Heute: Papageno

One of Lotte Reiniger’s early silhouette films. Papageno, the happy bird catcher, is lonely all by himself with only the birds for company. He imagines the birds all turn into beautiful women. They disappear but a real woman, Papagena, comes along. When she is frightened away by a snake, Papageno tries to hang himself, but is saved by three parrots. Papagena returns and everything is happy again. Based on Mozart’s “Magic Flute” this film contains music and lyrics only.