The Adventures of Prince Achmed

After watching this animated film from 1926, which was completely new to me, I knew that I had seen a true work of art. Yes, it has great historical importance -- but it's also wonderful entertainment. There's no dutiful drudgery here! Lotte Reiniger's silhouette animation is indeed a marvel of intricate, delicate technique & detail. There are moments that startle me with their beauty & obvious skill. But in the end, what matters is that she's just as gifted a storyteller as she is an artist. Something that struck me immediately was the use of unexpected humor. For example, when the Caliph demands to know if Prince Achmed understands how to return from his flight on the magic horse, the Evil Magician simply shrugs his shoulders with a sly, mocking smile -- perfect! No director could ask for more from a living actor. The characters may be silhouettes, but they possess a lot more personality than you'd expect. And how much of that smile do we actually see, as opposed to imagining it? That's part of the film's strength -- while providing us with remarkable images, the silhouettes enable us to use our own imagination, so that we project a good deal of emotion into the characters. Much of what's emoted, we "see" in our own mind's eye. Modern CGI couldn't do this sort of storytelling justice, to be honest. The use of color tinting for the backgrounds also adds to the magic of the story, with vivid shades of yellow, blue, red. Ten years before Disney, here's the multiplane camera used to superb effect in creating subtlety & depth. And again, while the technique is impressive, it's always in the service of the story, used to evoke a specific mood. The story itself? A joyful mish-mash of the Arabian Nights, with amazing set-pieces such as the duel between the Evil Magician & the Witch, who continually change forms as they fight one another; or the tranquil poolside scene with the lovely Peri Banu, complete with shimmering reflections in the water. The story never lingers too long on one scene, leaping to another new setting every few minutes. Breathtaking! You don't have to be a fan of vintage animation to enjoy this film. I happily recommend it anyone who loves a good story, told in gorgeous images with real panache. And if that isn't enough, the DVD also includes a fascinating documentary about the life & work of creator Lotte Reiniger, which includes tantalizing samples of her other silhouette films. All we need now is for the British-only collection of those films to be released in America -- Image Entertainment, are you listening?

Film critic Roger Ebert once defined a classic as a movie which you can't bear the thought of never seeing again. I have just seen The Adventures of Prince Achmed, a movie by German filmmaker Lotte Reiniger. It is the oldest feature-length animated film still in existence (it is said there was an Argentinian outing in 1910, but it is now evidently lost). Achmed was made in 1926, eleven years before Disney made Snow White. The thing is, Walt Disney claimed then that Snow White was the first feature-length animated film, and the Walt Disney Company still makes this claim. It is untrue. Walt Disney was lying then and the Walt Disney Company is lying now. The Adventures of Prince Achmed takes from several stories in The Arabian Nights including, among others, the story of Aladdin and the lamp. It concerns a magician who tricks Prince Achmed into taking a wild ride on a magic flying horse, after which Achmed encounters a beautiful princess with whom he falls in love, and thereby hangs a tale. Reiniger used a style of animated silhouettes and minimalist backgrounds which though seemingly simple, were in fact amazingly complex and truly wonderful to see. The characters walk, run, jump, swim, emote, and magically transform. It is a magic seldom surpassed, if ever, on screen. The silhouette figures and characters were articulated, placed on a light table and filmed one frame at a time. The result is black figures moving against bright tinted backgrounds - Prince Achmed was shot in color, so what's seen on this DVD is as Reiniger shot it, colors and all. This film is not colorized. Reiniger and her husband Carl Koch made this in a makeshift studio with a ceiling so low they had to work on hands and knees. It required three years of this to produce the film. It is a beautiful film and one of the loveliest things I've seen. It has become a favorite with me, a film I will watch again and again. It is a classic.

Loved the art.

