The Adventures of Prince Achmed facts for kids
Quick facts for kids Die Abenteuer des Prinzen Achmed |
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Title card
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| Directed by |
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| Written by | Lotte Reiniger |
| Music by | Wolfgang Zeller |
| Cinematography | Carl Koch |
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| Release date(s) | February 1926 (Germany) |
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| Country | Germany (Weimar Republic) |
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| Money made | $100K |
The Adventures of Prince Achmed (German: Die Abenteuer des Prinzen Achmed) is an old German animated fairytale movie from 1926. It was made by Lotte Reiniger. This film is special because it's the oldest full-length animated movie that we still have today! Two other animated movies were made before it, but they are now lost.
The movie uses a unique style called silhouette animation. Lotte Reiniger invented this method. She used cutouts made from cardboard and thin metal sheets. She moved these cutouts frame by frame under a camera to make them look like they were moving. This technique is a bit like Wayang shadow puppets. The original movie even had different colors added to its scenes.
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About the Film's Creation
Many talented animators worked with Lotte Reiniger on this movie. Some of them were Walter Ruttmann, Berthold Bartosch, and Carl Koch.
The story of the film comes from famous tales. It uses parts of the One Thousand and One Nights collection. These stories were written by Hanna Diyab. You might recognize parts from "Aladdin" and "The Story of Prince Ahmed and the Fairy Perī-Bānū".
The Story of Prince Achmed
The movie starts with an African sorcerer. He creates a magical flying horse and shows it to the Caliph, who is like a king. The sorcerer won't sell the horse for gold. So, the Caliph offers him any treasure he has. The sorcerer chooses Dinarsade, the Caliph's daughter, which makes her very sad.
Prince Achmed, Dinarsade's brother, doesn't like this. The sorcerer tricks him into trying the horse. The horse then flies away with the prince, going higher and higher. Achmed doesn't know how to control it. The Caliph then puts the sorcerer in prison.
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Achmed finally learns how to make the horse land. He finds himself in a strange, magical place called Wak Wak. Many beautiful maidens greet him there. When they start fighting for his attention, he flies away to a lake. There, he sees Pari Banu, the lovely ruler of Wak Wak. She arrives with her friends to bathe.
They see him and fly away, but Pari Banu can't. Achmed has taken her magical flying feather costume. She tries to run, but he catches her. He gives her feathers back, and she begins to trust him. They fall in love. But Pari Banu warns him that the demons of Wak Wak will try to hurt him.
Meanwhile, the sorcerer escapes from prison. He turns into a bat and flies to find Achmed. The prince chases the sorcerer, who is back in human form, and falls into a deep pit. While Achmed fights a giant snake, the sorcerer takes Pari Banu to China. He sells her to the Emperor there.
The sorcerer returns and traps Achmed under a big rock on a mountain. But the Witch of the Flaming Mountain sees him and saves Achmed. The sorcerer is her enemy, so she agrees to help Achmed. Together, they plan to rescue Pari Banu from the Emperor.
Then, the demons of Wak Wak find Achmed and Pari Banu. Even though Achmed fights hard, they take Pari Banu away. Achmed captures a demon and makes it fly him to Wak Wak. But the gates of Wak Wak are locked. He then saves a boy named Aladdin from a monster.
Aladdin tells his story. He was a poor tailor. The sorcerer tricked him into getting a magic lamp from a cave. When Aladdin came back, the sorcerer wanted the lamp before letting him out. Aladdin refused, so the sorcerer trapped him in the cave. Aladdin accidentally rubbed the lamp and a genie appeared. The genie took him home.
Aladdin later married Dinarsade. One night, Dinarsade, Aladdin's amazing palace, and the lamp all disappeared. The Caliph blamed Aladdin, so Aladdin ran away to avoid being punished. A storm at sea washed him ashore at Wak Wak. When he tried to pick fruit from a "tree," it turned into a monster and grabbed him. Achmed saved him.
Achmed realizes the sorcerer caused all these problems. He tells Aladdin that the sorcerer stole his palace and lamp because he wanted Dinarsade.
Then the witch arrives. Only the magic lamp can open the gates of Wak Wak. So, she agrees to fight the sorcerer to get it. They have a magical duel, changing into different creatures. After a while, they turn back into humans and throw fireballs at each other. Finally, the witch defeats the sorcerer.
With the lamp, they can enter Wak Wak. They arrive just in time to save Pari Banu from being thrown to her death. A big battle starts. A demon steals the lamp, but the witch gets it back. She calls on creatures from the lamp to help defeat the demons.
A monster with many heads grabs Pari Banu. When Achmed cuts off one head, two more grow back! But the witch stops this from happening. This allows Achmed to kill the monster and save Pari Banu. A flying palace then lands nearby. Inside, Achmed, Pari Banu, Aladdin, and the Caliph find Dinarsade. The two couples say goodbye to the witch and fly home in the palace.
Film Restoration
The original film prints were made of a material called nitrate. None of these original German prints still exist today. The first film had special colors added to it. But later copies were only in black and white.
In 1998 and 1999, experts in Germany and Britain worked to fix the film. They used old nitrate copies to bring back the original colors. They used a special method called the Desmet method to do this.
Film's Impact and Legacy
This film has inspired other artists. You can see a small tribute to it in Disney's movie Aladdin from 1992. A character named Prince Achmed has a small part in that film. The art style of The Adventures of Prince Achmed also inspired an episode of the TV show Steven Universe called "The Answer".
The Film's Music
The music for The Adventures of Prince Achmed was created by a German composer named Wolfgang Zeller. He worked closely with the animators. Lotte Reiniger even made special pictures for orchestras. These pictures helped musicians play the music at the right time during the movie.
See also
In Spanish: Las aventuras del príncipe Achmed para niños
