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LOTTE REINIGER’S SILHOUETTES Abhijit Ghosh Dasitidar Lotte Reiniger (1899-1981), who was born in Berlin-Charlottenburg, made about forty silhouette films, distinct from animated cartoons. Silhouettes of persons, viewed in direct profile, intermingle with short and long shadows, depending on the light. Dating back to China of 11th Century AD, shadow plays, assisted by moving figures operated on small rods, have been an ancient art form. Invention of animated films, avoided recourse to controlling rods. Using tracing paper and cardboard, Reiniger used scissors to cut her figures, and breathe life into inanimate paper.The cutting strokes provided the figures with characters. As the gaunt sorcerer, the plump good natured witch, and the obese, power conscious emperor are caught in motion, against a background of light and shadow, assigned roles lucidity emerge. The flexible figures are placed
on a glass plate, which is illuminated from below. Mounted above a glass
plate, the camera traverses the small images, and records each picture.
Beauty and charm engulf the twenty four individual frames per second.The
figures are filmed with an animation stand apparatus.The profile figures are
reinforced in Reiniger's silhouettes. Clear ideas guide the planned action
introduced in profiles. The stroryboard conveys the requirement of figures
and sceneries. The action in the scenes and the accompanying sound effects
are related by the written manuscript scenario. The scenery gives support to
the story. Tracking shots encompass the entire action which takes place in
profile and a large field of panoramic view. The camera being in a fixed
position, the entire scenery is moved past the camera. The natural movement
of the figures is harmonized by the background music and rhythm. Sound film
helped Reiniger analyse the music of Mozart and Bizet. Built on the Arabian tales of the ''The thousand and one Nights'' Reiniger's ''The Adventures of Prince Achmad'' (Germany, 1923-26, 65 mins), is possibly the earliest full-length feature animated film in cinema history. The Caliph is endeared to the magical flying horse of a powerful sorcerer. But the ugly sorcerer would like to marry Dinarsade, the beautiful daughter of the Caliph. Achmad, Dinar sade's brother drives out the Sorcerer and rides the horse through the star filled sky. Prince Achmad descends on an island Wak Wak, and has a romantic encounter with Pari Banu, the beautiful ruler of Wak Wak. They ride the magical horse through far away countries. The revengeful sorcerer offers Pari Banu to the Emperor of China. When she declines, she is offered to the emperor's hunchback servant. A good hearted witch frees chained Prince Achmad, in a desolate volcanic area. Together they save Pari Banu from the court of the Chinese emperor. With Aladin's magic lamp they defeat an octopus and the sorcerer. In the Silhouette film the characters are invented, drawn, cut out, given flexibility and mobility, illuminted, moved and filmed. Assisted by Carl Koch, Watther Ruttman, Bertold Bartosch, Alexander Kardan and Watter Turck, Reiniger brings alive the fairy tales in the silhouette cinema images of oriental fantasies and miracles. |
''Dr Dolittle and his animals''
(Germany, 1928) consists of stories by Hugh Lofting. ''Part I: A trip to
Africa" (9 mins) portrays Dr Dolittle living with animals on a coast. A
swallow informs him of a serious disease amongst apes in Africa. Voyage to Africa
is stormy and the doctor's ship is smashed on rocky archipelago. Dr Dolittle
and his animals are captured by natives in ''Part 2: In Cannibal Land'' (8
mins). A parrot escapes, and the doctor and his animals are saved from a
gorge, by the apes who form a suspension bridge. In ''Part 3 : In the Lion's
Den'' (8 mins), the doctor treats gorillas and monkeys. The lion king is
calmed, when the doctor removes a thorn from the paw of a baby lion. The
sceneries are placed in the same foreground as doctor and the animal figures,
who keep moving on the same sequences. ''Papageno'' (Germany, 1935, 11
mins) is from Mozart's ‘Magic Flute', where Papageno is the happy bird
catcher, who dreams of beautiful women. His dream girl, Papagena runs away
from a snake, and he is again sad. Parrots rescue Papageno, as birds lay
large eggs, from which hatch Papagenos and Papagenas, to the strains of
Mozart's music. Motifs from Bizet's opera form
the script of ''Carmen'' (Germany, 1933, 9 mins). Beguiled Don Jos loses his
clothes to Carmen in a shady camp, which Carmen trades for a lace gown. Don
Jos finds Carmen in a bull fight ring. The bull ignores the toreros, and
performs acrobatics before Carmen. In the parody opera, the figures and their
movements harmonize with the music. ''The Grasshopper and the Ant''
(Britain, 1954, 10 mins) shows a grasshopper fidding a violin and dancing,
amid a summer field of flowers, while a busy ant makes provisions for winter.
Soon winter arrives, and the ant sits in a warm and cosy room, while the
grasshopper is faced with cold and hunger. A mouse searching for firewood,
discovers the ailing grasshopper, and provides shelter. The grasshopper plays his fiddle and the ant looks for
company. The insects and animals express themselves through variations of the
profile. An Arabian fairy tale
background re-emerges in ''Caliph Stork''(Britain, 1954, 10mins). Sorecerer
Kashnur transforms the Caliph of Baghdad into a stork, with magic powder and
mysterious words. The Caliph and his grand vizier laugh while witnessing a
stork ballet, and forget the magic words. A princess transformed to an owl,
learns the magic word from a gathering of sorcerers. The good storks and the
owl return as human being, and lock up the metamorphosed Kashnur stork, into
a cage. The fairy tale motifs govern the figures of the humans and the
animals, and also their movements. ''The Sleeping Beauty''
(Britain, 1954, 10 mins) portrays the king's daughter under spells and
prophesies. The princess is pricked by the spindle of a spinning wheel of an
old woman in a tower. The princess falls asleep, and thick hedges grow around
the castle. After a hundred years the princess is brought to life by a kiss
from a young prince. As the court awakens and the thorns wither, there is a
grand wedding. The film ends with cheerfulness without sentimentality. ''The Art of Lotte Reiniger'' (UK, 1953/1971, 16 mins) is an essay film, where Reiniger speaks to the camera and explains the subtle production methods and steps of a silhouette film, in black and white, or colour. The package of expressive films by Lotte Reiniger were recently screened in the Goethe-Institute Max Mueller Bhavan circuit. |