Die Abenteuer des Prinzen Achmed is a fairytale film by Lotte Reiniger. It is the oldest surviving animated feature film. The movie features a silhouette animation technique Reiniger invented that involved manipulated cutouts made from cardboard and thin sheets of lead, under a camera.
Here is what the thumbnail looks like animated.
The technique she used for the camera is similar to Wayang shadow puppets, though hers were animated frame by frame (at 24fps), not manipulated in live action. The original prints featured color tinting. Reiniger also used the first form of a multiplane camera in making the film, one of the most important devices in pre-digital animation. Work began in 1923, and the film was finished in 1926. --WP & Johnny
Here's a little trailer of short sequences:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G_9L7r8NIBc
Having watched a bunch of early Fleischer, Disney and other cartoons, I was impressed by how unique this style is. While the movement is fairly simple (even crude at times), I found it refreshing how things moved independently of each other instead of being 'synced up and bouncing together' as with all those Disney & Fleischer shorts. Also, the silhouette animation style, while allowing very limited character detail, was somehow surprisingly modern in aesthetic IMO.
>>>HERE<<< is the whole 65 minute film, remastered in 4k and with a great, classical soundtrack. You'll get a much better taste of things than via the trailer, altho I don't blame you if you let it run in the background while you check your portable.
The story itself is based on elements from One Thousand and One Nights written by Hanna Diyab, including Aladdin, The Story of Prince Ahmed & the Fairy Perī-Bānū, and The Ebony Horse.
