Above and below are select stills and video segments from the classic 1926 German animated fairytale film, The Adventures of Prince Achmed, by the remarkable pioneering talent Lotte Reiniger (1899–1981), a force well ahead of her time. Based on The Story of Prince Ahmed and the Fairy Paribanou featured in Andrew Lang’s The Blue Fairy Book and part of the 1001 Arabian Nights Collection, The Adventures of Prince Achmed hails as the oldest surviving animated feature film. (Two earlier animation feature films were made by Quirino Cristiani in Argentina but are considered lost.) Working on this film, Reiniger was joined by avant-garde filmmakers Walter Ruttmann, Berthold Bartosch and Carl Koch (her husband).
Reiniger invented the silhouette animation technique utilized in the film; cardboard cutouts and thin sheets of lead were carefully manipulated under a camera. This method is similar to Wayang shadow puppets. The original prints for The Adventures of Prince Achmed featured color tinting. These German nitrate prints were lost during WWII when Reiniger fled Nazi Germany without her original negatives. Working from other surviving nitrate prints, German and British archivists restored the film in 1998/99. This film was Reiniger’s first and last feature film, she preferred short films and stuck to shorts thereafter.
Ms. Reiniger was terrifically skilled with paper and scissors. Even as the tools of her trade were minimal and simple, her complex and intricate technique and attention to detail and subtle nuances set her work at unparalleled heights. She became a recluse and took a decade leave from her art and film following the death of her husband Carl Koch, but thankfully was rediscovered and wooed back by an adoring public. She returned to paper cutting and short animation filmmaking in the early 70s and continued up until her death in 1981 at the age of 80. Watch her nimble fingers at work creating pure magic and learn about her technique firsthand in The Art of Lotte Reiniger (1953–1971). You can find additional Reiniger resources listed at the end of this post plus a simple internet query will return a great deal more.
The Adventures of Prince Achmed
The Adventures of Prince Achmed, Fragment 1
Performance at ULITSA OGI club in Moscow, 2009
Music by Sergey Letov (electronics, woodwinds) and Teimur Nadir (guitar)
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Further reading and viewing:
– Wikipedia
– British Film Institute
– Milestone Film (Detailed notes on the film, including Reiniger’s description)
– Essay by William Moritz
– YouTube
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