Die Abenteuer des Prinzen Achmed (1926)
Genre: Animation / Fantasy
Duration: 65 minuten
Alternative titles: The Adventures of Prince Achmed / De Avonturen van Prins Achmed
Country:
Germany
Directed by: Lotte Reiniger
Starst: and Dana Dempsey
IMDb score:
7,8 (7.632)
Releasedate: 3 September 1926
This movie is not available on US streaming services.
Die Abenteuer des Prinzen Achmed plot
This silhouettes animated film is based on stories from "1001 Nights". A deranged wizard tricks Prince Achmed into riding a magical flying horse. The heroic prince is able to temper the horse, but still ends up in many adventures. During one of those adventures, he falls in love with Princess Peri Banu and must defeat an army of demons to free her from the hands of the African sorcerer.
Reviews & comments
Roger Thornhill
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- 6070 messages
- 2476 votes
Masterful technique: the scenes in the harem, by the forest lake, and among the mountains all come—no, jump—to life through the use of pastel shades of varying intensity to suggest depth. It's amazing how you can "see" an eye through a single hole in a black head, giving the entire face expression. The highlight is the fight between the wizard and the witch in all their manifestations, but Aladdin's descent is also magnificent. It's wonderful how two dimensions suddenly seem to become three.
Translated from Dutch · View original
Donkerwoud
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- 8696 messages
- 3960 votes
It's remarkable how Lotte Reiniger, with her use of silhouettes in "The Adventure of Prince Achmed" (1926), managed to create an oriental epic that resembles a modern blockbuster. With subtle touches, she solved the limitations of two-dimensional animation by suggesting depth and height differences with relief backgrounds, spot patterns, and color filters. For the characters, she uses a kind of wajang puppet, whose design evokes familiar archetypes. The bold hero Prince Ahmed, with straight lines and a stately posture, contrasts with the African sorcerer with a pockmarked grin and swaying limbs. It didn't take long for the artificiality to give way to wonder at those palaces, harems, souks, and a shadow world full of mythical creatures. It builds to a stirring climax where a witch and a sorcerer throw fireballs at each other and transform into various animal forms. Note: "The Adventure of Prince Achmed" (1926) was an Orientalist fantasy projection by a white German woman, whose caricatures failed to do justice to the past and present of her Middle Eastern contemporaries. From a worldview—without color nuances or dimensions—like the flat dolls with which she created this alluring dream world.
Translated from Dutch · View original
Bobbejaantje
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- 2301 messages
- 2092 votes
Artistic animation. A painstaking feat by director Lotte Reiniger, who spent a full three years achieving 24 frames per second, with a result reminiscent of the Eastern shadow play mentioned here on the forum. The shadow figures are meticulously detailed, with fitting Arabic motifs. This film is excellent entertainment for all ages, though you do need to be open to an animation technique that is no longer common (as far as I know). The score, originally composed by Wolfgang Zeller, is superb and fits the film like a glove.
The screenplay, also written by Reiniger, is inspired by the Arabian Nights, ancient tales from Arab lands. It's wonderful how Lotte Reiniger, from her Western avant-garde background, was able to adapt that foundation to create this creative masterpiece. It was wonderful to have seen this classic.
Translated from Dutch · View original
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