The Adventures of Prince Achmed (1926)
aka Die Abenteuer des Prinzen Achmed
Article 5630 by Dave Sindelar
Date: 2-12-2019
Directed by Lotte Reiniger and Carl Koch
No cast
Country: Germany
What it is: Arabian nights in silhouette animation

An evil sorcerer creates a magical flying horse in an attempt to claim the daughter of a Caliph for his own. The Caliph’s son, Prince Achmed, tries to prevent the scheme, but is spirited away by the flying horse. Can he prevent the sorcerer from prevailing?

This may well be the first feature-length animated movie, a good ten years before SNOW WHITE AND THE SEVEN DWARFS. I suspect the reason its historical significance is often overlooked is due to the fact that Lotte Reiniger and her silhouette animations are consigned to the fringes of the medium; despite Reiniger’s animation skills, the style never really became popular. The story is a compendium of Arabian Nights cliches, and I suspect a few stories were conflated into the mix; Aladdin and his lamp make appearances in the second half of the movie. I think this movie is well worth seeing; Reiniger’s animation is evocative and capable of expressing real emotion, which is quite surprising when your figures are only silhouettes. No, it will never achieve the fame of Disney’s accomplishments, but it earns its place in the history of animation.

The Adventures of Mark Twain (1944)
Article 5629 by Dave Sindelar
Date: 2-4-2019
Directed by Irving Rapper
Featuring Fredric March, Alexis Smith, Donald Crisp
Country: USA
What it is: Biopic

The life of Mark Twain is shown.

Let’s get the fantastic content out of the way first. The movie is being told by the spirit of Mark Twain, and miniature versions of some of his characters appear at one point. Furthermore, Tom, Huck and Jim appear as friends of Twain in his early years, which seems to imply they’re real people rather than fictional creations. Then there’s a final scene where Twain accompanies his fictional characters to heaven. Though this all remains a bit on the marginal side, the content is nonetheless there.

As for the movie itself, it’s an entertaining enough biopic on the great 19th century humorist, and it’s anchored by an excellent performance by Fredric March in the title role; his Twain always feels like a real human being. Early on in the movie I had to remind myself of a rule I follow whenever I see a Hollywood movie based on true events, and that was not to expect or demand accuracy; the movie is full of neatly-contrived scenes that feel much more like creations from a Hollywood writer than like anything that really happened, and some of the user comments on IMDB imply that the movie is rife with inaccuracies. Still, if it’s accuracy you want, you’re better off with a well-researched biography. Take the movie as a tribute to the man, and you’ll be much more satisfied by it. I do have one caveat; though many of his books are mentioned, I found no reference to his work with the most marked fantastic content, A CONNECTICUT YANKEE IN KING ARTHUR’S COURT.

The Adventures of * (1957)
aka The Adventures of an Asterisk
Article 5628 by Dave Sindelar
Date: 1-26-2019
Directed by John Hubley
No cast
Country: USA
What it is: Animated short

A little asterisk takes a frolicking, fun-loving approach to life, despite the scorn of his fuddy-duddy father. However, the asterisk ages and becomes a father himself…. but will he lose his sense of wonder and love of life?

Though there’s plenty of abstract imagery in this animated short, the primary fantastic content is, of course, an anthropomorphized punctuation symbol. However, it should be pointed out that the story itself doesn’t require that the hero be a punctuation symbol; it would work just the same if the hero was a human being, which is pretty much what the anthropomorphism accomplishes. Nevertheless, it’s a fun and enjoyable short, and the jazz soundtrack (from Benny Carter and Lionel Hampton) is excellent. I’m also glad to say that it chose the ending I didn’t expect rather than the one it seemed to be pointing to; it’s nice to have an upbeat story that buoys you up.

The Adventure (1972)
aka Kuang feng sha, The Iron Fist Adventure
Article 5623 by Dave Sindelar
Date: 1-21-2019
Directed by Su Li
Featuring Jimmy Wang Yu, Paul Chang Chung, Yeh Tien
Country: Taiwan
What it is: Martial Arts Action Adventure

A captain of the 6th Union Brotherhood vows revenge for a massacre in which his former captain was killed. He finds himself embroiled in a conspiracy for possession of Manka House.

Sometimes cultural differences make it a bit difficult for me to say whether a movie I see has authentic fantastic content. This one is listed in the Walt Lee guide as having “mystic martial arts”, but personally, I didn’t find any overt mysticism in the martial arts on display here. I do wonder if the action takes place in some sort of fantasy world; despite the fact that most of the movie seems to take place in a period setting of some sort, the guns in use look surprisingly modern, and seem out of place. The plot is a bit confusing, but it’s one of those movies that seem primarily to exist for its action set pieces, and those are passable if not inspired. Still, the movie’s English title deserves an award for the most generically titled movie I’ve covered for this series since THE SHOW.

Adebar (1957)
Article 5622 by Dave Sindelar
Date: 1-18-2019
Directed by Peter Kubelka
Cast unknown
Country: Austria
What it is: Experimental film

Music plays while we see people dancing and still scenes in silhouette and/or in reverse image.

