Münchhausen (1943)

Good concept, poorly executed.

A different way of telling a story

Entertaining from beginning to end, it maintains the spirit of the franchise while establishing it's own seal with a fun cast

The acting in this movie is really good.

In film history class we were usually shown a silent era German movie followed by Triumph of the Will. This film ought to be included. It is surprising on a few fronts. One is the high production values. Not a cheap movie at all. Even when compared to a US technicolor film of the period, this had a few advantages like real European locations, access to the Venice canals (a movie in colour first?). It could also be the first colour film to show a space-science fiction sequence. The effects were impressive for the time and its clear that the Gilliam version borrowed some fx ideas from this. The often heard assumption that Germany's best film technicians all fled or were killed simply isn't true judging by this. Very colourful film. The language barrier prevented me from judging the comic timing very well but looked as though the performances were on target. As others have pointed out the nudity and sexual talk is rather jarring to see when you think of the US censorship board of the period. Probably the two biggest surprises were the black people(!) and the not so unsubtle digs at the regime. The villain with the moustache talking about invading Poland really came as a surprise. This flies in the face of what I often heard-that Germans were brainwashed by Hitler-clearly there was some dissent judging from this. And it also counters the idea that was put froward in the last 10 years that in war time one doesn't criticize the sitting president. They did in Nazi Germany!

Someone should do a book on the making of this one. It might represent the best blindsiding of the Nazi regime by artists who had scores to settle. I'm always amazed and grateful it made it past the censor. First, the writer, Erich Kastner, was blacklisted, a Jew, and had his books burned by the Nazis. But they were SO desperate for a good writer they got him on board for this. You sense they wanted world distribution....even down to the product placement shot of a Munchausen children's book Albers is holding before the flashback. Hans Albers, the Brad Pitt of his day, was forced to give up his Jewish girlfriend, Hansi Berg, and work for the Nazis. He sent her money in London all through WWII. She made it out in '38 escaping with her Dad. Dad (Eugen Berg) was not as lucky. He got caught and sent to the camps. He died there in '44. Kastner's script pokes fun of ALL authority, and embraces life itself, and urges the viewer to wake up and take it all in before it's too late; the Baron turns down power to enjoy life, and always has time for a good meal or a hot date. The photography is excellent, the KINO restoration the one to get..Carnival in Venice is wonderful to see and you find bits of humor and wit and set decoration that survived to the 80's version..but there is a haunting, melancholy air to this version, even when everyone is enjoying themselves...the writer knows too quickly everything can just GO and you're best to enjoy what you can while you can. I sometimes see a sad, long look in Hans Albers eyes...is he wondering if he would ever see his gal again? Does he KNOW where her Dad is? What does he THINK of the Nazis?? As it was, Kastner lived to 1974, the richest of the lot, when Disney made his two most famous books (Parent Trap, Emil and the Detectives) into movies. He is the only cast member who's name is associated with a Lindsay Lohan movie. Hansi came back to Hans and they lived together until Albers' death in 1960. She died in 1975.

The Nazis took film making very seriously. It was one of the many areas covered by the Ministry of Propaganda led by Joseph Goebels. In 1943, Germany was beginning to face defeat and Goebels decided to make a comedy, drama like the Americans were able to accomplish, like, "Wizard of Oz" and many other films. I decided to view this film and find out just who Baron Munchhausen was and why they picked this person to make a film about. It seems Munchhausen pretends to be 200 years old, narrates his supposed travels and fantastical experiences with his band of misfits. He had hunting adventures, his experiences in the Turkinsh wars and an account of his incredible travels--be it on the Ocean, the Moon or in a Volcano and in Venice. I was surprised in one adventure that they even showed women bouncing around near a pool Topless, hardly a Walt Disney film or American entertainment in the 1940's. Hans Albers, (Baron Munchhausen),"Carl Peters",'41 played an outstanding role and was a good actor. However, just knowing that Joseph Goebels, who was the promoter of this film, gives me the creeps. Goebels hated everyone in the world except Germans and the Jewish people who were his main target. This sure is a Nazi circus of a film which is the complete distortion of what that country stood for during those war years. Thank God America WON !

This is a perplexing film. For all of its ambition, it falls to pieces regularly. There are moments of beauty and spectacle, but never long enough to stick; moments of humor and sentiment are brief and forced. There is no suspense, no real sex, no warmth and ultimately, no heart. One can be impressed, but not moved. For all the fashionable dumping on Hollywood, American pictures of this era, even when stupid, never reached the bleak, impersonal aridity of this epic.Also, the VHS version I saw began with screen notes mentioning that there were few technicians in 1943 Germany who were familiar with special effects. The reason given was that nothing on this scale had been attempted since the silent era. This is dishonest nonsense. The real reason was that the majority of German special effects people had either exiled themselves abroad or been incinerated. The German film industry didn't begin to recover from the Nazis until the 1970's.Terry Gilliam's recent remake is neither better nor worse, just different.