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DVD review: Lotte Reiniger - The Fairy Tale Films

Before cinema came into being, shadow puppets were the be-all and end-all of hi-tech visual entertainment. Ever since there was a fire and a cave wall, variations on the technique have been delighting (admittedly small) audiences, but only Reiniger's silhouette films carried on the tradition into the new-fangled era of film. After a start making artworks and animation for Paul Wegener and Fritz Lang, Reiniger, almost by happenstance, made the oldest surviving feature-length animated film, The Adventures Of Prince Achmed, in 1926. Later, fleeing from Nazi Germany, she ended up in England and found a sponsor in the General Post Office film department, for which she made most of the short, fairytale films collected here. These are fairytales as they were before Disney got his hands on them - dark, European folk tales with nothing soppy about them. Even though her work reduces images to their very basics, there's incredible grace, complexity and variety to the "performances" of the paper actors. It's impossible to see exactly how she accomplished it - there must have been some sort of magic involved. Also out Hancock Will Smith brings a different breed of superhero - a lazy, drunken one. £19.99, Sony The Mummy: Tomb Of The Dragon Emperor Brendan Fraser faces an undead Jet Li in this effects-heavy but tired-looking revival of the action franchise. £19.99, Universal I Served The King Of England Comical odyssey of a diminutive wartime Czech, from 1960s new wave hero Jiri Menzel. £15.99, Arrow Films Steve Coogan: Complete Coogan The comic's TV creations all together, including Alan Partridge, Saxondale, Paul Calf and Tony Ferrino. £69.99, 2 Entertain DVD and video reviews (read more)