I have tried exactly that. Old Cinema Display (still the silver ones, without the glass) with a brand new MBP: Doesn't work. The picture flickers a lot (it always changes between picture and black and then picture again...). I suspect that the picture signals of the new MBP are no longer compatible with the old display. With a new screen, it worked for me without any problems with this adapter.

Conclusion: Adapter good, but old Apple display not compatible with new Apple Macbook.