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The Adventures of Prince Achmed

The Adventures of Prince Achmed

1926
Romance, Fantasy
1h 20m
Based on stories from "The Arabian Nights." A wicked sorcerer tricks Prince Achmed into riding a magical flying horse... (imdb)
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The Adventures of Prince Achmed

1926
Romance, Fantasy
1h 20m
Your probable score
Avg Percentile 64.59% from 459 total ratings

Ratings & Reviews

(459)
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Rated 30 Jan 2019
75
66th
Almost intriguingly convoluted and nonsensical blend of various stories from "One Thousand and One Nights" animated with Reiniger's formidable artistry. She really managed to develop a beautiful and captivating style of silhouette cinema that transforms all its technical and narrative limitations into unique dreamlike magic. In a weird way it taps into the essence of cinema and serves as a link to its prehistory in magic lantern shows, wayang kulit and various other ancient forms of shadowplay.
Rated 18 Jan 2024
72
81st
In the unlikely event that I ever have a child, I’ll make sure she sees no movies or videos before the age of four, and then spend six months or so just watching this movie, one act at a time, treating it as a kind of transitional object (in Winnicott’s sense) opening up the entire transitional space of cinema. The beautifully illustrated story is mostly about how, for girls, what matters is to be kidnapped, bought or otherwise captured by the kind of man one actually desires. Who could argue?
Rated 14 Aug 2007
73
45th
Reiniger's work is beautiful and impressive and she has a terrific imagination. But after a while the limitations of a silent movie with characters who are mostly expressionless became clear. It's hard to get emotionally invested and care about what happens. Still, a fascinating piece of cinema history.
Rated 07 May 2007
73
57th
First off this film looks beautiful. The lush background colours and cutout animation are both superb. After a while, when that loses it's charm, the film does seem to drag a bit. I suppose that's one of the limitations of silent cinema. Still, this is an essential piece of cinema history that all should see.
Rated 06 Jul 2008
74
40th
The story is definitely the film's weak point, lacking detail and motivation and I kind of stopped caring after a while since it was obvious how things would turn out anyway. The animation, on the other hand, is exquisite and more than enough reason to watch the film. The creativity, the attention to detail, the colourful backgrounds, they're all beautiful and keep you watching till the end.
Rated 30 May 2009
4
70th
Gorgeous? Absolutely. Important? No doubt. Charming? You bet. A bit of a drag at times? Well, yeah. But it's still a fun, engaging tale (if a generic, well-known one) done with beautiful visuals.
Rated 16 Dec 2008
75
41st
Gorgeous, but often tedious
Rated 24 Aug 2023
73
78th
Its influence is perhaps incalculable, but for this viewer, this adaptation of Arabian Nights isn't quite as impressive as Zeman's take almost 50 years later, which had the advantage of superior technology at its creator's disposal. Nonetheless, it has greater mystique as it's impressive silhouette style resembles an ancient lantern show reflected on the surface of modernity, somehow forging an unholy alliance across vast time and space.
Rated 02 Mar 2008
57
31st
# 857
Rated 02 May 2009
85
95th
This is just classic. It may seem a bit rough by today's terms but its creative spirit still shines through, and it is full of mystique and quaint charm. Obviously an influence on the modern silhouette animation by such authors as Michel Ocelot and Anthony Lucas.
Rated 09 Mar 2010
90
96th
Saw it with live music by Geoff Smith. Fantastic experience!
Rated 28 Aug 2010
75
53rd
Simply one of the most exquisite things I've ever seen on film. The story is forgettable, but this gets big points just for the work that went into it and the stunning beauty of it all.
Rated 03 Dec 2011
90
74th
renkler, macera, estetik
Rated 11 Jan 2012
75
55th
The technical achievement is impressive, and I really enjoyed the movie visually although it did get tiring after a while.
Rated 02 Sep 2012
20
30th
As many others have already said, the animation is gorgeous but the story and the characters quite thin. Not great, but well worth a watch.
Rated 22 May 2013
65
35th
Stunningly gorgeous, yet the film drags a lot even at only just over an hour due to non-existent characterisations in a story that nowadays seems very by-the-numbers (and probably would have even back then).
Rated 06 Dec 2013
3
30th
sheer artistry! unfortunately, the story is horribly convoluted and boundlessly ridiculous, to an almost unforgivable degree. a shame, because it's a marvel to look at.
Rated 02 May 2015
90
93rd
So beautiful.
Rated 29 Nov 2015
78
83rd
A lot more rapey than what I can remember from Alladin. The storey drags massively, to the point where I stopped watching 3/4 into it.
Rated 21 Oct 2016
55
18th
While one can argue the animation is absolutely stunning (which I can see where you're coming from), the story is so painfully weak. It's tedious, all the characters are very uninteresting, and the story seems to be all over the place.
Rated 04 Jul 2017
75
91st
Wonderfully stylish and surprisingly expressive paper cutout animation. Reiniger's artful and meticulous work shines through to this day. The plot isn't much to speak of, though, and the best moments are in the first half, so interest may start to flag a ways into it. Still, the first extant feature-length animation is definitely a worthy representative of the medium.
Rated 12 Sep 2017
75
68th
Looks really beautiful, but as you can imagine it treats the 'far-distant-lands' in a very othering way. I watched this film with a theatre full of children and a live band performing and I was wondering was this concidered a family movie in the 20s?
Rated 31 Jan 2020
65
63rd
Primitive and clunky, but charming enough to keep you interested.
Rated 11 Apr 2020
75
85th
The animation is amazing, the music was well done, and the story was thrilling and well handled.
Rated 03 May 2020
94
93rd
Que desbunde! Baseado nos contos de As Mil e uma Noites (que tenho aqui na minha estande com tradução do Mamede Jarouche, mas nunca tive coragem de começar), não é só exautivo trabalho empregado pela minúscula equepe de produção da Reiniger que abunda aos nossos olhos, mas a beleza do que é feito com as silhuetas, em todo o seu ritmo e cadência das mais apropriadas. BlurayRip no MakingOff.
Rated 07 Oct 2020
78
77th
A work of absolute art; or more like 93600 works of art displayed in sequence. Story-wise it's more than a little flat, but Reiniger somehow gives each character enough expressions and body language to give it more depth than a lot of live-action silents manage.
Rated 21 Apr 2022
78
63rd
Visually impressive enough to account for the lacks in storytelling. The proper restoration and the accompanying music are also a must to keep the interest going.
Rated 23 Jul 2022
5
81st
Stunning visuals, but it’s a bit of a slog to get through.
Rated 26 Jul 2022
77
69th
Now this is animation I like. Just pure images of beauty
Rated 08 Aug 2022
87
89th
I found this delightful. Holds up as well as anything I've ever seen from the period. This could be released now and would not seem out of place. I was occasionally reminded of Fantasia, but the most similar thing I've experienced to it is the 2018 video game GRIS, which has a pretty similar feel and aesthetic. I would be surprised if it wasn't inspired by it. The magic horse brought to mind The Thief of Bagdad. The story isn't amazing, but I don't think it's as bad as many others here say.
Rated 19 Feb 2024
80
87th
This feels like a film made by Hittites or something. To be quite honest I hadn't a clue as to what the story was about, but so much enjoyed looking at the pictures.

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