This is one of the few titles that are commercially available categorized as silhouette animation, or at least on the mainstream level. Not to mention this is brought to us by one of the minds of the pioneers in the form and animation in general. The extras provide very insightful and historically accurate information that would benefit or interest anyone that this provides spark to. The film envelopes good, solid, simple examples and techniques to an alternative form of entertainment, as well as ingenious special or visual effects that are awe inspiring. The effects were made outside the digital realm. Their simplicity through the classic form is relevant in history. This makes them more appreciative. The resulting affects created emotionally and cognitively are worth noting, as they serve primal purposes still garnering an experience for the spectator today. This is an organic form of computer-less creation that is of use to the computer age production systems. The lessons from this film are beneficial mental expansions with this cinematographic form labeled animation. This simplicity in does not only surge a segue in to the digital realm but also serves to expedite results for faster outcomes by understanding the stripped down achievements and translating them over in to a computer aided program.

I had read many years ago that THE ADVENTURES OF PRINCE ACHMED was the first animated feature made many years before Disney's SNOW WHITE AND THE SEVEN DWARFS. I read that in Kit Laybourne's THE ANIMATION BOOK. But it is not until I watched Lotte Reineger's animated cut out sillowette shorts on YOU TUBE that I became curious about this movie! When I clicked onto Amazon.com I saw the ad for this movie dvd so I remembered that this title is on You Tube and watched all 65 min. of it there! And WOW!!! I was immediatly amazed! The paper cutouts are so intricate and to realise that this woman animated these paper versions of these arabian night characters by pushing the paper parts one frame at a time to create such graceful and lovely movement is truly remarkable! Prince Achmed, Alladdin, the ogre Witch of the Mountain, the genie( made with sand animation) and a horde of monsters are all animated with their own characteristic movements! The evil intent of the wizard, the beauty and grace of Paru Banu the bird princess and the heroism of Prince Achmed are all fully realized! According to the 60min. documentary this movie did not do financially well with the 1926 audience. The 1926 audience was not ready for a serious animated feature! This was the same problem that Walt Disney had with the release of FANTASIA in 1940! PRINCE ACHMED also makes me think of Alexander Korda's THEIF OF BAGDAD. Reineger was clearly ahead of her time! While I know there is always the problem of copyright issues in putting up copyrighted work onto You Tube, if it wasn't for PRINCE ACHMED being shown on You Tube I wouldn't have seen it and then I would not have bought this dvd! One reviewer pointed out to another that this movie's black and white film frames were hand painted with colour by the film makers to make it a colour movie in 1926! That makes it even more amazing! There are many cutout monsters that remind me of Ray Harryhausen's stop motion creatures and a sequence of the witch ogre battleling the evil wizard by them both turning into black silowette animals made me think of the transformation battle of Alakazam and Hercules in ALAKAZAM THE GREAT! an early colour Japanese animated feature! So if you have a collection of animated movies on video you should have PRINCE ACHMED in your collection! I also recommend the other Milestone release WINSOR MC KAY THE MASTER EDITION! Mckay's silent animation made in the 1920s is also amazing and like Reinegers was before anyone heard of Walt Disney! And I should mention that Wolfgang Zeller's music score originally composed to go with PRINCE ACHMED is magnicent! I am reminded of the score for Fritz Lang's METROPOLIS, which I also have on DVD! All this makes me feel that CGI is really over rated and over used in Hollywood today! As someone who makes his own hand drawn animation I feel a connection to the creativity of these early pioneers of animation! So glad I now have this!!

Outstanding! If you are a fan of cinematic or animation history - get this movie! Hard to find it streaming anywhere, so worth the purchase price. Amazing how this is created. Highly recommended!!

I originally saw this film on TCM and became an instant slave of the work of Lotte and Karl. I just bought this film after buying books about Lotte's work. A term like "masterpiece" is not strong enough or descriptive enough to praise this offering of genius. It is not surprising that it lost money in its initial release. But, greatness survives! The climax of this movie is thrilling and intense. Being the first feature-length animated film and being this incredible and creative is mind boggling. I teach animation in high school and silhouette animation is one of my lessons. The method itself is addictive and inspiring. My students love making the characters and sets in the Reiniger-Koch fashion (without using lead.) Finally, the documentary that comes with this presentation is worth viewing over and over.

good film of early, complicated animation. not computer generated.

Prodotto perfetto

This is fantastic! It's like Silent Shadow Puppets! A part of so much good stuff to come out of Germany until Mr Hitler showed up and killed the film industry. German silent film was great. This is animation genius. Lotte, were the grease!

