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Tuesday, January 18, 2011

Forgotten Classic:The Adventures of Prince Achmed (1926)


I mentioned THE ADVENTURES OF PRINCE ACHMED earlier on a post of favorite animated films, but I thought I'd add another post highlighting more stills from this classic silent film masterpiece. I saw the film (on TCM) a while back and was absolutely flabbergasted. I'd had no knowledge of early animation (except Disney), had no idea of the superb quality of work being done then, especially by the brilliant Lotte Reiniger.(PRINCE ACHMED is painstakingly done in cut-paper silhouette.) Like many others, I'd always thought that Disney's excellent SNOW WHITE AND THE SEVEN DWARFS was the first full length animated feature.

I can't urge you enough to try and see THE ADVENTURES OF PRINCE ACHMED. Learn more about this truly amazing work of art and its creator here at the ASIFA Hollywood Animation Archives.

3 comments:

  1. i saw prince Achmed in an animation festival some years ago! I remember i though of the scene in jane austen's sense and sensibility when Marianne makes Willoby's portrait by his shadow while he stands behind a fabbric with a candle...i don't know the name of the artistic technic...but i will search for it!

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  2. I saw Prince Achmed on TV several years ago. I remember being so surprised by its beauty and quality. I'd never heard of it before then.

    We call them silhouettes. The whole film is done in cut paper silhouette. Amazing work.

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  3. thank you Yvette, i spend a lot of hours last night looking at wonderful silhouettes and then i found blogs with papercuts and perfect designs with scissors..............

    Yvette, these are a few of the wonderful things that i've found!

    http://marthapostolidou.blogspot.com/2011/01/just-paper-and-scissors-silhouettes.html

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