"The Adventures Of Prince Achmed" + Ants

Tonight I watched an animated film from 1926 (!), called "The Adventures Of Prince Achmed". It was created by a German director/animator named Lottie Reiniger, who pioneered a technique known as silhouette animation, where all of the characters are solid black outlines (a few have minor features like the whites of eyes), and they all move and "act" against mostly solid color backdrops, though those too can change into something pulsating with vivid effects.

I don't know the history of animated film, or when the first cartoon was made, but I imagine that "Prince Achmed" had to have been released pretty early in the game, which makes it's technique all the more impressive. The animation is stop-motion and is rickety by today's standards, but it's so smooth for it's time that it seems magical even now, and the silhouette cut-outs are precisely drawn so that you know which character you are looking at. In many respects, especially in the art itself, "Prince Achmed" could have come out today, so it must have been very advanced for it's time.

The story is simple. Prince Achmed has a horse that can fly, given to him by a magician who does not have his best interests at heart. He wants Achmed to fly away and never return, so that he - the evil Magician - can abscond with Achmed's beautiful sister. Meanwhile, Achmed travels by his horse to the land of Wak Wak, where he falls for the goddess Pari Banu. But the demons of Wak Wak want him dead for stealing their lady away.

As you can see, this is a fable with many of the tradition elements that have carried over even to the successful animated features of today. Prince Achmed must ultimately seek out Aladdin and his lamp in order to defeat the demons and the evil Magician. He also enlists the help of a formerly wicked Witch who is now on the side of good.

The novelty of the silhouette animation can wear off after a while, for a modern viewer. However, the story eventually develops to the point where you are pulled in for the duration, and in the final 20 minutes of the 67 minute film, the background animation comes alive to deliver all sorts of phatasmagorical effects, during a battle between Achmed and the demons. Spells are cast, mountains split open and the sky radiates waves of transcendence.

At least that's what I think it was radiating.  :)

All in all, I have gotta give "The Adventures Of Prince Achmed" Two Thumbs Up. At first it seems a curiosity because of it's technique, which you have never seen before, and because the technique - in modern times - may not hold your interest all by itself, for an entire film. But then the story begins to develop, and you see that Director Reiniger has quite a bit more up her sleeve than at first seemed.

See it for something different, and for the history of film and animation. It's quite an achievement, considering that every detail in the film was created by hand, and over 90,000 photographs were shot during the animation process that required 24 frames per second. ////

Here in Reseda today the temperature reached 92 degrees. I had sworn/hoped that I would not have to wear long sleeves, let alone a jacket, up until Halloween, but now we are past that holiday and the weather today felt like August, only with low angle sunlight and long shadows on the ground. And tonight on my CSUN walk I was still able to wear a t-shirt without flinching. This is the warmest start to Fall I can remember, and we are just about halfway through. Really we are still doing Summer, but with short days.

If you think I'm not loving it then you don't know me very well, haha. The one thing I am not liking about it is the ants. We have an infestation of ants here at Pearl's. They are in the walls and floorboards, and the situation is nearing the point of being untenable. The problem began in July, when we had that week of 110 degree weather. Sometimes it was bad since then, sometimes we had days with no ants, or just a few, in different rooms. But they never went away, and now tonight they are back in the kitchen. They are all over the yard, too, so much so that I have to immediately remove the cat food dishes as soon as the cats are done eating, and place them in another area off the side of the driveway, or else the ants will cover them within an hour. It's bad, I'm telling you. I mostly have them under control in the house, but we still see them every single day, at least a few of them in two or three rooms, and in the kitchen you have to be careful with every single dish, and to sweep the floor of all crumbs.

It's bad, folks. We've got ants up the ying yang. There's gotta be a million of them on Pearl's property.

Good Lordy Moses and Great Googly Moogly. I don't want to have to call an exterminator because then the house will be filled with poison, which won't be good for me or Pearl, who is 94. So believe it or not I am hoping the weather will cool off enough for the ants to chill the heck out.

Me, hoping for cooler weather. Something is wrong with this picture.

Well anyway, down with ants, I say. Man, I am sick of 'em, and God forbid you should ever get them in your walls and floorboards, and saturating your yard. 

I am excited, though, about the extra hour of sleep tomorrow morning. That rules, eh?

See you in church for good singing after the sleep in.  xoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxo  :):)