The Adventures of Prince Achmed (1926) is a silent silhouette animation by Lotte Reiniger, considered by many to be the first feature-length animated film. Influenced by Georges Méliès (Voyage dans la lune) and Paul Wegener (Der Golem), Reiniger had an astonishing facility with cutting–holding the scissors still in her right hand, and manipulating the paper at lightning speed with her left hand so that the cut always went in the right direction. She drew the storyboards and devised the plots and characters, which were closely linked[1]. William Moritz describes it as “a brilliant feature, a wonderful film full of charming comedy, lyrical romance, vigorous and exciting battles, eerie magic, and truly sinister, frightening evil.”
The score for Prince Achmed again represents a new approach to music for silent film. Combining electronic and acoustic instruments, the score is structured around a pre-recorded score of sampled electronic loops and percussion. Against this, a live band will perform, consisting of two keyboards, soprano saxophone, & trombone. The music is through-composed, seasoned with elements of improvisation, and invokes elements of jazz, blues, minimalism and classical music.
Taken from The Arabian Nights, The Adventure of Prince Achmed tells the story of a wicked sorcerer who tricks Prince Achmed into mounting a magical flying horse and sends the rider off on a flight to his death. But the prince foils the magician’s plan, and soars headlong into a series of wondrous adventures — joining forces with Aladdin and the Witch of the Fiery Mountains, doing battle with the sorcerer’s army of monsters and demons, and falling in love with the beautiful Princess Peri Banu.
The story is one that will appeal to both young and old, with a strong narrative, surprising twists and turns, and beautiful images that inspire awe and wonder. The program runs a little over an hour in length.
“Johnston’s soundtrack adds an extra dimension to the 2D-nature of the animation, with energetic jazz layered over the pre-recorded percussion track that builds up and flows through the film. While Johnston and Reiniger’s compositions are each complex in their own ways, they come together simply and beautifully, stripping animation back to its abstract qualities of light, shadow, image and sound.”
–Anna Madeleine, The Guardian, 19 Jan 2015
(additional media extracts below)
A sample of Prince Achmed with score
Performances include, The 2014 Sydney Vivid Festival, MONA FOMA (Tasmania), The Capital Jazz Project (Canberra), the Parramatta Riverside Theatres and Randwick Town Hall (Sydney).
“…an atmospheric, occasionally hard-edged yet utterly charming film score that is. . . texturally and stylistically diverse. . . any attempts to pigeon-hole Johnston are an exercise in futility. There are consistent themes that run through the score, which explores Gamelan-like tuned percussion, and knotty explorations of both complex counterpoint and irregular meters. Irrespective of the direction(s) he heads to next, it will be well worth keeping a watchful eye out for anything that Johnston pursues.”
–John Kelman, allaboutjazz.com
“If you’ve seen the film, to hear the music is to have the magical images once more dancing before your eyes. … Johnston’s intricate score…deepens the mystery of the images, while highlighting the humour, drama, and, of course, romance. To listen to it while highlighting the humour, drama, and, of course, romance. To listen to it independently of the film to be struck by the breadth of musical ideas that can hurl themselves from zaniness once moment to explosive grooves the next, and on to eerie beauty, while leaving scope for pithy little solos. …worth the cost of admission…”
– John Shand, Sydney Morning Herald, October 29, 2018
“… a joy, with rousing sax & trombone melodies giving way to some sultry organ, before a lazy, hazy trombone solo takes things out to a fiery conclusion… contain a wealth of groove and funky, futuristic samples, synths, and loops, moving parts of the album into almost full blown electronica. For jazz purists, “Alladin’s Tale” is a lovely piece, smoky organ and old school sax/trombone melodies just grabbing the listener and refusing to let go, while closer “Return to the Land of the Mortals” bridges the gap between classic jazz and spacey electronica.”
– Sea of Tranquility
“… referencing soul jazz (two keyboardists!), Tom Waits-ian percussion, and memories of the Penguin Cafe Orchestra.
– Il Manifesto (ITALY)
This is a complex album, one that needs close attention paid to it as the musicians embrace themes which may or may not be repeated, going off in tangents to the original, with trombone often playing a heavy bass part to contrast against the sax. The keyboards and drums are often in the background, with the brass taking centre stage. It is an album the definitely requires repeated listening, as the first time I felt there were certain passages and sections which were passing me by, all of which made far more sense the more time I allowed myself with the album. Well worth investigating…
– Jazz Music Archives (New Zealand)
“…his music for Lotte Reiniger’s classic 1926 silent film The Adventures of Prince Achmed…wakes up a near century-old classic by serving up a fresh aural slice from the mystical past of Arabia in such a manner that it brings to life not just locale, but smell, taste, sound, etc., too. And magically…in a manner that is far from gratuitously Middle Eastern…a refreshing change from almost all attempts to make the soundtrack “authentic” to the setting.”
– Raul da Gama, Jazz da Gama (CANADA)
“Johnston is creating a new perspective for this film, rather than composing music of the era. …Each segment of Johnston’s score stands on its own merit… Anyone who appreciates Johnston’s composing, whether for his bands or earlier soundtracks (including a few unreleased modern-era films), will devour the wide-ranging, free-spirited music heard here.”
–Ken Dryden, NYC Jazz Record
“4/5 stars. …Johnston’s swirling, engaging and frequently cyclic score… heighten and accentuate Prince Achmed’s adventures… Johnston’s themes regularly embody the personality of the movie’s characters. …there is plenty to hear which is enticing, exciting and sometimes enthralling.”
–Doug Simpson, Audio Audition
The score includes both instrumental underscore, and songs and lyrical elements, which are written by librettist, Hilary Bell. These literary elements intersect the film in non-traditional and oblique ways, as does the instrumental music for the film. In addition to songs in the style of classical art song, cabaret, jazz and polka, the singer also sings both composed vocalise passages, and vocal improvisations, scored to the film.
The collaboration between director Tod Browning and silent film actor Lon Chaney was one of the most bizarre and compelling in early film history. Browning, who later became known for the sound films Dracula with Bela Lugosi, and Freaks, was a Hollywood maverick who followed his own obsessions. Chaney, known as “The Man of a Thousand Faces,” specialized in astounding physical transformations in films such as The Hunchback of Notre Dame and The Phantom of the Opera, prompting the joke of the day, “Don’t step on it…it might be Lon Chaney!” In the 1920s they made a series of macabre thrillers together, including The Unholy Three (1925), The Black Bird (1926), and West of Zanzibar (1928), among others.
