the pied piper is a 1942 american world war ii drama movie directed by irving pichel and was based on the novel of the same name by nevil shute. it stars monty woolley, roddy mcdowall, anne baxter, otto preminger, j. carrol naish, lester matthews, jill esmond and was distributed by 20th century fox. it was nominated for 3 academy awards in 1943.