří Barta
RIDDLES FOR A CANDY (1978, 8 min.)
DISC JOCKEY (1980, 10 min.)
THE DESIGN (1981, 6 min.)
THE VANISHED WORLD OF GLOVES (1982, 17 min.)
A BALLAD ABOUT GREEN WOOD (1983, 11 min.)
THE LAST THEFT (1987, 21 min.)
THE CLUB OF THE LAID OFF (1989, 25 min.)
Note: The Vanished World of Gloves appears on both Disc One and Disc Two of the set but the review resides on the Disc Two portion.
DISC ONE:
The archival Audio commentary by Czech film expert Irena Kovarova of Comeback Company and film critic & historian Peter Hames. Some of the details include begin with both personal feelings about the film itself and giving us a historical context for the film and director Jiří Barta; the reasons for lack of output from Barta; Barta’s newest film that is to begin soon (as of 2023); the development of the script and story – including how dark and horror fueled the theme and story really is, and definitely not for children; the other adaptations of the rat catcher/pied piper story; the title in other languages being The Rat Catcher; the novel that the film is based on; the visual influences that Barta took from including expressionism, real life areas like Prague, and German, and other sources; the various scales that Barta worked in; a detailed discussion about the creation of the various puppets, props, and sets; the use of live animals (the rats) and also the puppet rats and how they were achieved; a conversation about the production itself and how this worked in Communist Czechoslovakia – including some very crazy anecdotes about Producer/Writer Kamil Pixa; and much more. Kovarova and Hames delivery a truly informational and arresting commentary track that goes beyond just the production and film’s palce in cinema but a look into the history and politics Czechoslovakia (now the Czech Republic) when the film was made.
“Chronicle Of The Pied Piper”/Kronika Krysaře (13:13) – is an archival (from 1985) behind-the-scenes documentary on the making of The Pied Piper. This featurette directed by Miroslava Humplíková is shot-on-film giving real weight to the importance of what they’re giving us a glimpse into. The doc in its all-too-brief 13-minutes manages to show us every aspect of this production. Not merely b-roll footage there is a true purpose to the way that this is shot that separates it from your run-of-the-mill featurette. This is a truly worthy companion to this very special film. In Czech with English subtitles.
Video interview with director Jiří Barta (51:39) – this archival interview with the director is moderated by Dennis Bartok of Deaf Crocodile and translation by Irena Kovarova. As it is with all of Bartok’s long-form interviews, there is literally no stone left unturned when it comes to covering the subject’s work. Barta is no different. Some of the details include his early childhood and life; how he was introduced to film after 1968 – and the types of films he was introduced to and attracted to; when he began to work in animation and filmmaking; his work with film at during his days at university; his feelings about fellow Czech animation director Jiri Trinka – and his relationship with the legendary director; the way he came to the project; a discussion about the choice to not use dialog; the influence of The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari; a larger discussion of the modeling, creation, and animation of the various puppets, and sets; and much more. The interview does not disappoint. Anyone who’s a fan of animation or this film needs to watch this interview. Barta is open, transparent, and honest about the work that he has every right to be proud of.
DISC TWO:
Interview with Director Jiří Barta (76:12) – in this all-new video interview with director Jiří Barta discusses his short films with Dennis Bartok, with Irena Kovarova providing translation assistance. Bartok and Barta go short by short discussion each in detail and how they came about; the difficulty in getting budgets for animated shorts during the 80s; the work he was doing between Riddles for a Candy and Disc Jockey, which was two years; the difference between animated shorts in Europe and America – how they were intentions to be released to be in cinema; Barta’s favorite short animated films and animators; his time studying of architecture and how it inspired the short The Design; the techniques used to bring the gloves in The Vanished World of Gloves to animated life – how that informed the creation of the story; the production of the most striking of the short films A Ballad About Green Wood – and how much of its striking designs and visuals were accomplished; and much more. Bartok’s continued commitment to the long-form sit-down interview with filmmakers like Barta results in a wealth of knowledge that shorter interviews just cannot skim the surface of. Barta’s anecdotes and discussions of his short films, the people who helped make them, and the era in which they were made are invaluable historical and artistic context for these very special films.
