The Sound of Silents

In conjunction with the Harry Ransom Center's ongoing exhibit The Persian Sensation: The Rubáiyát of Omar Khayyám in the West (on display through Aug. 2), the HRC kicks off the Orientalist Silents film series Thursday night.

The first two films of the free series feature two of silent cinema's most adored leading men, The Sheik's Rudoph Valentino (whom H.L. Mencken called "catnip to women") and The Thief of Bagdad's Douglas Fairbanks. But it's the last film in the series – the one without any actors at all – that'll knock your socks off. Lotte Reiniger's shadow art film The Adventures of Prince Achmed, an adaptation of The Arabian Nights, is believed to be the first ever full-length animated film. A visual stunner, Achmed is all bendy bodies and filigreed landscapes. And remarkably expressive, too, considering the entire film is rendered in (a sometimes very creepy) silhouette.

The Sheik screens Thursday, June 11, at 7pm. For more info, go here.