''Münchhausen'' is a 1943 German

fantasy Fantasy is a genre of speculative fiction that involves supernatural or Magic (supernatural), magical elements, often including Fictional universe, imaginary places and Legendary creature, creatures. The genre's roots lie in oral traditions, ...

comedy Comedy is a genre of dramatic works intended to be humorous or amusing by inducing laughter, especially in theatre, film, stand-up comedy, television, radio, books, or any other entertainment medium. Origins Comedy originated in ancient Greec ...

film directed by

Josef von Báky Josef von Báky (23 March 1902, Sombor, Zombor, Austria-Hungary – 28 July 1966, Munich, West Germany) was a Hungarian filmmaker. He was also known as ''Josef v. Baky'' and ''József Báky''. He was born in the village of Zobor in the Kingdo ...

. Science fiction author David Wingrove has commented that this work "sidesteps immediate political issues whilst conjuring up marvellous visual images of an ageless pastoral Germany."

Plot

The film opens at an 18th-century ball, where Baron Hieronymus von Münchhausen is propositioned by a young woman who is engaged to another man. He graciously rejects her advance, and as she leaves, she asks him to turn on the light. The camera follows his hand to a modern light switch, and the young woman drives off in an automobile. The next day, the Baron, out of his costume and in modern dress, regales the young woman and her fiancé with stories of the famous Baron Münchhausen, to whom his guests think he is distantly related. He begins in his home town of

Bodenwerder The ''Münchhausenstadt'' Bodenwerder is a municipality in Holzminden district, Lower Saxony, Germany. It lies on the river Weser and is best known as the birthplace and residence of Baron von Münchhausen. Geography Bodenwerder is located in ...

, back from an adventure with his trusted servant Christian Kuchenreutter, who has invented a gun that can shoot accurately at a distance of 100 miles. The

sorcerer Sorcerer may refer to: Magic * Sorcerer (supernatural), a practitioner of magic that derives from supernatural or occult sources * Sorcerer (fantasy), a fictional character who uses or practices magic that derives from supernatural or occult sou ...

Cagliostro Giuseppe Balsamo (; 2 June 1743 – 26 August 1795), known by the alias Count Alessandro di Cagliostro ( , ), was an Italian occultist and confidence trickster. Cagliostro was an Italian adventurer and self-styled magician. He became a gl ...

visits, and asks the Baron to join him in a quest to take over the throne of Poland. The Baron declines, explaining that he has no interest in power, just in adventure. In St. Petersburg, the Baron joins the court of

Catherine the Great Catherine II. (born Princess Sophie of Anhalt-Zerbst; 2 May 172917 November 1796), most commonly known as Catherine the Great, was the reigning empress of Russia from 1762 to 1796. She came to power after overthrowing her husband, Peter I ...

. She offers to appoint him to be her general aide-de-camp and install him in a room below hers, with a secret elevator between the two so that they can carry on their affair. He agrees to stay until one of them wants more freedom. While in her court, the Baron clashes with

Prince Potemkin Prince Grigory Aleksandrovich Potemkin-Tauricheski (A number of dates as late as 1742 have been found on record; the veracity of any one is unlikely to be proved. This is his "official" birth-date as given on his tombstone.) was a Russian mi ...