Pushed to the Margins: The Shorts of Jiří Barta (29:40) – This all-new visual essay from Czech film expert Irena Kovarova and film critic & historian Peter Hames looks at director Jiří Barta collection of shorts he made well over a decade. They discuss Barta’s evolution in style over the 70s and 80s, and how it goes from traditional animated Czech style to his own non-traditional style that evolved. The duo also discusses each of the short films – how they were made, the animation style, anecdotes from the production, issues that came up, the themes, and the story. The visual essay is directed by Irena Kovarova and Ryan Verrill and wonderfully edited by Verrill.
RIDDLES FOR A CANDY (8:13) – This 1978 debut short by Jiří Barta will remind many a Gen Xer of the type of short-form animations we found entrancing on shows like Electric Company, School House Rock, and Sesame Street. The premise of an animal (that resembles an anteater) is tasked to solve riddles in a book. The short gets wonderfully stranger and stranger as the creature continues on his journey. The animation style, a hybrid of stop motion and traditional animation, is utterly charming both simply in its style but complex in its execution which gives one a true window into the filmmaker Barta would evolve to be. In Czech with English Subtitles.
DISC JOCKEY (9:47) – This 1980 short feels much more representative of the type of animation that Barta used, with a sort of mixed media look at the everyday life of a DJ and how many circular shapes he sees beyond just vinyl that he plays at his job. The items run the gamut of Pills, sinks, records, coffee cups, spoons, eggs, ashtrays, buttons, pendants, pins, everything in a car from cylinders to exhaust, to gauges, stop lights, pies, disco lights, the universe, and much more. Barta uses music and these objects from life to create a wonderful cacophony, not just the world, but the universe’s connection to circles.
THE DESIGN (6:00) – A year after Disc Jockey, Barta continues to create playful animation with relation to shapes. Instead of the connections to circular shapes in our lives and universe, it’s an architect’s drawing of an apartment and the specific geometric shapes he uses to create that apartment. Beyond just animation, the short uses a component of live action items (e.g. drafting tools, the architect’s hands) to create this beautiful piece of animation that appears to be a look into European socialist living in its various forms, and in its final act of animation, it is snuffed out to be shown as unifyingly conformist.
THE VANISHED WORLD OF GLOVES (17:27) – The 1982 film itself is an arresting concept – a pair of gloves guides us through the history of cinema. Barta’s unique visual style here takes the styles of the various eras from silent film to the present (the 1980s at the time) and replaces them with gloves as the actors in some of the most famous and infamous film scenes. The result is a charming, fun, terrifying, and strange piece of filmmaking that is as unique an ode to cinema as anyone has made. In Czech with English subtitles.
A BALLAD ABOUT GREEN WOOD (10:39) – This 1983 short could only be described as a work of ingenious storytelling and craftsmanship to create something that feels so wholly otherworldly but a part of nature that will always remain hidden to human eyes. A woodchopper’s work takes a life of its own. Barta’s continued work in mixing live action and stop motion animation is astounding here. By using literal nature as his subjects for animation, he creates an amazing bit of storytelling where the earth is at battle with itself in the circle of life in the forrest, only to go back to at the end to the wood chopper’s life and his existence.
THE LAST THEFT (20:57) – the follow-up to The Pied Piper is this live-action haunting and haunted story of a thief’s greed. Barta’s use of animation techniques in this black-and-white short is super effective. The director even employs some silent film techniques like slower frame rates and cell tinting (also animation techniques) to effectively portray the slowly crushing notion that this thief is trapped in this house, and the only one that doesn’t know it is him. This is truly a wonderfully effective horror film that uses atmosphere more than traditional scares or gore to prove its point.