I rather enjoy delving into some of these experimental films, although it must be said that many of them only qualify as fantastic by dint of their being decidedly non-realistic. However, I can understand others having no use for them or hating them. In this case, I’m willing to bet that some people find the weird repeating musical riff that fills the soundtrack of this one to be grating and unpleasant. They can be grateful that the movie is only two and a half minutes long, but even I have to admit that this one gets old at about the halfway mark, especially when I noticed that certain of the images keep repeating themselves. And in a movie this length, there’s really no reason to have the credits repeated twice. Still, that’s part of the adventure of exploring experimental films.

Achooo Mr. Kerrooschev (1960)

Article 5621 by Dave Sindelar

Date: 1-17-2019
Directed by Stan Vanderbeek
Featuring Nikita Khrushchev
Country: USA
What it is: Experimental collage animation

No real plot; just bizarre images.

For the record, Nikita Khrushchev does not appear in this experimental short as an actor. However, photos of him (usually of his head) are featured prominently throughout the film. The second thought that ran through my head as I watched this was that I don’t suspect Mr. Vanderbeek is particularly fond of Mr. Khrushchev. That’s not to say that there is anything wrong with that; it’s just that the animation mostly consists of Khrushchev’s head appearing in place of someone else in a series of photos, and is only chased off when a hammer shows up to pound on him, and this certainly does not indicate (to me, at least) any great affection for the man. Of course, since this was my SECOND thought upon seeing the short, you’re probably wondering about my first thought. Well, that was that of all the things I’ve seen so far, this short bears a striking resemblance to the Terry Gilliam animations in “Monty Python’s Flying Circus”; you could add this short to any one of their TV episodes and it would look perfectly in place. I do wonder if Gilliam had seen any of Vanderbeek’s work prior to his work with the comedy group.

Abra Kadabra (1957)
Article 5620 by Dave Sindelar
Date: 1-16-2019
Directed by Dusan Vukotic
No cast
Country: Yugoslavia
What it is: Animated short

When a child dusting a bookshelf opts for a science fiction book to read instead of an old magic primer, a magician arises from the latter book and engages in a display of his abilities… only to find himself in competition with modern technology.

With a lowly 5.0 rating on IMDB (albeit from only six voters), this animated short doesn’t appear to have much of a reputation. I, however, was quite taken by it, at least partially because it illustrates a concept that (I think) first originated from science fiction writer Arthur C. Clarke, who said that a truly advanced technology would seem like magic. The magician seems to be from the time of the Arabian Nights, and he is quite startled to see some of his tricks being mimicked much more effectively by modern appliances such as radios, telephones, televisions, elevators and airplanes. The cartoon does go on a bit too long, and the ending isn’t quite satisfying, but I find it charming and interesting.

Ancient Fistory (1953)
Article 5615 by Dave Sindelar
Date: 12-29-2018
Directed by Seymour Kneitel
Featuring the voices of Jackson Beck, Jack Mercer, Mae Questel
Country: USA
What it is: Popeye Cartoon

Popeye wants to go to the ball to meet the princess, but evil stepfather Bluto won’t let him. Can Popeye’s fairy godfather fix things for him?

For the record, it looks like Popeye beat Jerry Lewis to the Cinderfella name by a decade. As you may have figured, this is a gender-reverse telling of the Cinderella story, which is easily the most clever thing about the cartoon. But once you get beyond that, this is pretty much the usual Popeye cartoon of the fifties with a few extra trappings, such as the archaic phrasing jokes. But by imitating a fairy tale, it does add to the fantastic content with a fair amount of magical happenings. Still, despite the gimmick, this one isn’t really all that special.

The Arctic Giant (1942)
Article 5599 by Dave Sindelar
Date: 12-17-2018
Directed by Dave Fleischer and Willard Bowsky
Featuring the voices of Bud Collyer, Joan Alexander, Jackson Beck
Country: USA
What it is: Fleischer Superman short

When the refrigeration unit on a giant frozen dinosaur goes on the fritz, the beast thaws out and goes on a rampage. Can Superman stop him?

Here’s another helping of typical Superman thrills, and though it’s colorful and well animated, I do wish a little care was taken with some of the other aspects of the production. For one thing, it would have been nice if the dinosaur had indeed resembled the Tyrannosaurus it’s supposed to be rather than a snaggle-toothed generic dinosaur. It would also have been nice if Lois Lane hadn’t been quite as dim-witted about getting into danger; with a rampaging dinosaur on the loose, there’s no point in her pointlessly putting herself in peril. Maybe Superman should have defeated the dinosaur first rather than rescued her from the rubble of the museum. Still, since I’m more of a dinosaur fan than a superhero fan, this one has a little more appeal for me.

Abstronic (1952)
Article 5589 by Dave Sindelar
Date: 11-29-2018
Directed by Mary Ellen Bute and Ted Nemeth
No cast
Country: USA
What it is: Abstract animation

Animation is displayed to pieces by Aaron Copland and Don Gillis.

I’ve just done one short; I might as well do another, only this time I’m returning to the realm of abstract animation. This one is fairly energetic, at least partially because the two musical pieces (both of which sound quite a bit like “Turkey in the Straw”) are lively and fun. As usual with this type of short, I don’t really have much to say about it other than it held my attention for its six-minute running time, and maybe that’s all we can expect from an abstract short.