The Adventures of Prince Achmed (1931)

good back-story, and good acting

a film so unique, intoxicating and bizarre that it not only demands another viewing, but is also forgivable as a satirical comedy where the jokes eventually take the back seat.

This is one of the few movies I've ever seen where the whole audience broke into spontaneous, loud applause a third of the way in.

It’s fine. It's literally the definition of a fine movie. You’ve seen it before, you know every beat and outcome before the characters even do. Only question is how much escapism you’re looking for.

This movie is actually the oldest surviving animation feature film. it was made with silhouette animation which is like shadow puppetry but photographed frame by frame. It has a pretty simple story about a prince fighting an evil magician, trying to rescue a princess, and teaming up with Aladdin. But that is what makes this story good. It is just complex enough to be enjoyable but uses a lot of good classic devices without unnecessary ones. It is very much at the level of a folktale. It makes you feel more emotional than logical. The animation is also fun to watch and matches the stories simple level. It's like Fantasia and other movies where the beauty of it is more in the visuals than the subject. It goes beyond just basic shadows and has some cool effects like color tinting. The music also really helps with setting the mood and idea. I would recommend this to animation fans as it's historically interesting and also to younger children because it feels like a great movie to grow up with.

A handsome prince rides a flying horse to faraway lands and embarks on magical adventures, which include befriending a witch, meeting Aladdin, battling demons and falling in love with a princess.While this is not quite German expressionism, it has that same sensibility of contrast between darkness and light. The use of dark silhouettes to be the characters (no features beyond their outlines) gives a very distinct look that is rarely seen anywhere else.This is apparently the earliest known animated feature film still in existence. What I find curious is that it was not drawn or painted, but rather features cut out pieces of cardboard. In this way, it anticipated and possibly inspired something completely different decades later -- "South Park", which uses construction paper (or at least did originally).

The ancient tales of the 1,001 Arabian nights come to life in what as known as the first animated film, this is an historical film, a museum piece in every sense of the word. The magical, enchanting adventures of Prince Achmed are brought to life by little more than paper cutouts, filmed in silhouette, on film treated with blazing colors! the viewer is swept away into magical Middle and Far Eastern lands, and is taken on an adventure with Prince Achmed and his great friend Aladdin. The Prince, looking beautiful and majestic in his Armour and scimitar sword, battles the evil African magician who has imprisoned his sister, the beautiful Dinar Sade. Swept away by a magic flying horse created by the magician, our Prince finds himself in a mysterious land, where he encounters the delicate and enchanting Paru Banu, the princess of a land inhabited by evil demons. The two fall in love, but his Princess is taken away by the demons of her own land. This is where he meets the boy Aladdin, who reveals to him a tale of an evil African magician, who stole away his beloved, who turns out to be Prince Achmed's own sister, Dinar Sade! Side by side, the two fight to save their Princesses from danger and death! This film is pure magic and should be seen by anyone with an interest in animation or classic cinema. The workmanship and detail of these paper cutouts must be seen to be appreciated; figures wearing lace and feathers so intricate you would not believe that this was simply paper. This project was many years in the making and the original film has been lost, due to age, but a wonderful copy exists today on DVD, to dazzle a new generation of film lovers. With the exception of Pier Paolo Pasolini's "Arabian Nights," the tales from these poetic books has never been presented in a more glorious way than in this 1926 German production, "The Adventures of Prince Achmed." Absolute highest rating.

Adventures of Prince Achmed, The (1926) *** (out of 4) Considered to be the first animated film, we see the adventures of Prince Achmed who jumps on a magical horse who flies him around to various times including Aladdin and his magic lamp. The actual story isn't too interested but the "silhouette" animation is something truly beautiful. This type of animation was done using paper cutouts placed on glass, which was then lit by lights behind the glass. The images created are something incredible to look out especially the stuff with Aladdin. It took three years to do this film yet the hard work was certainly worth it.