THE CLUB OF THE LAID OFF (25:14) – the final short of the group is from 1989. One does ask who inspired whom? The Quays or Barta. I think that the Quays were inspired by Barta, not the other way around. This mixture of live action and unique use of mannequins in this stop motion short about the generational gap that turns into a generational war is as strange and beautiful as it is disturbing. Though it feels rougher and grittier, the technique and animation are so elegantly refined, one would be hard-pressed to say that anything other than Barta’s skills as a storyteller and animator have grown to a level that rivals Miyazaki-San’s level of genius. In Czech with English Subtitles.
The Final Thought
DC continues to prove they are one of the best boutique labels in the business. Giving fans a true Upgrade in every sense of the word to one of their best releases. Highest possible recommendations.
The fine folks at Deaf Crocodile have upgraded their Blu-ray release of The Pied Piper, adding six of director Jiří Barta’s short films, all newly restored, and additional special features.
The Film
It’s fitting that the fine folks at Deaf Crocodile have taken on Jiří Barta’s pitch black take on The Pied Piper. There’s a bit of sorcery in Barta’s films that takes any filmgoer to the wonderful land of fairy tales, though the type that are from the old country (of wherever you are from). The ones that are more akin to an old-world type of horror, teaching you lessons. It feels endemic of what DC does as a whole… taking films of substance that we’ve forgotten or never known about and giving them the best possible foot forward.
Running at a brisk 53 minutes without a word of dialogue, other than the gibberish that is spoken but never “understood,” BUT is very understood. Barta’s film is one of purely visual and cinematic construction. It thrives in a way that literal handmade and carved imagery can, with the sort of wonder and astonishment that recalls what cinema must have felt like in its infancy. Though never simple in any aspect. There’s a complexity here in not only visuals but thematics, character, and emotions that go beyond what Western audiences consider in animation.
The Pied Piper is a film that needs to be experienced in all of its dark, cynical, and brilliant glory. One that has inspired the likes of FX Legend Phil Tippet to Travis Knight and LAIKA Studios, to the Brothers Quay, to even Guillermo del Toro’s Academy Award Winning Pinocchio.
The Transfer
Six Barta short films, newly restored by Deaf Crocodile with Blu-ray authoring by David Mackenzie of Fidelity In Motion, continue DC’s commitment to producing some of the best Home Video presentations. The seven short films: Riddles for a Candy, Disc Jockey, The Design, The Vanished World of Gloves, A Ballad About Green Wood, The Last Theft, and The Club of the Laid Off all look outstanding. Some people may find slight issues with the images BUT that is not the fault of DC. The optical process of animation and the FX of the era do imbue the image with some imperfections. The fact that DC has kept these artifacts speaks to the beauty and these processes and keeps the image uncompromised in the way it looks, the way someone would have seen it back when these were first released. Their work here continues to be as accomplished as ever.
The restoration of The Pied Piper by Craig Rogers of Deaf Crocodile with Blu-ray authoring by David Mackenzie of Fidelity In Motion is a stunner even by Deaf Crocodile standards. The image is crisp and near flawless. The transfer itself is imbued with a beautiful grain structure giving it a wonderful filmic look that works in tandem with the “hand crafted/carved” imagery of the film. There isn’t a fault, blemish, or scratch through the run time. Make this a priority purchase for the image alone. DC has truly outdone themselves with a Blu-ray that truly pushes the boundaries of what’s possible in the format.
The Extras
They include the following;
DISC ONE:
DISC TWO:
Note: The Vanished World of Gloves appears on both Disc One and Disc Two of the set but the review resides on the Disc Two portion.
