The Adventures of Prince Achmed (1926) - An Oldie, but Absolutely a Goldie

 

You know, it seems rather fitting to do a review of this movie, after all Lotte Reiniger was one of the recent recipients of the Winsor McCay Awards at the Annie Awards. Beyond that however, animation history has always fascinated me, and there was one aspect that I have always wanted to talk about. The Adventures of Prince Achmed is the oldest surviving animated feature film, it is not the first animated feature film, but as of today, it is the oldest surviving. Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs gets a lot of credit, but by nearly ten years, Prince Achmed has the lead over Disney. It's a movie that has been overlooked by most animation fans, in fact, the only animation reviewers I know of that have made videos about this movie are AniMat and Anim8Ball, so those who are more into animation history will know of this movie, but like with most other movies of similar significance, I have to ask, is it worth watching beyond the historical aspect?

So, a couple things of note before I get into the review proper, as the 1926 release year would suggest, this is a silent film. Silent films have a different pace to them than talkies do and they can be quite jarring for modern audiences, what also doesn't help is that because the movie is possibly Public Domain in the United States (Question Mark), you can find different prints online, including some that aren't translated, the one I watched for this review was uploaded by the channel Enhanced Cinema, but there is a translated version available from the channel Rueda Books & Arts, both of them are available for viewing in HD quality, though I'm not sure which is flipped properly. Before anyone asks, no the Enhanced Cinema upload does not have the translation in the Closed Captions.

The story is a loose adaptation of the One Thousand and One Nights stories, particularly, "The Story of Prince Ahmed and the Fairy Perī-Bānū", "The Ebony Horse", and "Aladdin". An African Sorcerer creates a flying horse and shows it to the Caliph on a celebration, and offers it in exchange for the Caliph's daughter, the princess Dinarsade. However, Prince Achmed objects to this, and the Sorcerer tricks him onto the horse and sends him away, where he lands on the magical island of Wak Wak and meets the Fairy Pari Banu. I would go on, but to describe the plot is to basically describe what happens in the entire movie. As someone who is partly familiar with silent cinema, "The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari" and "The Phantom of the Opera" are two of my favourite movies of all time, they are quite different from modern cinema, but the plot is very well done here. If you are familiar with silent cinema, this shouldn't be to out of the ordinary for you, but if you are a newcomer, I can think of more jarring films to watch.

The animation of this movie is incredible. The animation style is Silhouette animation, which is pretty much stop motion with shadow puppets. Despite this, or maybe even because of this, the characters are distinct and well detailed, and while there are some choppy movements, I feel like that was an artistic choice to represent something specific, like speed or something, because the rest of the motion in the movie is very fluid. You can almost see some of the foundations of what would become the Twelve Principles of Animation, and there is even some really great depth in this movie. Reiniger used a very early form the the Multiplane Camera for this movie, and it looks spectacular. While Disney and his crew really mastered the Multiplane Camera, it's very clear that the instrument was already well used at the start. Plus, you also get a lot of effects made from wax, which offers some visual distinction from everything else, in fact I'm sure there were other materials used to create different effects in the movie, like the Genie from the lamp, who looks like they were drawn in with chalk to create that otherworld ghostly effect. I think the shadow puppet style works in favour of the film, as the plot is not unlike the old tales that would have been told through shadow puppetry.

With all this talk about the plot and animation, you may be wondering about the characters, and the truth is that the characters are pretty basic. Not that they're bad, especially Prince Achmed who is an identifiable and likeable character, but they don't get a whole lot of depth or nuance, and that is fine. Not every story needs a really deep character, not every story needs a Zuko. It's really weird to me that more basic characterization is stigmatized, especially in early cinema. I mean, it's great that we have nuanced looks at different characters, but at the core, this movie is a fairy-tale, a simpler story. So I don't see the basic characters as knock against the movie. We have our hero, our villain, our sidekick, our damsel, our mystical ally, it all works, and I do want to see these heroes succeed, the ending climactic battle was a very tense and exciting moment, and I wouldn't have been invested if the characters were bad. They're basic characters, but not bland or bad characters.

I am really glad I decided to give this movie a watch. The Adventures of Prince Achmed is a marvelous feat of animation and it holds up really well. Sure, if you're not into silent cinema, you might not get into this movie as much, but if you can respect a well done story with well done characters and fantastic animation and effects that helped shaped the history of animation, I would definitely give this movie a watch. Plus, even if you're not that into it, it's only just over an hour long. I can think of movies that are similar to this that came out much later that haven't held up quite as well (Cough Sleeping Beauty Cough), and you really do have to give some respect to this movie. It is the oldest surviving animated feature, just a shame we can't see the first ever animated feature... wouldn't that be something? Anyway, The Adventures of Prince Achmed is absolutely a fine piece of animated cinema, and Lotte Reiniger definitely deserved that Winsor McCay award, though honestly, she probably deserved it much sooner. I can absolutely give this a Recommendation.