Münchhausen (1943)

User Rating:

7.1/10   

Director:

Josef von Báky

Writer:

Erich Kästner (script & dialogue)

Release Date:

3 November 1943 (Portugal)

Genre:

Comedy | Adventure | Fantasy

Plot:

Plot Keywords:

Disembodied Head | Wine | Sword | Special Effects | Male Female Relationship

Cast

Hans Albers	...	Baron Münchhausen
Wilhelm Bendow	...	Der Mondmann
Brigitte Horney	...	Zarin Katharina II
Michael Bohnen	...	Herzog Karl von Braunschweig
Ferdinand Marian	...	Graf Cagliostro
Hans Brausewetter	...	Freiherr von Hartenfeld
Hermann Speelmans	...	Christian Kuchenreutter
Marina von Ditmar	...	Sophie von Riedesel
Andrews Engelmann	...	Fürst Potemkin
Käthe Haack	...	Baronin Münchhausen
Waldemar Leitgeb	...	Fürst Grigorij Orlow
Walter Lieck	...	Der Läufer
Hubert von Meyerinck	...	Prinz Anton Ulrich
Jaspar von Oertzen	...	Graf Lanskoi
Werner Scharf	...	Prinz Francesco d'Este

Also Known As:

Baron Munchhausen
The Adventures of Baron Munchausen (USA)
The Extraordinary Adventures of Baron Muenchhausen

Runtime:

Germany:119 min (restored version) | USA:110 min | Germany:134 min (premiere version)

Country:

Germany

Language:

German

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono

Certification:

Spain:T | Finland:S | Germany:6 | Sweden:Btl

Filming Locations:

Berlin, Germany

Company:

Universum Film (UFA)

Trivia:

Josef Goebbels, Reichsminister of propaganda and also chief of the German UFA Studios, ordered this film to be made for the 25th anniversary of UFA.

Movie Connections:

Referenced in Jacquot de Nantes (1991)

Fascist Fantasy

The fabulous exploits of Baron MÜNCHHAUSEN include several wars, numerous plots and beautiful women without number.

At the height of World War Two, as the tide was beginning to turn against the Third Reich, Hitler's Minister of Propaganda, Joseph Goebbels commissioned this lavish motion picture as a commemoration of the 25th anniversary of Ufa, the government-run German film association. More importantly, it was also to be a rival of the great fantasy films which had come from the Allied nations, such as THE WIZARD OF OZ (1939) and THE THIEF OF BAGDAD (1940). In that it succeeds brilliantly and needs no comparison to any other film.

The film is a great, lighthearted romp as it follows the adventures of the Baron from Prussia to St. Petersburg, Constantinople, Venice and even the Moon. It is fascinating to see the high quality which the Germans were still able to lavish on the picture, even as their Empire was beginning to crumble around them. The production values are of a very high order and the Technicolor photography is sumptuous to the eye. Remarkably, there is no National Socialist propaganda in the film and the War is never mentioned.

In the title role, Hans Albers gives a surprisingly sensitive performance for such a robust production. He takes the legendary character and gives the viewer a portrait of a dashing, reflective, amorous, compassionate, resourceful man. Whether riding on a cannonball, ingratiating himself with the Ottoman Sultan, or examining the fantastic flora of the lunar planet, Albers always makes Münchhausen totally believable.

All the acting is of a high order, but especially worthy of mention are Ferdinand Marian as the mysterious Count Cagliostro, Brigitte Horney as a flirtatious Catherine the Great, and Gustav Waldau as an aging Casanova.

It should be mentioned that this is not a movie for children. Given its European origins it should come as no surprise that MÜNCHHAUSEN is a good deal more libidinous than the standard Hollywood fare of the time.

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There was a real Baron Karl Friedrich Hieronymus von Münchhausen (1720-1797), a German adventurer and teller of tall tales, but he had nothing to do with the book of fictional exploits which borrowed his name, written by Rudolf Erich Raspe (1737-1794), upon which this film was based.