DISC ONE:
The archival Audio commentary by Czech film expert Irena Kovarova of Comeback Company and film critic & historian Peter Hames. Some of the details include begin with both personal feelings about the film itself and giving us a historical context for the film and director Jiří Barta; the reasons for lack of output from Barta; Barta’s newest film that is to begin soon (as of 2023); the development of the script and story – including how dark and horror fueled the theme and story really is, and definitely not for children; the other adaptations of the rat catcher/pied piper story; the title in other languages being The Rat Catcher; the novel that the film is based on; the visual influences that Barta took from including expressionism, real life areas like Prague, and German, and other sources; the various scales that Barta worked in; a detailed discussion about the creation of the various puppets, props, and sets; the use of live animals (the rats) and also the puppet rats and how they were achieved; a conversation about the production itself and how this worked in Communist Czechoslovakia – including some very crazy anecdotes about Producer/Writer Kamil Pixa; and much more. Kovarova and Hames delivery a truly informational and arresting commentary track that goes beyond just the production and film’s palce in cinema but a look into the history and politics Czechoslovakia (now the Czech Republic) when the film was made.
“Chronicle Of The Pied Piper”/Kronika Krysaře (13:13) – is an archival (from 1985) behind-the-scenes documentary on the making of The Pied Piper. This featurette directed by Miroslava Humplíková is shot-on-film giving real weight to the importance of what they’re giving us a glimpse into. The doc in its all-too-brief 13-minutes manages to show us every aspect of this production. Not merely b-roll footage there is a true purpose to the way that this is shot that separates it from your run-of-the-mill featurette. This is a truly worthy companion to this very special film. In Czech with English subtitles.
Video interview with director Jiří Barta (51:39) – this archival interview with the director is moderated by Dennis Bartok of Deaf Crocodile and translation by Irena Kovarova. As it is with all of Bartok’s long-form interviews, there is literally no stone left unturned when it comes to covering the subject’s work. Barta is no different. Some of the details include his early childhood and life; how he was introduced to film after 1968 – and the types of films he was introduced to and attracted to; when he began to work in animation and filmmaking; his work with film at during his days at university; his feelings about fellow Czech animation director Jiri Trinka – and his relationship with the legendary director; the way he came to the project; a discussion about the choice to not use dialog; the influence of The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari; a larger discussion of the modeling, creation, and animation of the various puppets, and sets; and much more. The interview does not disappoint. Anyone who’s a fan of animation or this film needs to watch this interview. Barta is open, transparent, and honest about the work that he has every right to be proud of.
DISC TWO:
Interview with Director Jiří Barta (76:12) – in this all-new video interview with director Jiří Barta discusses his short films with Dennis Bartok, with Irena Kovarova providing translation assistance. Bartok and Barta go short by short discussion each in detail and how they came about; the difficulty in getting budgets for animated shorts during the 80s; the work he was doing between Riddles for a Candy and Disc Jockey, which was two years; the difference between animated shorts in Europe and America – how they were intentions to be released to be in cinema; Barta’s favorite short animated films and animators; his time studying of architecture and how it inspired the short The Design; the techniques used to bring the gloves in The Vanished World of Gloves to animated life – how that informed the creation of the story; the production of the most striking of the short films A Ballad About Green Wood – and how much of its striking designs and visuals were accomplished; and much more. Bartok’s continued commitment to the long-form sit-down interview with filmmakers like Barta results in a wealth of knowledge that shorter interviews just cannot skim the surface of. Barta’s anecdotes and discussions of his short films, the people who helped make them, and the era in which they were made are invaluable historical and artistic context for these very special films.
Pushed to the Margins: The Shorts of Jiří Barta (29:40) – This all-new visual essay from Czech film expert Irena Kovarova and film critic & historian Peter Hames looks at director Jiří Barta collection of shorts he made well over a decade. They discuss Barta’s evolution in style over the 70s and 80s, and how it goes from traditional animated Czech style to his own non-traditional style that evolved. The duo also discusses each of the short films – how they were made, the animation style, anecdotes from the production, issues that came up, the themes, and the story. The visual essay is directed by Irena Kovarova and Ryan Verrill and wonderfully edited by Verrill.
