Die Abenteuer des Prinzen Achmed/The Adventures of Prince Achmed (1926)

Country: Germany

Released: February, 1926

Genre: Fantasy

Director: Lotte Reiniger

Producer: Lotte Reiniger

Writer: N/A

A few days ago I was grabbing coffee with a friend of mine. He's a fellow movie buff, and we had just walked out of Shane Black's The Nice Guys. We were naturally talking about a recent film or TV show or some such, and I recommended Venture Bros, which is a personal favourite of mine. That's when he confessed that he just couldn't get into TV sitcoms or comedies if there wasn't a laugh-track. I found this quite surprising. Most people these days tend to say the opposite, finding laugh-tracks too cheesy or distracting or manipulative, but my friend was professing that without a laugh-track he just couldn't get into it. I asked why that was and he just shrugged and said it's what he grew-up with. That gave me pause because I started thinking of my own childhood and what I grew up with. I realized that the only shows I ever watched when I was a kid were cartoons, and that even today animation is still by far my favourite medium of story-telling. Is there some kind of connection?

I can't rightly say, just like I can't really pinpoint what it is about animation that holds so much appeal to me today. Perhaps it is the limitless possibility that it offers? Thanks to modern CGI directors of live-action films almost have the universe at their fingertips, but they're not quite there yet; one overly digital explosion, one lazy effects company, and slashed budget and the illusion can tumble. Animation does not suffer from that problem. It invites us to enter a world of it's own creation, so when things don't quite follow our rules it doesn't matter. It's the ultimate source of escapism.

I'm deeply defensive of animation. Much to my chagrin it is still regarded by most as an inferior art-form, probably most due to it's association with children's entertainment, which absolutely infuriates me. I remember one occasion where I was discussing animation with another close-friend of mine who argued that it's lack of emotional subtlety made it incapable of tackling nuance as effectively as live-action. I vehemently opposed this, not from any factual basis but as a knee-jerk reaction to defend my precious cartoons. In retrospect however I see that she is right in the sense that it's emotions are far more overt. However rather than limit the medium I would now argue that that is a boon in it's favour. By offering such overt expressiveness in characters it allows the emotional subtly to rest on it's themes. I suppose that's what draws me into animation: it's utter control.

With all this in mind it's no real surprise that I was really looking forward to Die Abenteuer des Prinzen Achmed. As the oldest surviving animated feature, and one that adopts such a unique style, I was virtually counting down the films to it. This therefor begs the question, was it worth the wait?

Unfortunately not really.

The film's plot is simple enough: An evil sorcerer wants to marry the daughter of the caliph. To do so he tries trading the princess for a flying horse. When the caliph's son, Prince Achmed protests this the sorcerer seats him on the magic horse and sends him far away to distant lands. There Achmed enjoys a series of adventures, meeting a list of colourful side characters including Aladdin, a mountain witch, the emperor of China, and a love-interest. The film concludes with Achmed and Aladdin (who also loves the princess) defeating the sorcerer, saving Achmed's love-interest from demons, and all the good guys getting married.

As far as plots go it's pretty simple, but that's to be expected. The story is a fairytale, designed to be nothing more than a vehicle for cool set-pieces. A movie like this lives and dies on good animation, and Prinzen Achmed certainly boasts that. The film is essentially one long shadow puppet show. It makes sense that one of the earliest animated films be composed by shadow puppets seeing as how it's one of humanity's earliest story telling techniques, and it translates to film very effectively. The landscape and character designs are imaginative, while the creative use of lighting and smoke for more mystical effects couples well with the silhouettes to lend the film a very unique, very beautiful look. Unfortunately it is not so effective as to carry the whole runtime; even at only sixty minutes the film drags on a bit, to the point where I found myself nodding off on occasion. In all fairness I watched the movie just after a large lunch on a hot summer day and my Spanish genes were screaming at me to take a siesta.

Regardless though my attention span did not withstand the length, and boredom began creeping in slowly around act three. While each individual set-piece is gorgeous and full of whimsy, the jerky motions of the characters did no offer enough fluidity to keep in imagery interesting for long periods of time. Taken on their own each act is stunningly composed painting in motion worthy of admiration. As a whole however the narrative does not survive it's pacing. The filmmakers most likely realized this, hence the shorter run time. Regardless, even sixty minutes proves a bit long.

Despite this Die Abenteuer des Prinzen Achmed's style still offers something beautiful and wholly unique. So I'd still recommend to google clips of the movie or watch it in chunks, because it really is something to behold, even if it's appeal eventual runs thin.