The Ornament of the Lovestruck Heart

Here, in Lotte Reiniger's first film -- she had already done some work for Paul Wegener -- we see the basis of her peculiar form of animation. Although there had been other works that used articulated paper puppets -- certainly Emile Cohl had used the technique, as he had already used every technique of animation -- Reiniger's silhouettes had very involved cuts and a tremendous number of joints. Just look at the way the individual triangles that make up the bower that shelters the lovers shift again and again.

Reiniger's technique would improve and this particular effort is, in light of her later work, little more than a test to determine if the techniques will work. It's beautiful on its own terms, but not a patch on her later work.