The Adventures Of Prince Achmed

Lotte Reiniger’s innovative and gorgeous to look at film is the earliest surviving animated feature of its kind. This German silhouette adventure from 1926 – hailed as one of the world’s most influential animations – magically brings to life tales from the Arabian Nights.

Reiniger was born in Berlin in 1899 and died in London in 1981. For a long time, she was forgotten and her films deemed lost. But when a copy of Die Abenteuer des Prinzen Achmed was rediscovered, her masterpiece has become established as a classic of silent cinema. The film took three years to complete (from 1923 to 1926 to be precise), because for each second 24 frames were taken!

It was first shown (on a small scale) in the Theater der Volksbühne in a northern part of Berlin, in May 1926. It turned out to be a big success! That same year, Prince Achmed had his first public show in the Theatre des Champs-Elysées in Paris, and with the same amount of success. In turn, it lead to a public show at Berlin’s Gloria Palast in September.

The negative was destroyed in the Battle of Berlin in 1945, but thankfully, the British Film Institute had made a second negative when the film was shown in London and – after a long period when it was not shown anyway – a revival was planned in the early seventies.

Made in card, cut entirely by hand, and then manipulated using sheets of lead joined by wires, Reiniger’s exquisite shadow characters transport us to a world of exotic locations, beautiful princesses, flying horses and castles, demons and witches. The famous frame story of Arabian Nights is set aside and Reiniger fancies herself in Shahrazad’s role. Various other tales are first disconnected, then cleverly woven together in a captivating manner.

At the centre of the story are Prince Achmed and a magic flying horse (the ‘Ebony Horse’ in the Arabian Nights stories), with which a powerful sorcerer challenges him. The Prince – for better or for worse – is thrown into various adventures that take him from the palace of Baghdad all the way to China, and to the spirit land of Wak-Wak. The result is dreamy, moody, melancholy, occasionally sinister, but always maintains a phantasmagoric strain that will seduce the creative mind and imagination!

The BFI has recently released The Adventures Of Prince Achmed on Blu-ray for the first time, in dual-format edition (presented in both HD and Standard Definition). Furthermore, the discs offer a newly recorded narration based on Reiniger’s own translation of her German text, as well as the original orchestral score by Wolfgang Zeller.

In addition, the following delightful shorts are included in the Special Features:

• The Adventures of Dr. Dolittle – Doktor Dolittle und seine Tiere (L. Reiniger, 1928) – ‘A trip to Africa’ (Die Reise nach Afrika, b/w 12min), ‘Cannibal Land’ (Die Affenbrücke, b/w 10min), ‘The Lion’s Den’ (Die Affenkrankheit, b/w 11min.)

• The secret of the Marquise – Das Geheimnis des Marquise (L. Reiniger, 1922), b/w 2min: early Berliner advert for Niveal skin care products.

• The Flying Coffer – Der fliegende Koffer (L. Reiniger, 1928), b/w 9min.

• The Star of Bethlehem (L. Reiniger, UK 1956), colour 18min. With music by Peter Gellhorn, performed by the Glyndbourne Festival Chorus.

• The Lost Son (L. Reiniger, UK 1974), colour 14min.

• Illustrated booklet with newly commissioned essays by Jez Stewart and Philip Kemp, and with a contribution by Marina Warner.