What Makes the Oldest Animated Movie a Timeless Classic? | Animated 100

[@ModernMouse]

Join the conversation over on Discord - tinyurl.com/2p8b9a8z If you are interested in watching The Rugrats Movie prior to the next video, I watched it for free on Pluto TV but it is also available to stream on Paramount+ if you have it.

[@The_Epopt]

Wild Thornberrys is wildly underrated and the Rugrats meeting Wild Thornberrys is absolute gold.

[@aaronfletcher8745]

Admittedly, I haven't watched this channel for a couple years, but you've got me back with this series. I first watched The Adventures of Prince Achmed last year not long after subscribing to The Criterion Channel. My main takeaway from the experience is that the animation is super cool looking. As for my recommendations for this series, check out Fantastic Planet (1973), a French-Czechoslovakian co-production, and the classic Hungarian animated film Son of the White Mare (1981). I am also really into silent films, so I would recommend, if you haven't already, watching The Phantom Carriage (1921), a hugely influential Swedish film that, in my opinion, holds up immensely over a century later.

[@ModernMouse]

Welcome back to Modern Mouse! Happy to have you. I'll definitely watch The Phantom Carriage. As far as the recommendations, we will see what happens when I spin the wheel to select one. Interesting picks!

[@xEmmaberryx]

Feels like perfect timing as I'm reworking my phd proposal on stop-motion animation, sound and the uncanny (slowly getting there with it!). Some recommendations based off my recent viewings: Phil Tippet's Mad God, and Jan Svankmajer's Alice. They're not my favourites, but they deserve as much attention as some of the more mainstream animations.

[@ModernMouse]

I saw Mad God in a theater when it first came out. I think it was me and 5 other people, but we were all into it. The backstory is much more interesting than the film. Still haven't seen Alice. Both of these are great shouts!

[@Zotch]

This is such a beautifully animated film. Really enjoyed your thoughtful breakdown of it. I'd love to see you do another movie that has a history that involves cut out animation, South Park: Bigger, Longer and Uncut. It would probably be best to do it later in the list being that it's a great parody of the Ashman/Menken Disney films. You could tell they had a passion for that musical theater style that started in Cannibal the Musical and eventually led to The Book of Mormon on Broadway. I'd argue you can thank Stan and Kyle for bringing us Josh Gad's Olaf.

[@ModernMouse]

I love your transition from this film to South Park. What a completely opposite film choice!

[@rubensalvador9422]

I would love if you can review or breakdown movies like Alakazam the Great, Fantasia, Gulliver's Travels, Snow Queen, Animal Farm, the Point, Yellow Submarine, Wizards, Heavy Metal, Waltz with Bashir, Fantastic Planet, American Pop, Secret of NIMH, Secret of the Kells, and Grave of the Fireflies.

[@hughmongus6191]

Please review The Snow Queen (The 1957 Soyuzmultfilm movie)

[@ModernMouse]

Good shout

[@rubensalvador9422]

Love your analysis on Adventures of Prince Achmed! I like this movie's artistic style. I am very curious if you have heard or seen stuff from Tom Hatten (RIP). He used to host a Popeye show and a Family Film Festival in the LA local channel back in the 70s and 80s, before retiring. I was introduced to a bunch of movies like the live action Pippi Longstocking and particularly animated films like the 1972 Italian movie "Un burattino di nome Pinocchio" (AKA the Adventures of Pinocchio); the 1957 Snow Queen; Gay Purr-ee; 1939s Gulliver's Travels; Hoppity Goes to Town (a very Capra-esque type story) among others.

[@ModernMouse]

I'm much newer to the Los Angeles area. I moved here a few years ago, so Hatten hadn't been around for a long time and I wasn't familiar with him. Sounds like a quality host though and glad you got introduced to so much. I saw all of your suggestions. I'll see if any rise up. I know a few of them have already been suggested by others so the possibility for those are greater!

[@Monkeyboy1138]

I remember the first time I watched the Adventures of Prince Achmed 23 years ago at art school - in the days when we had to borrow physical video tapes or film reels from the university library - it was a wild experience. As dated as a lot of the movie is culturally, the simple graphic beauty is pretty unique. So glad that you reminded me of it. Here’s a recommendation, Yellow Submarine. It would be fab if you could do that one at some point. Gear.

[@ModernMouse]

Not the first person to recommend Yellow Submarine, nor the only Beatles animated film to be recommended. I didn't realize The Beatles would be such a popular recommendation.

[@Monkeyboy1138]

@@ModernMouse I guess because of their place in pop culture as a whole. If you get the chance to head to the Hard Rock in Vegas, they have some original animation cells on the walls…at least last time I visited.

[@ModernMouse]

Interesting! I think I've seen some Beatles animation cells at a gallery in Hollywood as well. Might go back and check in to see if they are still there.

[@Mal-go5dl]

This is definitely a movie worth revisiting. I liked it fine enough the first watch, but I'm not sure I fully appreciated it. And as an Arab it's nice to see some Middle Eastern representation, even though in this case, it's rooted in some stereotypes, but I suppose that was par for the course at the time. Love how even a century later, this film looks amazing and stands out due to its unique style. It's aged quite well. I'm also pleasantly surprised to learn a woman was behind the wheel. It seems like a great achievement for the time, which makes it more frustrating when women deal with difficulties in the industry these days, like when Pixar replaced Brenda Chapman on Brave. Anyway, I'm enjoying this series so far, and I'm once again nominating Felidae for the list :)

[@Thomas_H._Smith]

