If you are reading this because you have seen Lotte Reiniger's DIE ABENTUR DES PRINZEN ACHMED and are wondering if this measures up to that movie, the first animated feature, then the answer is yes. It's Cinderella done in Reiniger's exquisite articulated figures, similar in concept to stop motion. The figure of Cinderella is lovely; those of her step sisters humorously ugly; and the story you already know. Go look at it.
If you don't know Lotte Reiniger's work -- well, I can't think of how you found your way to this review, but here it is: Reiniger's silhouette movies call on you to exercise a totally different aesthetic from any other type of movie you have seen. First of all, they are perfect black and white pictures: the backgrounds are done in shades of grey, but the silhouettes are black, and somehow that draws a discreet shade over the entire movie. One feels as if one is spying on something so beautiful and perfect that it is almost embarrassing, like looking through a keyhole at your parents. There is an intimacy about them that makes you hold your breath, and her silhouettes are so beautifully designed and decorated that they lend an air of delicate beauty to everything about them. So. You know the story of Cinderella and you should go and look at this movie. Right now. Shoo!
