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The original Prince of Persia is a reminder that this series has always been lost inside time

A look back at the strange appeal of the original Prince of Persia.

With its bold, expressive gestures, its side-on view of the action and its emphasis on clarity and selling the physical reality of each moment, it's hard not to look at Prince of Persia in motion and think of silent movies and the early days of cinema. It's not just that blonde heroes and evil viziers were safe staples back then, it's that slapstick and melodrama ruled, as did "bits of business" formed of an understanding of cause and effect, momentum and collision that was clear to both the creators and the audience enjoying it all. You know, like the family members who provided the movements that Mechner filmed and turned into sprites, and - just learned this - the ghosts of Errol Flynn and Basil Rathbone, whose celluloid sword fighting was translated into the Prince's own lunges and parries.

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