Year: 1962
Director: Karel Zeman
Country: Czecheslovakia
Language: Czech
Born in 1910, Czecheslovakian born Karel Zeman is known as a filmmaker who could seamlessly blend live action with a variety of forms of animation (traditional, stop motion etc.), giving his pictures a timeless storybook feeling. Opposed to Disney's lavish mythmaking, Zeman gives his sets a visual look reminicent of german expressionism. He wants us to think more Cabinet of Dr. Caligari (1920) rather than Snow White (1937).
The outrageous Baron Munchausen (Milos Kopecky) of his many adventures, from meeting the Man in the Moon (Rudolf Jelfnek) to defeating a Turkish army all by himself.
Impressively co-opting nineteenth-century graphic illustration by using it as building material, mastered out of scores of overlapping techniques, Fabulous Baron Munchausen looks like no other film, the exception being Zeman's other Jules Verne inspired pictures. His sets give a sense of nostalgia and wonder; audiences will be lost in the story while simultanoesly wondering "how was he able to create this scene!?"
The enchanting score by Zdenek Liska adds to the yesteryear mood that the film captures you in. It's simple - yet sophisticated- soft to the ears and yet powerful. The costuming is remarkable as well, futher engulfing its audience into a fictional 1800's. The plot is mesmerizing and perfectly weird; Munchausen finds a moon man, fights fights ten thousand bashi-bazouks; he flies about on cannonballs and gets swallowed by a whale.
Fabulous Baron Munchausen is an unforgettable picture that will appeal to a wide vareity of ages. It is simple enough for a child to understand, yet also has a great charm that will appeal to adults.A fun picture; I have a feeling I'll be rewatching this for years to come.
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