. The pair fight a "cuckoo duel" in a darkened room, where one party is obliged to call "cuckoo" while the other aims and fires a pistol at the sound of his opponent's voice. The Baron is wounded in the duel and he goes to Cagliostro, who has recently arrived in St. Petersburg, to tend to the wound. While there, the Baron warns Cagliostro of his impending arrest. After healing the Baron, Cagliostro asks him what he desires most of all, since money and power do not interest him. The Baron answers that he wishes to be as young as he is at that moment, for as long as he desires. Cagliostro grants his wish. On the Turkish front, Potemkin lights a cannon while the Baron sits astride it. The Baron rides the cannonball over to the Turkish palace, where he is enslaved along with an Italian princess. After two months as a slave, the Baron is reunited with Kuchenreutter and his runner, Der Läufer, who can cover hundreds of miles in a matter of minutes. He makes a wager for his and the princess's freedom with the king, wherein his runner must retrieve some Tokay wine from Vienna within an hour. After winning the bet, the king tries to pass off a counterfeit princess on the Baron. Incensed, he slips on a ring that makes him invisible and absconds with the princess. The pair escape to Venice, where her brother is offended by her dalliance with the Baron. He challenges the Baron to a duel with rapiers. The Baron humiliates the brother, leaving him suicidal. The Baron and Kuchenreutter escape in a hot air balloon, which takes them to the Moon. On the Moon, they marvel at how time moves so swiftly: while Münchhausen does not change at all, Kuchenreutter ages rapidly. They meet two inhabitants of the Moon, one of whom moves about as a disembodied head. She explains to the Baron how no Earthlings can last more than a day on the Moon before they dry up in smoke and blow away. However, before the Baron can leave the Moon, Kuchenreutter has a heart attack and dies in his arms, disappearing in a puff of smoke. As the Baron finishes his tale, his guests correct him on some of its historical inaccuracies, citing the fact that the real Baron died before some of the events took place. This prompts the Baron to confess that he is in fact the same man as the legend, and that he has been married happily to his wife for 40 years. Unnerved by his admission, the guests quickly leave. The Baron's wife begs him to flee, as he usually does when his escapades get out of control, upset that he has confessed the truth. The Baron refuses to go, and instead, he revokes Cagliostro's gift. He immediately ages to match the advanced years of his wife.

History

Nazi

Propaganda Propaganda is communication that is primarily used to influence or persuade an audience to further an agenda, which may not be objective and may be selectively presenting facts to encourage a particular synthesis or perception, or using loaded l ...

Minister

Joseph Goebbels Paul Joseph Goebbels (; 29 October 1897 – 1 May 1945) was a German Nazism, Nazi politician and philologist who was the ''Gauleiter'' (district leader) of Berlin, chief Propaganda in Nazi Germany, propagandist for the Nazi Party, and ...

ordered the production of ''Münchhausen'' in order to celebrate the 25th

anniversary An anniversary is the date on which an event took place or an institution was founded. Most countries celebrate national anniversaries, typically called national days. These could be the List of national independence days, date of independen ...

of the UFA film studio which released it. The Jubiläumsfilm, or anniversary film, was commissioned by Goebbels, and Fritz Hippler was chosen to oversee the film's production. Hippler, who was instated as Reichsfilmdramaturg in 1939 by Goebbels, shared his view that all artistic disciplines, including film, should be "co-ordinated" to echo the propaganda themes that the regime chose to highlight, following the policy of

Gleichschaltung The Nazi term (), meaning "synchronization" or "coordination", was the process of Nazification by which Adolf Hitler—leader of the Nazi Party in Nazi Germany, Germany—established a system of totalitarian control and coordination over all ...

. ''Münchhausen'' represented the pinnacle of the Volksfilm style of propaganda designed to entertain the masses and distract the population from the war, borrowing the Hollywood genre of large budget productions with extensive colorful visuals. The release of the

Technicolor Technicolor is a family of Color motion picture film, color motion picture processes. The first version, Process 1, was introduced in 1916, and improved versions followed over several decades. Definitive Technicolor movies using three black-and ...

film ''

The Wizard of Oz ''The Wizard of Oz'' is a 1939 American Musical film, musical fantasy film produced by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM). Based on the 1900 novel ''The Wonderful Wizard of Oz'' by L. Frank Baum, it was primarily directed by Victor Fleming, who left pro ...

