Anyone who has ever seen the animated film "The Adventures of
Prince Achmed" is not likely to forget it. Forget Walt Disney,
forget Pixar, and even forget Warner Bros. "The Adventures of
Prince Achmed" is an example of an animation art form too rarely
attempted and too beautiful to fail on a big scale. Everything
is told in silhouettes; these profiles represent a courageous
milestone in animation. The filmmaker at the center of
silhouette animation's history is Lotte Reiniger. Not only was
Reiniger a revolutionary figure in the world of animation, but
in the entire world of filmmaking. Few women hold the position
of innovator and creative genius the way Reiniger does in the
world of animation. This is not to say other filmmakers had not
attempted to do what "The Adventures of Prince Achmed" does.
Cutouts of profiled silhouettes had been utilized in animated
films before she came along and introduced the world to her
prince, but it was Reiniger who really brought the art form to
its peak. If you could compare