UK/US Import Friendly?
Disc Region: Yes if you are in the UK or Europe. No elsewhere, unless you have a multi-region player. The Blu-ray is locked to Code B, and the DVD is locked to Region 2.
DVD Video Format: PAL. (US viewers should ensure compatibility before ordering.)
Language: Yes. The feature contains reconstructions of the original German intertitles, but has the option of English subtitles and/or English voiceover narration. The extras are either presented in English, or with German intertitles and optional English subtitles.
[Note: Images are taken from the DVD, rather than the Blu-ray.]
The worldwide success of Disney has often led people to assume that the studio pioneered many more things than it actually did. There are a surprising number of animation history textbooks – and even the documentary Il était une fois Walt Disney, recently reviewed on this site – which state that Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs (1937) was the very first animated feature film. In actuality, The Adventures of Prince Achmed (1926) preceded Disney by over a decade.1 The film is also notable for having a female director, Lotte Reiniger (which is sadly still something of a rarity in contemporary Hollywood production). What is perhaps most striking about Prince Achmed, though, is its use of silhouette animation. Rather than using the prevalent method of painting onto translucent cels, Reiniger created models out of cardboard and lit them from below, creating the illusion of elaborate shadow figures bounding around the screen.