'' in the United States was a heavy influence for Goebbels. By 1940 the German research laboratory

Agfa Agfa-Gevaert N.V. (Agfa) is a Belgian-German multinational corporation that develops, manufactures, and distributes Analog photography, analogue and digital imaging products, software, and systems. The company began as a dye manufacturer in 1867 ...

was producing its own version of colored film that had “caught up with the Americans in olor cinematography�� according to Goebbels’ diary. ''Münchhausen'' was the third feature film made in Germany using the new

Agfacolor Agfa-Farbenplatte of Bad Kreuznach, Germany, 1933. An Agfacolor slide of a café in Oslo, Norway, 1937. An Agfacolor slide of Paris, France, 1937. An Agfacolor slide of Stockholm, Sweden, 1938. An Agfacolor slide, Hungary, 1938. An Agf ...

negative-positive material. Hippler and Ufa's production group manager Eberhard Schmidt hired

Erich Kästner Emil Erich Kästner (; 23 February 1899 – 29 July 1974) was a German writer, poet, screenwriter and satirist, known primarily for his humorous, socially astute poems and for children's books including ''Emil and the Detectives'' and '' Lisa an ...

for the screenplay, a decision met with controversy as several of Kästner's previous works such as ''Fabian'' were banned after 1933 when the Nazi party began heavy censorship of the arts. Hippler later claimed the decision led to his removal from office, however Goebbels claimed in his own diary that “mishaps, alcoholism, and family problems” were in fact the cause for his dismissal. Kästner himself wrote under the pseudonym Berthold Bürger, a play on two names; a creator of the Münchhausen legend, Gottfried Bürger, and

Bertolt Brecht Eugen Berthold Friedrich Brecht (10 February 1898 – 14 August 1956), known as Bertolt Brecht and Bert Brecht, was a German theatre practitioner, playwright, and poet. Coming of age during the Weimar Republic, he had his first successes as a p ...

, a peer of Kästner who was exiled in 1933 by the Third Reich. The final script was drawn from the original text published in 1785 as well as two other versions: Karl Leberecht Immermann’s 1839 version and Carl Haensel’s 1920 version.

Production

The film’s production began in 1941 with an initial budget of over 4.5 million

Reichsmark The (; sign: ℛ︁ℳ︁; abbreviation: RM) was the currency of Germany from 1924 until the fall of Nazi Germany in 1945, and in the American, British and French occupied zones of Germany, until 20 June 1948. The Reichsmark was then replace ...

s (ℛℳ) that increased to over 6.5 million ℛℳ, after Goebbels’ intentions to “surpass the special effects and color artistry” of Alexander Korda's Technicolor film '' The Thief of Bagdad''.

looked to this film as well as Hollywood's productions of ''

Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs "Snow White" is a German fairy tale, first written down in the early 19th century. The Brothers Grimm published it in 1812 in the first edition of their collection ''Grimms' Fairy Tales'', numbered as Tale 53. The original title was ''Sneewittch ...

'' and ''

Gone with the Wind Gone with the Wind most often refers to: * Gone with the Wind (novel), ''Gone with the Wind'' (novel), a 1936 novel by Margaret Mitchell * Gone with the Wind (film), ''Gone with the Wind'' (film), the 1939 adaptation of the novel Gone with the Wind ...

'' for visual inspiration. Emil Hasler and Otto Gülstorff designed the set, and Konstantin Irmen-Tschet was placed in charge of editing and staging the film, including the special effects. The budget for the film allowed von Báky and his production staff nearly limitless opportunities to display the superlative nature of Kästner's vision of Baron von Münchhausen. The dinner scene that is set in the Russian palace featured real gold and silver tableware as well as

Meissen Meissen ( ), is a town of approximately 30,000 about northwest of Dresden and 75 km (46 mi) west of Bautzen on both banks of the Elbe river in the Free State of Saxony, in eastern Germany. Meissen is the home of Meissen porcelain, th ...

porcelain on loan from museums, and was protected by SS guards dressed in costume while the scene was shot. The sequence of scenes in Venice was shot on location, with Irmen-Tschet gaining private access to the Grand Canal for an entire day, as noted by Eberhard von Weise who worked on the film's production. Additionally von Weise wrote on the movement of entire sets across the border in railcars with “precious carnival costumes” amid numerous other set pieces that were brought along and used by local Venetians as extras in the film.