I'm so glad you decided to include and review The Adventures of Prince Achmed. It is such a beautiful and important film that should be remembered and cherished for all. However, I implore you to reconsider the rating you gave for the music and sound. I don't know what print of the film you saw, but pretty much all versions of the film one finds today have just one score, and that score is the original. Yes, this movie came out in the silent era before the invention of synchronized soundtracks for film, but quite often composers would write scores to be followed along by the orchestra and played live specifically for the film, take the score for Charlie Chaplin's The Kid which he wrote himself for example. Most films wouldn't be shown with just some random music, they would be shown with an original composition written specifically for the film the audience was watching, and Achmed is no exception. The score one hears on modern releases of the film, including the one you linked to, isn't some music that someone wrote years later to go along with it, it is a recording of the original soundtrack written for the film by it's composer Wolfgang Zeller for it's original release back in 1926. The film was always meant to be watched while listening to that music, which you must admit is some pretty bad ass music. In fact, this film could even be seen as pretty revolutionary as it actually features some early attempts of syncing sound and picture. For some scenes, Reiniger and Zeller would work closely together to decide the score for a specific scene, and then Reiniger would animate the scene to have the action follow the music beats, such as the scene where the Emperor of China's jester plays the bells, and when it would be played back with the score live the actions would synch up perfectly, movie magic. This was a great review, and I'm sorry if I came off as nagging, but to give this film a zero for music by saying, "It has no score." Is not only an injustice to the magnificent score, but it's also just straight up untrue.

[@hughmongus6191]

I was going to mention what about "Little Nemo " & "Gertie the Dinosuar"', but those are shorts.

[@ModernMouse]

I've thought of talking about Gertie the Dinosaur, not for this series, but as a historical video essay some time down the line.

[@OkayYaraman]

Interesting. I studied animation and don’t remember hearing about this one. Very cool style. Thanks for highlighting this piece of history!

[@ModernMouse]

To be honest, it's pretty new to me as well. I've mostly been familiar with American (and some Japanese) animation so anything outside of that is something I've had to learn in recent years working on this channel.

[@Flubberduckie]

Recommendations; bambi and ferngully (with bambi I’m specifically nominating it for the background art) fergully is just a classic imo of my generation lol

[@ModernMouse]

I like the specifics!

[@sillybillybear50]

The footage you showed looks gorgeous. I’m excited to give this a watch sometime (I want to potentially catch up with the series, I happened to come across your Felidae video the other day)

[@glazdarklee1683]

(Please note that I wrote this before I watched this video so as to avoid being influenced. But I freely admit that after watching the video I am delighted that my take is eerily similar.) I had never heard of this movie, so very much appreciate being made aware of it. I watched the version with English subtitles because my high-school German couldn't keep up with the original. That said, I did play the version with the music at the same time in a separate window, which kept things interesting. (BTW - once, many years ago, I saw a silent movie in Palo Alto accompanied by the "Mighty Wurlitzer Organ." It was very cool. But I digress.) Anyway, the technical expertise on display is very impressive, especially with the knowledge that this was all done with the equivalent of razor blades and card stock. The story was interesting enough, although it's hard to get nuanced performance from shadow puppets. I found some of the obvious stereotyping off-putting, but I've seen far worse. Also, I would put money that the makers of "Aladin" saw the "fetching the lamp" section. Overall, I think this clearly belongs in the top 100. Thanks again for bringing it to my attention.

[@ModernMouse]

Incredible analysis!

[@vincegiangiulio1160]

Examine 1939’s Gulliver’s Travels by Disney’s biggest competitor in the 30’s Fleischer Studios. The same company that gave us beloved characters Betty Boop & Popeye the Sailor among others. The 2nd U.S. Animated feature 2 years after Snow White.

[@Sasi-ex5yn]

This is a Disney-themed channel, so Matt Groening and Quentin Tarantino are more fitting.

[@gugurupurasudaikirai7620]

Oldest surviving full length animated movie at least, I know of three from 1915-1917 but they are all lost so no point trying to review them. World War I didn't do the early days of animation any favors. The Weimar Republic was a fascinating time in cinema that made some big strides, this movie included. This would be only one year before Fritz Lang's visual masterpiece Metropolis. If you want an eclectic animated suggestion I'll suggest Fritz the Cat which in 1972 was the first ever X rated animated movie. Or if you want an animated movie that's actually good The Secret of NIMH (1982)

[@ModernMouse]

I feel as though I had to explain that it was the oldest surviving near the beginning. You are correct that we can't really look at those other films. Great picks for the list though. I'm going to need to start randomizing what comes up somehow.

[@outoturri2044]

Fritz Lang's metropolis film is so underrated😭 i really see that the special effects in that movie were so glorious and well done if you consider that the movie is NEARLY 100 year old

[@gugurupurasudaikirai7620]

@@outoturri2044 It's old enough it hit public domain 18 months ago. When he said he was on a silent kick I figured I should mention one of the all timers. One of the first full length sci-fi films, probably the most visually spectacular silent movie period, and also a pretty interesting watch today to see a movie released in early 1927 that's set in the year 2026. It's a shame Lang never had the freedom to make such a lavish movie in the US after he fled Germany, most of his US movies are forgotten

[@The_Epopt]

I haven't watched it in 20yrs but I frequently think about that Ringo Starr movie-The Point. Maybe not top 100 but it definitely close

[@ModernMouse]

A unique contribution!

[@cammybaby01]

Would love you to evaluate Dot and the Kangaroo, Australian film from the 70s

[@ModernMouse]

I like that this is outside of the box

[@PandaJohn71]

I feel like this and any other silent films should be rated out of 40 and have their audio rating as na

[@ModernMouse]

It would give it an advantage, but I do think that this will be the only silent film from the silent era. Any other animated film that doesn't have dialogue still ends up having a soundtrack and sound effects. So really, it would just be this one film that got the special treatment.