If you believe, as I did up until last week, that Walt Disney created the first full length animated feature film (Snow White, 1937), then you must watch the The Adventures of Prince Achmed by Lotte Reiniger (1926). Reiniger used hand-cut silhouettes, a back-lit glass screen, and an original score by composer Wolfgang Zeller to bring to life tales from The Arabian Nights in a wholly original way.
Every aspect of Reiniger’s film, from the intricate silhouettes, to the subtle movements, including emotional expressions of the (dare I say it?) actors, comes together as a whole that is truly beyond the sum of its parts.
I am grateful to the Saskatoon Public Library, which is second to none in my opinion, for providing the Milestone Film & Video Collection DVD presentation of Prince Achmed, which includes a stills gallery, a 1921 animated advertisement for Nivea, and the documentary film, Lotte Reiniger: Homage to the Inventor of the Silhouette Film. The latter provides a wonderful overview of Reiniger’s life, work, and collaboration with her husband, Carl Koch.
One of my favorite moments from the documentary is an interview with Prof. Walter Schobert of Deutsches Filmmuseum Frankfurt am Main. The following quotation is taken from the English translation of this interview, and is drier in text than when Prof. Schobert’s eyes shine with admiration for Ms. Reiniger’s prodigious gift:
[Lotte Reiniger] made the first full feature animated film in the history of the cinema, The Adventures of Prince Achmed. I would even accentuate that her significance isn’t just to be found in the genre that she chose; she’s a great and important filmmaker quite apart from this. Prince Achmed is not only vitally important because of its technique, but through its content and message, which are still persuasive and meaningful. I think it should be shown to people today for the healing power it projects.
When Carl Koch died in 1963, Lotte Reiniger thought she would never make another film. But she eventually found the will to carry on. In 1976 she traveled to Canada where she made her last full length film Aucassin and Nicolette, which was produced by the National Film Board of Canada.
Many of Reiniger’s silhouette short films were produced after WWII, for a variety of audiences, including American children who, it was thought, would prefer colorful backgrounds. A search of “Lotte Reiniger” on Youtube presents a nice collection of film snippets. I’ve watched a few of them, but I have to say that Prince Achmed, with its shadowy backgrounds and full orchestral sound, has a haunting, seductive quality that has left me spell bound.
