A fairy tale cut from paper
The Adventures of Prince Achmed · Lotte Reiniger
Lotte Reiniger made this film in 1926 by cutting figures from black paper and moving them a tiny bit at a time against glowing backgrounds. It tells a tale of a prince, a flying horse, sorcerers and magic, drawn from the Arabian Nights. It is one of the oldest feature-length animated films that survives. The silhouettes are so delicate that they still look like magic.
The Adventures of Prince Achmed (1926), played from the Internet Archive. Public domain in the US.
Prefer the source? Watch at Lotte Reiniger.
Rights and credit. The Adventures of Prince Achmed is public domain in the US. This copy streams from the Internet Archive, so it is presented for US visitors.