Inspiring The Magic Flute: A Shorts Program

The Magic Flute is the first opera created by the celebrated British theatrical group 1927, whose innovative interpretation of Mozart’s classic combines animations and a visual style heavily indebted to silent film. To coincide with Komische Oper Berlin’s production of The Magic Flute, the Philadelphia Film Society presents two classic films that influenced the opera’s visual style, as well as several works by 1927’s Co-Artistic Director and chief animator Paul Barritt.

Tickets: $13

The Adventures of Prince Achmed
Lotte Reiniger | Germany | 1926 | 95 minutes
Often cited as the first full-length animated film, this dazzling fable is the crowning achievement of one of early cinema’s greatest visionaries: German filmmaker Lotte Reiniger. Adapting a swashbuckling tale from The Arabian Nights, Reiniger conjures cinematic magic using her trademark silhouette animation. This newly restored version features hand-tinted slides and orchestral score.

One Week
Buster Keaton, Edward F. Kline | USA | 1921 | 19 minutes
In One Week, two newlyweds face numerous, hilarious mishaps as they attempt to build a house from a do-it-yourself kit. This slapstick masterpiece is a tour-de-force of physical comedy and ingenious production design.

White Morning
Paul Barritt | UK | 2014 | 12 minutes
1927’s award-winning short film is a poetic, funny, and ultimately nightmarish look at the havoc wreaked by a group of fiendish little boys. Using a combination of hand-drawn animation and vintage photos to capture a bygone era, director Paul Barritt conjures a spirit of childhood innocence laced with the threat of violence.

Cat & Mouse Cartoons
Paul Barritt | UK | 2017
1927’s Co-Artistic Director Paul Barritt created these riffs on early animation with this selection of darkly comic cartoons about good-natured Krazy Kat and the nefarious mouse Ignatz. Each short is accompanied by an original musical score.