Reception

Adolf Hitler Adolf Hitler (20 April 1889 – 30 April 1945) was an Austrian-born German politician who was the dictator of Nazi Germany from 1933 until Death of Adolf Hitler, his suicide in 1945. Adolf Hitler's rise to power, He rose to power as the lea ...

and Goebbels had a well-documented disagreement over how propaganda for the Third Reich should be produced, with Goebbels favouring the Volksfilm style. He referred to ''Münchhausen'' as a “popular film in the truest sense of the term.” The film was released at a pivotal point in Nazi rule following the massive losses of the 6th Army at the

Battle of Stalingrad The Battle of Stalingrad ; see . rus, links=on, Сталинградская битва, r=Stalingradskaya bitva, p=stəlʲɪnˈɡratskəjə ˈbʲitvə. (17 July 19422 February 1943) was a major battle on the Eastern Front of World War II, ...

and was an attempt at reinvigorating the German population. The film provided visual relief from the war and, as one of the few fantastical films produced by the Ministry of Propaganda, represented a rare opportunity for escapism. After viewing parts of the film, Hitler instructed Goebbels to ensure that, “Kästner should have no further assignments.” When the film was first released it had a run time of 133 minutes, however a second re-censored version was released three months later with a run time of 118 minutes, indicating the decision to remove the most controversial aspects of the film by the Ministry of Propaganda. Today a 114-minute version exists in the Murnau Foundation. Contemporary journalists and critics pointed to many aspects of the film, most notably the role of gender and sexuality and the fantastical themes as evidence that the film was intended as a counterpoint to Nazi rule. Hippler denied these claims asserting that in “total war”, as outlined in Goebbels’ 1943 Sportspalast speech, “national life becomes weapons” and strengthening the morale of a country was key to the success of the German campaign. Both during and after World War II, the film saw massive commercial and critical success and not only recouped the sizable government investment, but also earned modern praise as being “the greatest German color film of all time” by film historian Eric Rentschler.

Cast

Availability

A 110-minute version of this film was released on

DVD The DVD (common abbreviation for digital video disc or digital versatile disc) is a digital optical disc data storage format. It was invented and developed in 1995 and first released on November 1, 1996, in Japan. The medium can store any ki ...

(NTSC, Region 1) by

Kino Video Kino Lorber is an international film distribution company based in New York City. Founded in 1977, it was originally known as Kino International until it was acquired by and merged into Lorber HT Digital in 2009. It specializes in art house films ...

on 20 July 2004. The same version was released on PAL (Region 2) DVD by the British Eureka Video in July 2005. The 132 minute premiere version and the 117 minute restored version were released on Blu ray disc in Germany and the 117 minute restored version was released on Blu ray disc in the United States.

References

;Notes ;Bibliography * Wingrove, David. '' Science Fiction Film Source Book'' (Longman Group Limited, 1985)

External links

*
''Münchhausen''
at Virtual History {{Baron Munchausen 1943 films 1940s fantasy comedy films German fantasy adventure films Films of Nazi Germany Films directed by Josef von Báky Works by Erich Kästner Moon in film Films about immortality Films set in the 18th century Films set in Germany Films set in Turkey Films set in 18th-century Ottoman Empire Films set in Venice Films set in Saint Petersburg German adventure comedy films German epic films Films based on Baron Munchausen's Narrative of His Marvellous Travels and Campaigns in Russia German fantasy comedy films UFA GmbH films Films shot at Babelsberg Studios 1940s German-language films Films about Alessandro Cagliostro Films about Catherine the Great Films about Giacomo Casanova Films scored by Georg Haentzschel