The Pied Piper

Monty Woolley plays John Sidney Howard, a Londoner who heads to France in June 1940 near the Swiss border to brood after his offer to serve in the Second World War is turned down by every government department in London because he is too old. It is later revealed that his son, a Royal Air Force pilot, was shot down and killed two months earlier. When Germany invades France, Howard resolves to go home to do his part. Jill Esmond as Mrs. Cavanaugh, the League of Nations official’s wife, decides to accompany her husband to his post in Geneva, but fearing the Germans will invade Switzerland next, she asks Howard to take her two young children, Roddy McDowall as Ronnie Cavanaugh and Peggy Ann Garner as Sheila Cavanaugh, to her sister in Plymouth. Howard reluctantly agrees, as he does not like children, especially Ronnie, who annoys him by contradicting his claim that Rochester is an American state.

They begin their journey on a train from St. Claude, only to debark at Joigny; no trains north are running as the Germans breach the Allied lines. They switch to a bus toward Chartres, and Ronnie, without Howard’s knowledge, brings along the French girl Rose to take to her father in London, much to Howard’s annoyance. As they near Chartres, German airplanes attack the refugees on the road, killing many, and the group is forced to keep moving on foot. When they stop for the night, they discover they have also taken in a young boy named Pierre, whose parents are among the dead.

They reach Chartres just before the Germans seize the city. Howard seeks help from his acquaintance, Nicole Rougeron, Anne Baxter, but discovers he now has five charges, the newest being Willem, a Dutch boy. Nicole takes them away just before the Germans, tipped off that there is an Englishman there, search the Rougeron home. The troupe boards a train to the Brittany coast, and on the way Nicole reveals to Howard that she spent three blissful days with his son.

In Landerneau, Nicole appeals to her uncle Aristide Rougeron, who owns fishing boats; initially skeptical, Aristide is introduced to a man, Focquet, who is willing to take the group to England. However, on their way through the German-occupied town, Sheila gets into a fight with Rose and speaks English within earshot of a German soldier. They are captured and taken to Major Diessen.

Diessen suspects Howard is working for British Army intelligence, using the children as cover. He has Howard watch the execution of a spy and, pressed to confess, Howard offers to tell the truth if it will secure the others’ release. Diessen makes him a startling private proposal: he will release everyone, including Howard, if Howard will take along his seven-year-old niece, whose father—Diessen’s younger brother—was killed in Belgium, and whose Jewish wife has already been dealt with. The Nazis have learned of a naturalized American citizen living in Rochester who could serve as a safe destination for the girl, and Diessen asks Howard to escort the child to him there, with Diessen keeping an eye on Nicole, who refuses to leave France.

Howard counters by threatening to reveal Diessen’s involvement with him if Nicole is harmed. The film closes with Howard returning home, and at his club, he is asked whether he had much difficulty getting back. He replies, with a wry calm, “No … not too much.”

No … not too much.

Last Updated: October 09, 2025 at 10:46