The Fabulous Baron Munchausen
The Fabulous Baron Munchausen
| 21 September 1962 (USA)
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The 20th century's first man lands on the moon and discovers - that Baron Munchausen has already beaten him to it, along with Cyrano and characters from Jules Verne's lunar-landing novel. The Baron spirits the young cosmonaut by horse-drawn ship back to an ancient "Earth", where they insult a sultan, rescue a princess, fall in love with the princess, and then as a trio have further experiences in a world of pastel colors, ornate dreamlike settings, and the inevitable angry disrupters of peacefulness and love.

Reviews
Platicsco

Good story, Not enough for a whole film

TaryBiggBall

It was OK. I don't see why everyone loves it so much. It wasn't very smart or deep or well-directed.

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Griff Lees

Very good movie overall, highly recommended. Most of the negative reviews don't have any merit and are all pollitically based. Give this movie a chance at least, and it might give you a different perspective.

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Billy Ollie

Through painfully honest and emotional moments, the movie becomes irresistibly relatable

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johcafra

I agree: Get this Stateside, somehow. I was lucky to view a German-marketed Region 2 DVD, opting to hear the Czech dialogue with English subtitles, some of which were embarrassingly fleeting. I may next opt to listen to it in German...I learned of Zeman as a youth with the occasional broadcast of "The Fabulous World of Jules Verne" (in a word, fabulous). This retelling of select tales of Baron Munchausen appeared with the next highest recommendation from fellow users.It's a retelling with great style and no small amount of innovation. It had to have influenced the animation of Terry Gilliam among many others. Principally stop-motion, occasionally mixed with cel animation and live action, and an at-times monochrome background likely changed by hand. Of course the style is dated but well suited for a dated story, and therein lies the film's timeless charm.Familiarity with the tales may slow the viewer's perception of the film's pace. The sandwiched sequence is also familiar: The visit to the Sultan's palace; escape to the sea, getting swallowed by a whale and keeping company in its cavernous gut; and the comical resolution of a battle between warring European powers.What's unfamiliar is an opening and ending with a cosmonaut who meets other fabled travelers to the Moon and eventually wins the hand of a lovely princess on whom the Baron also has designs. But I frankly need re-view and determine just how the princess dismounts from "Tony's" swimming horse while he goes straight to another island...Genuine wit, some of it very dry and some mixed with slapstick, helps bridge if not punctuate the FX. ("Jules Verne" doesn't have as much.) An imaginative musical score that verges on the wacky. And acting that is refreshingly relaxed and subdued. This Baron is no blow-hard but so innately gallant that he just can't help but rely upon his most powerful weapon...his imagination...to repeatedly save the day.The film is perhaps not for the children unless one or both parents are around to help explain the historical context, the action, and its decidedly off-the-track pace. But it's a durable treat nonetheless.

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Jouni Heinonen

Very affective fantasy world with great colors. This movie wouldn't be anything without Karel Zeman. He brings the story to life with his interesting animation mixed with the filmed material. I can't say that the movie is all good or the best of Zeman, but you really can rest your eyes on the screen. Gilliam's version of the story is possibly a little better, but as these are so different, you can't really compare.Zeman's Sinbad the Sailor short films are much more important to me than this one. Their story is more interesting and the animation even more fun. Anyways..this movie is about a mysterious Baron who have been through all the exciting adventures and he tells about them.

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gott-1

"Baron Munchausen" ("Baron Prasil" in Czech) is one of the most charming and poetic movies among those thousands which I saw ...It is that very rare kind of movie I love to see for dozen and dozen of times, in virtually any mood and time ...Old illustrations by Gustave Dore brought to life by an unforgettable visual imagination of Karel Zeman ...Everything dressed in a soft melancholy of an enchanting music by great Zdenek Liska, so simple and sophisticated at the same time...Though Zeman is mostly painting his magic world by his unique visual creativity, those able to understand the Czech dialogues get another lovely dimension, inhabited by fine jokes and never-tiring games with words...And of course, Milos Kopecky as the Baron is the very symbol and soul of Munchausen ...An essential classic movie for every true film fan (not recommended for nervous consumers and victims of Hollywood moneymakers, however).How much those modern versions of Munchausen (and whatever are their modifications and names) miss the point of this magic Zeman's version: its fundamental visual craftsmanship, soft melancholy of a fable, an inspired music, and everything in a perfect union ...How poor and tedious is 99.99% of that Hollywood stuff in comparison with this Zeman's masterpiece ...No, they cannot do such a movie any more with all those naturalistic computer tricks, but a total lack of Karel Zeman's insight and visual poetry...

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BugEye

Probably the most charming of the filmic adaptations of Raspe's 'Baron Munchausen". Czech animator Zeman creates a wonderland by combining live actors, animated models, and old prints to relate the Baron's marvelous adventures. A tour de force of the visual imagination.

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