Papageno(1935)

A lonely bird-catcher is quite good at his profession-but at romantic pursuits? Those he has to work on a bit...

Leave it to animation auteur Lotte Reiniger to lend her unique form of silhouette animation to Mozart! Papageno, a bird catcher from Mozart’s “The Magic Flute,” idles away the time with his avian companions, fights an undulating snake, and finds love and family happiness through delicate and delightful visuals that parallel the rhythm and expressivity of the accompanying music. As usual, Reiniger's characters are unique, expressive and graceful, the backgrounds are simple and unobtrusive and an unusual amount of action gets packed into this nearly 11 minute feature. I imagine that understanding German would enhance the viewing experience even more, but i've always enjoyed Mozart fine without it, especially the rather touching yet hilarious ending...

As far as I know, no other animator before or since Reiniger has dared tackle Mozart-so I raise my Vienna Roast in appreciation that at least ONE did...B&W, Sound.