The Adventures of Prince Achmed
Made by Lotte Reiniger in 1926, Die Abenteuer des Prinzen Achmed is the world’s oldest surviving feature-length animated film. Based on the legends from The Arabian Nights, it tells the story of the travels of Prince Achmed, who is tricked by an evil magician into riding a flying horse that takes him to distant magical lands. He falls in love with (and kidnaps) Princess Pari Banu, and must fight to return home with her in time to stop his sister, Princess Dinarsade, from marrying the evil magician.
In addition to its age, the film is most notable for Reiniger’s highly unique animation style, which uses black silhouettes of the characters and set pieces against painted backdrops. While this might be perceived as limiting, the characters remain highly distinct and expressive. Each silhouetted figure in the film was hand-cut and animated by Reiniger frame by frame – a labor of love that took three years to complete.
- Cool Horse
- Good Witch Versus Bad Witch – The Witch of the Fiery Mountain allies herself with the heroes to defeat the evil magician.
- Shapeshifter Showdown – the witch and the evil wizard have one of these initially, then start throwing fireballs at each other
- Shapeshifting Lover – Peri Banu and her handmaidens use feathered gowns to transform into birds
- Stockholm Syndrome – After the shock of the original kidnapping wears off, Peri Banu seems more than happy to stay with Achmed – and even resists when the spirits of her homeland try to bring her back.
- To be fair, she initially rejected him. At this, he seemed willing to let her go, but that made him depressed and she took pity on him.