The Adventures of Prince Achmed (released in 1926) is the oldest surviving animated feature film. It was a labor of love by German animator Lotte Reiniger. It took her and a few others three years to complete. But thankfully they did because it’s amazing. Besides Reiniger there were just a few others that helped in the making of the film, her husband, Carl Koch, Bertold Bartosch and Walter Ruttmann. Walter Ruttmann’s job was to design the backgrounds and he is able to do so much with so little, just marvelous stuff.

They color tinted the black and white film (a process where you dye or stain it) which really gave the film a unique look. Although the film wasn’t a huge hit at its time it was received well by the european avant garde scene.

The film follows Prince Achmed who
was tricked by a evil magician and his various journeys. There is some tie in
to Aladdin and his magic lamp as well. Although its a German film there are subtitles and the reading is minimal.
With the animation work of Reiniger,
the beautiful backgrounds of Ruttman and a nice original score by Wolfgang Zeller The Adventures of Prince Achmed is a movie most will enjoy.

Below is an example of one of Reiniger’s figures and how they are moved. It’s taken from the film Lotte Reiniger: Homage to the Inventor of the Silhouette Film by Katja Raganelli.

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You can buy The Adventures of Prince Achmed here on DVD. As a bonus it includes Lotte Reiniger: Homage to the Inventor of the Silhouette Film as well.

Tags: 1926, Aladdin, animation, feature film, Lotte Reiniger, Prince Achmed, silhouette, stop motion animation
Categories: Films

This entry was posted on Thursday, January 3rd, 2008 at 7:53 pm and is filed under Films. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.