Thursday, April 22, 2010

Die Abenteuer des Prinzen Achmed


Lotte Reiniger: Die Abenteuer des Prinzen Achmed (1926). Quelle: DIF. Photo: Filmportal.

Prinssi Ahmedin seikkailut / Prins Ahmeds äventyr.
    DE 1926. PC: Comenius Film. P: Louis Hagen.
    D+SC+Storyboards+AN: Lotte Reiniger. DP: Carl Koch. Bauten (sonstiges): Walther Ruttmann (moving backgrounds), Berthold Bartosch, Alexander Karadan, Walter Türk, Lore Leudesdorff. Original M for live cinema orchestra: Wolfgang Zeller.
    Silhouette characters: The Caliph, Dinarsade the caliph's daughter, Ahmed the caliph's son, The beautiful Pari Banu, Aladdin, The African Sorcerer, The Witch, Giant snakes, Demons.
    1811 m / 65 min.
    A Deutsches Filminstitut print of the Lotte Reiniger Centenary Restoration in colour (1999). Wolfgang Zeller's original music played back from dvd (courtesy ARTE), electronic subtitles in Finnish by Kirsi Turunen. Viewed at Cinema Orion, Helsinki (A Thousand and One Nights), 22 April 2010.

The colour in this Jubileum Restoration is beautiful and the interpretation of Wolfgang Zeller's music is captivating. There are affinities in Zeller's music with Bernard Herrmann's Sinbad scores.

A wonderful Oriental fantasy animation. Lotte Reiniger's silhouettes carry the action, Walther Ruttmann and others have created an almost psychedelic atmosphere with impressions of clouds, liquids, smoke, fire, and opening circles - a feeling of the elements. The Oriental graphic design of the intertitles is elegant. Lotte Reiniger is in full command of the artistic whole. The film was cut according to Zeller's score, and the sound and the image blend seamlessly.

Prince Ahmed tries to fly on the tricky magic horse of the African sorcerer and lands in the Wak-Wak island where he sees the beautiful fairy Pari Banu taking a bath. Princess Dinarsade is saved from the sorcerer who had wanted to trade the horse with her. Aladdin with his magic lamp helps Ahmed free Pari Banu.

One of the early feature-length animations is an assured and unique piece of art.

http://www.filmportal.de/df/2d/Uebersicht,,,,,,,,2D3E507B1F7C45C191AFEA55317FC76B,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,.html

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