The Devil and Daniel Mouse (1978)

Director: Clive A. Smith

Writers: Patrick Loubert, Ken Sobol, Stephen Vincent Benet

Composer: John Sebastian

Starring: Jim Henshaw, Annabel Kershaw, Martin Lavut, Laurel Runn, John Sebastian, Chris Wiggins

More info: IMDb

Tagline: A song from the heart beats the Devil every time!

Plot: Finding their audience drying up in favour of rock music, two young mouse folk singers find themselves with a bleak future. Desperate for a better career and life, the female vows that she would do anything to become a rock star. Instantly, the Devil arises to take advantage of that and offers to make her a star in exchange for her soul. She agrees and she quickly becomes the star she's dreamed of while her boyfriend, Daniel Mouse, is left behind. On the night of her greatest triumph, the devil comes to collect on her soul. In desperation, she turns to Daniel who must attempt the impossible task of trying to find an escape loophole for his girl's release.

My rating: 7/10

Will I watch it again? No.

Directed by the same cat (ahahahahahaha) who brought us ROCK & RULE (1983) a few years later, this is very much a blueprint for R&R in not only style but substance.  Fortunately, what ruined R&R for me, the excessive silliness of a lot of the side characters, isn't present here. At only 22 minutes there probably wasn't much time for it and that's a good thing.  What you do get instead is a critical satire of the popular music industry that uses and destroys artists.  There are some clever and funny gags that are lots of fun.  I wasn't wild about the songs but folk music isn't my bag much anyway.  That doesn't detract from the film, though.  It's fun.