Der 66 Minuten lange Scherenschnittfilm "Die Abenteuer des Prinzen Achmed" von Lotte Reiniger (1899-1981) gilt als der erste animierte Langfilm der Filmgeschichte- mehr als 10 Jahre vor Walt Disney, der diesen Titel 1937 für sich und seinen Film "Schneewittchen" in Anspruch nahm. Allerdings kann man die beiden Filme auch nur schwer miteinander vergleichen. "Schneewittchen" ist sicher gefälliger , die Charaktere herzallerliebst, und die Farbigkeit des Bildes war damals etwas ganz Neues und nicht zu vergleichen mit viragierten (also in Farbbäder getauchten) s/w-Filmen, die immer nur eine einzige Farbe in Schattierungen aufwiesen. Kunstvoller jedoch sind sicher die Schattenfilme von Lotte Reiniger, die allerdings unseren heutigen Sehgewohnheiten völlig zugegen laufen, für die man mehr Interpretationsgabe und Fantasie braucht, und an die man sich erst einmal gewöhnen muß. Ebenfalls bedenken muß man, dass Reiniger ihre Filme nur mit wenig Hilfe von Karl Ruttmann und Berthold Bartosch sowie ihrem Ehemann schuf und nicht wie Disney mit Dutzenden von Mitarbeitern. Allerdings muß man ein Faible für Märchen haben, um die Handlung richtig geniessen zu können, denn sie kombiniert hier Zutaten verschiedener Märchen aus 1001 Nacht. Alle Figuren, Tiere und vordergründige Landschaften wurden erst auf schwarze Bastelpappe gezeichnet, dann ausgeschnitten, mit Blei verstärkt und auf einen Lichttisch gelegt, auf dem sich schon Hintergründe aus Butterbrotpapier befanden, die dem Szenario Tiefe verliehen. Die Bewegungen kamen durch eingearbeitete Gelenke zustande und alles wurde im Einzelbildverfahren (24 Bilder pro Sekunde) abfotografiert und minimal weiter bewegt. Auf der deutschen BD befindet sich neben vier tollen Bonusfilmen auch ein Interview mit Lotte (17 Min.) aus dem Jahr 1981, in dem man sie auch genau bei der Erstellung einer Szene beobachten kann. Die vier Bonusfilme sind "Das Geheimnis der Marquise" (eine Nivea-Werbung von 1921, 2:24 Min.), "Harlekin" (1931, großartig, 22:20 Min.), "Carmen" nach (und mit der Musik) der gleichnamigen Operette, (1933, 9:42 Min.) und "Papageno", eine Figur aus der "Zauberflöte" ( 1935, 10:52 Minuten, Musik: Mozart). Dazu kommt das 24-seitige, sehr informative Booklet sowie beim Hauptfilm drei Musikspuren. Eine perfekte Veröffentlichung!

Esta película de Lotte Reiniger, además de ser el primer largometraje animado que se conserva, es preciosa. Cada vez que la veo me imagino a Lotte moviendo con sus propias manos las siluetas y haciendo fotografías una detrás de otra para hacer la película completa, y entonces la disfruto muchísimo.

The BFI edition is a beautifully restored version of this first ever feature length animated film. First shown in 1926, the film will soon be 100 years old. And how utterly enchanting it is. The story is a 1001 Nights style fairy tale about an Oriental prince who encounters all sorts of adventures and romance after mounting a magical flying horse. It is a silhouette animation in which the images are created by photographing incredibly intricate black cutout silhouettes in front of brightly coloured luminous backgrounds and the result is stunning. The story is a fairy tale for adults, and the film is a miracle of artistry. The comparatively crude cover image of the prince on his flying steed is merely a hint of the wonders to behold once you watch the film in its entirety (66 mins). Some of the images are truly breathtaking. The film is a silent film with an underlaid orchestral score which has been re-recorded for this DVD edition. Also included is a 60 min documentary about Lotte Reiniger and her work on this and other silhouette films which features short excerpts from other films by her. Excellent DVD, well worth owning.