#wolfgang zeller

[genevieveetguy]

The Adventures of Prince Achmed (Die Abenteuer des Prinzen Achmed), Lotte Reiniger (1926)

[genevieveetguy]

Vampyr, Carl Theodor Dreyer (1932)

[kiwcantdance]

[366filme]

#009 - O vampiro (Vampyr) 1932 | 70 min | Terror, Suspense

Diretor: Carl Theodor Dreyer Diretor de fotografia: Rudolph Maté, Louis Née (não creditado) Trilha sonora: Wolfgang Zeller Elenco principal: Julian West, Maurice Schutz, Rena Mandel, Sybille Schmitz, Jan Hieronimko

Direção: 9 Roteiro: 8 Fotografia: 9 Trilha sonora: 8 Figurino: 8 Maquiagem: 7 Mixagem de som: 6 Efeitos visuais: 9 Edição: 8 Design de produção: 8

Nota média: 8

[dweemeister]

The opening scenes to The Adventures of Prince Achmed (1927, Germany) - directed by Lotte Reiniger

Basically a one-woman show, director Reiniger would cut out every single figure out of cardboard or thin sheets of lead in order to create what is now the oldest-surviving animated feature in the world (the two Argentinian films that could have held that title are now lost). Reiniger would spend a long three years to make The Adventures of Prince Achmed (which is based on various stories of the One Thousand and One Arabian Nights) with some assistance in the stop-motion animation process for perhaps the most famous piece of silhouette animation in the history of film.

The music heard in the above clip is part of the original score composed by Wolfgang Zeller. Very few silent films ever came with an original score.

[dweemeister]

Favorite Films by Year

1926: The Adventures of Prince Achmed, Germany

Lotte Reiniger was known for her groundbreaking animated features which made innovative use of paper silhouettes and stop-motion animation. Reiniger was pretty much a one-woman show: she cut out almost every single paper figure that is seen in the film - the scenery, the foregrounds, the characters - and directed the film herself.

As a film, it's sort of disjointed and at times nonsensical and incoherent... But it is unlike anything I've ever seen or probably will ever see again (I'm sure Reiniger's other work survives... and I'd love to see it). Another German masterpiece from the silent era. Also of note is the original score by Wolfgang Zeller (original scores for silent films were quite rare).

[promethean-eyes]

Lotte Reineger - The Adventures of Prince Achmed (opening scene). 1926, restored 2009.

From the Wikipedia page:

The Adventures of Prince Achmed (German: Die Abenteuer des Prinzen Achmed) is a 1926 German animated fairytale film by Lotte Reiniger. It is the oldest surviving animated feature film; two earlier ones were made in Argentina by Quirino Cristiani, but they are considered lost. The Adventures of Prince Achmed features a silhouette animation technique Reiniger had invented which involved manipulated cutouts made from cardboard and thin sheets of lead under a camera. The technique she used for the camera is similar to Wayang shadow puppets, though hers were animated frame by frame, not manipulated in live action. The original prints featured color tinting. Several famous avant-garde animators worked on this film with Lotte Reiniger. These included Walter Ruttmann, Berthold Bartosch, and Carl Koch.

The story is based on elements taken from the collection 1001 Arabian Nights, specifically The Story of Prince Ahmed and the Fairy Paribanou featured in Andrew Lang's The Blue Fairy Book. With the assistance of Aladdin, the Witch of the Fiery Mountain, and a magic horse, the title character reclaims the magic lamp and conquers the African sorcerer. The culminating scene in the film is the battle between "die Hexe" (the witch) and "der afrikanische Zauberer" (the African sorcerer), in which those characters undergo fabulous transformations. All is well in the end: Aladdin marries Dinarsade (Achmed's sister and daughter of the Caliph); Achmed forces Pari Banu to marry him; the African sorcerer is defeated; and the foursome return to the Caliph's kingdom. Later Pari Banu- a goddess- steals a featherboa from Achmed so she can turn into a bird and fly home.

The original score was composed by German composer Wolfgang Zeller in direct collaboration with the animation of the film. Reiniger created photograms for the orchestras, which were common in better theatres of the time, to follow along the filmic action.

[dweemeister]

The Adventures of Prince Achmed (1926, Germany)

The Adventures of Prince Achmed is slowly and quietly approaching its ninetieth birthday. And yes, in the beginning of animated features, there was Achmed, not Snow White. Two other Argentinian animated features from director Quirino Cristiani are older than this film, but both - like innumerable silent films of this era - have been lost or destroyed. And almost ninety years later, no one has seen anything like this since (or even heard of it).

Lotte Reiniger pours her heart and soul as director of this film, responsible for all of the hundreds of paper cutouts and their stop-motion movements. She was inspired  by puppetry as a young girl and a formative influence that got Reiniger into film was one of the founding magicians of cinema - Georges Méliès (many who saw Hugo know who I'm talking about). Reiniger made countless other animated shorts in this exact style, but never feature-length. From Tim Brayton:

Reiniger's animation was achieved by cutting silhouettes out of black cardboard, stitching their joints together with thread, and placing them atop a lit screen. It's the exact same technique used in traditional shadow puppet theatre, which the director had been fascinated by from childhood. Only in Prince Achmed, which was animated using stop-motion techniques, there are no rods or wires to give away the illusion. Only black shapes moving against empty space, or sometimes against translucent backgrounds. If that sounds primitive, that's because it is, for in the strictest definition of "primitive", the oldest-surviving animated feature must necessarily be primitive.

Though primitive, the results are remarkable. The Adventures of Prince Achmed - though severely lacking in the cohesiveness its storytelling - is a visual splendor. Don't watch it for the plot (based on a messy amalgam of stories from One Thousand and One Arabian Nights), but instead for an animated spectacle which even the most experienced film buffs may not have seen or may never see.

It is telling that The Adventures of Prince Achmed is a fairy tale unlike its two lost Argentinian predecessors (one was a political satire and subsequently destroyed by the Argentine government) and it seems that even Walt Disney Studios could have done something like this. No wait, they already did (see Aladdin). This is a fantasy animated film before our modern era where we mistakenly equate animation with fantasy and child-like fare.

For the unconvinced - "a silent film... that's also an animated feature? No thank you!" - the film is just barely over an hour and, in all honesty, you would be denying yourself a singular experience that demonstrates a single woman's awe-inspiring imagination, resourcefulness, and creativity.

Additionally, a recent French release entitled Tales of the Night has recreated Reiniger's silhouette animation style, but the aforementioned French film is completely reliant on computerized animation. 

Reiniger spent three years to cut out her figures, shoot the scenes, and complete the film by herself. And also - this came as a shock to me - the film also has an original score composed by Wolfgang Zeller. I would look for prints that have come with Zeller's lush score in addition to colored tints (as that was how it was originally shown). Contrary to popular belief, though original scores were becoming more frequent in films in this era, a considerable number of silent films went without. That is not so for The Adventures of Prince Achmed.

The history of animated features begins here, with The Adventures of Prince Achmed. I'm not sure if audiences will ever recognize that, but its lack of recognition doesn't take away any of its majesty. Imperfect and, "primitive", it is a work of love where love for it has truly been lacking.

My rating: 8/10

^ Based on my personal imdb rating.