The Fabulous Baron Munchausen (1962)

January 15, 2024 9:20 AM

[TRAILER] Karel Zeman's 1962 Czechoslovak romantic adventure film, based on the tales about Baron Munchausen. The film combines live-action with various forms of animation and is highly stylized, often evoking the engravings of Gustave Doré. Original title: Baron Prášil.

Starring Miloš Kopecký, Jana Brejchová, Rudolf Jelínek, Rudolf Hrušínský, Karel Höger.

Directed and co-written by Karel Zeman.

Currently streaming in a lovingly restored version in the US on Criterion. There's also a version on YouTube.

posted by DirtyOldTown (3 comments total)

This is delightful! A wild mix of rear projection, stop motion, miniatures, painted sets, and anything else Zeman could think of to get the visuals he wanted.

Terry Gilliam cribbed so much from this style.
posted by DirtyOldTown at 9:26 AM on January 15 [2 favorites]

The story is silly (but fun) gibberish, but Zeman rarely goes as long as even ten or fifteen seconds without providing a WOW visual.
posted by DirtyOldTown at 10:01 AM on January 15 [2 favorites]

!!!

I had no idea there were any Munchausens BUT Gilliam’s, and it’s been a favorite since I was a kid. Thank you for sharing this!
posted by rrrrrrrrrt at 6:59 PM on January 20