New movie reviews, DVD reviews, interviews, and all things film.

Follow Me

• The Innkeepers ***1/2
• The Woman in Black ***
• The Grey ***
• Man on a Ledge ***
• Underworld Awakening **
• Fullmetal Alchemist: The Sacred Star of Milos ***
• Haywire ***
• Beauty and the Beast ****
• Contraband ***
• The Divide *
• Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy ****
• The Devil Inside **
• The Iron Lady **
• A Separation ***
• Pariah ***1/2
• Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close ***
• The Darkest Hour **
• War Horse **1/2
• In the Land of Blood and Honey **
• The Adventures of Tintin ***1/2
• More

• Adaptation
• Dream House
• Drive
• Frida
• The Magnificent Ambersons
• Malcolm X
• The Mill and the Cross
• The Moment of Truth
• Outrage
• The Piano
• The Thing
• To Kill a Mockingbird
• 2011: The Year's Best DVDs and Blu-Rays
• More

• 2011: The Year's Best Films
• Year's Best DVDs and Blu-Rays
• San Francisco Film Critics Circle Awards
• Interview: Steve McQueen and Michael Fassbender
• Interview: Simon Curtis
• Interview: Werner Herzog
• Interview: John Cho
• Interview: Roland Emmerich
• Interview: Stephen Bishop on Moneyball
• Interview: Nick Swardson
• Interview: Lynn Hershman Leeson
• Interview: Lone Scherfig
• Interview: Jesse Eisenberg & Aziz Ansari
• Interview: Wayne Wang
• Interview: Andre Ovredal on 'Trollhunter'
• Interview: Ewan McGregor & Mike Mills
• Interview: Kelly Reichardt (Examiner link)
• The 54th San Francisco International Film Festival - 2011 Coverage
• Interview: Emma Roberts
• Rainn Wilson & James Gunn (Examiner link)
• Interview: Tom McCarthy
• Interview: Abigail Breslin (Examiner link)
• 2010: The Year's Best Films
• 2010: The Year's Best DVDs & Blu-Rays
• Interview: Sofia Coppola
• Interview: George A. Romero
• The Decade's Ten Best Films: 2000-2009
• My Top 100 Films [Updated]
• My Top 60 Directors [Updated]
• Christmas Movies
• Essential Halloween & Horror Movies
• Cult Movies
• Actress Interview Gallery
• More Features and Interviews

• Have Yourself a Movie Little Christmas, by Alonso Duralde
• Not Quite a Memoir: Of Films, Books, the World, by Judy Stone
• James Agee: The Library of America Collection, by James Agee
• Just Making Movies, by Ronald L. Davis
• More Books

• Home
• Reviews A-C
• Reviews D-F
• Reviews G-J
• Reviews K-M
• Reviews N-Q
• Reviews R-T
• Reviews U-Z

The online film magazine Combustible Celluloid offers new movie reviews, DVD reviews, film reviews, actor interviews, actress interviews, director interviews, film books and all things cinema related for the thoughtful and passionate. Online for ten years! Over 3000 reviews!

SEARCH MOVIES / CELEB

The Adventures of Prince Achmed (1926)

Rating: 3 1/2 Stars (out of 4)

Shadows and Lights

By Jeffrey M. Anderson

Buy The Adventures of Prince Achmed on DVD

The Adventures of Prince Achmed deserves to be a landmark. And it would be if it were better known. It is technically history's first feature-length animated movie. German filmmaker Lotte Reiniger made it in 1926 at age 23. On top of that, it's a very good movie, not only for animation fans and movie buffs. It plays for one day only, Friday, November 5 at the Castro Theater.

This movie is done completely with silhouettes. It may seem primitive and precious trying to picture that in your head, but the effect is astonishing. Reiniger had been involved with the German Avant-Garde movement, and she makes inventive use of shapes and backgrounds, crafting a definite mood. Indeed, she evokes an entire world using only two dimensions and two shades (the film does use colored tints for backgrounds and effects, but not for details).

The story follows Prince Achmed as he leaves home for the first time on a flying horse. In the land of Waq Waq he falls in love with a beautiful princess but angers the demons who protect her. An evil sorcerer is after him, but an Ogress and Aladdin (yes, that Aladdin) come to his aid. It all comes down to a huge battle with people turning into animals and hurling fireballs at each other.

The Adventures of Prince Achmed will be accompanied by a new live score composed by Bay Area composer Shawn Garmon and performed by the quartet of Garmon on piano, Liberty Miller on oboe, Loralyn Staples on violin, and Rebecca Roundman on cello. Don't miss this wonderful film experience.

Starring: n/a
Written by: Lotte Reiniger
Directed by: Lotte Reiniger
MPAA Rating: Unrated
Running Time: 65 minutes
Date: November 5, 1999