RIDDLES FOR A CANDY (8:13) – This 1978 debut short by Jiří Barta will remind many a Gen Xer of the type of short-form animations we found entrancing on shows like Electric Company, School House Rock, and Sesame Street. The premise of an animal (that resembles an anteater) is tasked to solve riddles in a book. The short gets wonderfully stranger and stranger as the creature continues on his journey. The animation style, a hybrid of stop motion and traditional animation, is utterly charming both simply in its style but complex in its execution which gives one a true window into the filmmaker Barta would evolve to be. In Czech with English Subtitles.
DISC JOCKEY (9:47) – This 1980 short feels much more representative of the type of animation that Barta used, with a sort of mixed media look at the everyday life of a DJ and how many circular shapes he sees beyond just vinyl that he plays at his job. The items run the gamut of Pills, sinks, records, coffee cups, spoons, eggs, ashtrays, buttons, pendants, pins, everything in a car from cylinders to exhaust, to gauges, stop lights, pies, disco lights, the universe, and much more. Barta uses music and these objects from life to create a wonderful cacophony, not just the world, but the universe’s connection to circles.
THE DESIGN (6:00) – A year after Disc Jockey, Barta continues to create playful animation with relation to shapes. Instead of the connections to circular shapes in our lives and universe, it’s an architect’s drawing of an apartment and the specific geometric shapes he uses to create that apartment. Beyond just animation, the short uses a component of live action items (e.g. drafting tools, the architect’s hands) to create this beautiful piece of animation that appears to be a look into European socialist living in its various forms, and in its final act of animation, it is snuffed out to be shown as unifyingly conformist.
THE VANISHED WORLD OF GLOVES (17:27) – The 1982 film itself is an arresting concept – a pair of gloves guides us through the history of cinema. Barta’s unique visual style here takes the styles of the various eras from silent film to the present (the 1980s at the time) and replaces them with gloves as the actors in some of the most famous and infamous film scenes. The result is a charming, fun, terrifying, and strange piece of filmmaking that is as unique an ode to cinema as anyone has made. In Czech with English subtitles.
A BALLAD ABOUT GREEN WOOD (10:39) – This 1983 short could only be described as a work of ingenious storytelling and craftsmanship to create something that feels so wholly otherworldly but a part of nature that will always remain hidden to human eyes. A woodchopper’s work takes a life of its own. Barta’s continued work in mixing live action and stop motion animation is astounding here. By using literal nature as his subjects for animation, he creates an amazing bit of storytelling where the earth is at battle with itself in the circle of life in the forrest, only to go back to at the end to the wood chopper’s life and his existence.
THE LAST THEFT (20:57) – the follow-up to The Pied Piper is this live-action haunting and haunted story of a thief’s greed. Barta’s use of animation techniques in this black-and-white short is super effective. The director even employs some silent film techniques like slower frame rates and cell tinting (also animation techniques) to effectively portray the slowly crushing notion that this thief is trapped in this house, and the only one that doesn’t know it is him. This is truly a wonderfully effective horror film that uses atmosphere more than traditional scares or gore to prove its point.
THE CLUB OF THE LAID OFF (25:14) – the final short of the group is from 1989. One does ask who inspired whom? The Quays or Barta. I think that the Quays were inspired by Barta, not the other way around. This mixture of live action and unique use of mannequins in this stop motion short about the generational gap that turns into a generational war is as strange and beautiful as it is disturbing. Though it feels rougher and grittier, the technique and animation are so elegantly refined, one would be hard-pressed to say that anything other than Barta’s skills as a storyteller and animator have grown to a level that rivals Miyazaki-San’s level of genius. In Czech with English Subtitles.
The Final Thought
DC continues to prove they are one of the best boutique labels in the business. Giving fans a true Upgrade in every sense of the word to one of their best releases. Highest possible recommendations.
Deaf Crocodile’s Blu-ray Edition of The Pied Piper & Jiří Barta Shorts is out now
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