Friday, September 20, 2013

A Very Special DVR Alert

On Monday night - Tuesday morning, actually - TCM will show Lotte Reiniger's 1926 silent animated feature The Adventures of Prince Achmed.






This is my favorite fantasy film, bar none, a tale of a witch and a wizard, a warrior and a swan princess, an emperor and a sultan, dancing girls and carnival acrobats, Sinbad and a mechanical flying horse, told entirely in silhouettes. It is a visually arresting movie, the first feature film I could get the Cabin Girl and Boy to sit through from start to finish.

10 comments:

  1. It's a wonderful movie. I own it on DVD but I'm tempted to tune in anyway, though at that time I day I suppose there won't be any commentary segment.

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    1. I was thinking exactly the same thing - I'd love to hear Robert Osborne's insights and anecdotes.

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  2. Thanks so much for pointing this out. I've never heard of this before but the images you posted are just amazing, so I've got my TiVo set to record.

    What's the age appropriateness for little ones? My daughter is 4. Is it too scary for her?

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    1. A couple of the summoning scenes are a little intense visually, on the order of Fantasia.

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  3. There's also mild sexual content. And Depending on the 4 year old, it might be too scary.
    It is also my favorite animated movie. It is so good that it's almost unbelievable.

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    1. It's like nothing I've seen before or since. A singular work.

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  4. I, too, have never heard of this movie. Time to go hunt it down.

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    1. I think this is the only DVD I ever ordered from Amazon as I was watching the movie.

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  5. Beautiful images. I'll have to seek this one out. It reminds me of Javanese or Chinese shadow puppets. Did they use puppets behind a screen, or is it actually animated?

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    1. Stop-motion with hand-cut silhouettes, if I remember correctly.

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