I enjoyed the idiosyncratic quality of this episode as an apparently good-natured eccentric arrives in a small town and proceeds to charm the local people with his exuberant behavior and fantastical tricks.
This episode almost had an other-worldly quality to it and it was interesting to read that it was remake of a British short made in the early 1950s. Quite a few reviews mentioned how the film had left an indelible mark on their childhood memories. You wonder if someone like Stephen King might have caught it on US terrestrial tv/seen it during a cinematic feature. It has that sinister sort of quality associated with his work.
The Pied Piper figure lures the towns-folk into a false sense of security; he has much more murderous intentions on his mind; and his cunning guise is simply a ruse to cover his tracks. Yes, it's quite implausible but then we are asked to suspend our belief as viewers, and I personally enjoyed this tale. I enjoyed how the early scenes were choreographed to the accompaniment of 'Swedish Rhapsody'.
Sir Derek Jacobi is excellent as the eccentric, jester-like figure performing with a comic flourish but whose real intention is to commit the perfect murder. It is his alter ego Columbus which provides him with this cloak of invisibility. Sally Potter, in conversation with Wendy Toye, (mid 1980s), described how the play was really about actors and the disguises they adopt.
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Interestingly, Alan Badel played the Stranger in the original production. He went on to play a highly lauded portrayal of Edmond Dantes in a 1964 BBC production of 'The Count of Monte Cristo', a story which inhabits a similar milieu, a man in pursuit of deadly revenge and adopting a series of disguises to achieve this goal.
This episode almost had an other-worldly quality to it and it was interesting to read that it was remake of a British short made in the early 1950s. Quite a few reviews mentioned how the film had left an indelible mark on their childhood memories. You wonder if someone like Stephen King might have caught it on US terrestrial tv/seen it during a cinematic feature. It has that sinister sort of quality associated with his work.
The Pied Piper figure lures the towns-folk into a false sense of security; he has much more murderous intentions on his mind; and his cunning guise is simply a ruse to cover his tracks. Yes, it's quite implausible but then we are asked to suspend our belief as viewers, and I personally enjoyed this tale. I enjoyed how the early scenes were choreographed to the accompaniment of 'Swedish Rhapsody'.
Sir Derek Jacobi is excellent as the eccentric, jester-like figure performing with a comic flourish but whose real intention is to commit the perfect murder. It is his alter ego Columbus which provides him with this cloak of invisibility. Sally Potter, in conversation with Wendy Toye, (mid 1980s), described how the play was really about actors and the disguises they adopt.
...........................................................
Interestingly, Alan Badel played the Stranger in the original production. He went on to play a highly lauded portrayal of Edmond Dantes in a 1964 BBC production of 'The Count of Monte Cristo', a story which inhabits a similar milieu, a man in pursuit of deadly revenge and adopting a series of disguises to achieve this goal.