MÜNCHHAUSEN (1943)
Directed by: Josef von Báky.
Produced by: Eberhard Schmidt.
Written by: Berthold Bürger, based on the book by Gottfried August Buerger and stories by Rudolph Erich Raspe.
Director of Photography: Konstantin Irmen-Tschet & Werner Krien.
Music by: Georg Haentzschel.
Released by: Kino.
Language: German with English subtitles.
Country of Origin: Germany. 105 min. Not Rated.
With: Hans Albers, Wilhelm Bendow & Brigitte Horney.
DVD Features: Animated short film, "Die Abenteuer des Baron Münchhausen - Eine Winterreise" (1944). Making-of-documentary with comments by the director of the F. W. Murnau Foundation. Examples of Agfacolor restoration. Excerpt from the Agfacolor film Die Fledermaus (1944). Photo gallery. Gallery of Münchhausen images.

Nazi Minister of Propaganda Joseph Goebbels commissioned Münchhausen in 1942 to celebrate the 25th Anniversary of Germany's UFA Studios. Envious of American and British productions like The Wizard of Oz and The Thief of Bagdad, he envisioned a lavish epic to rival them. The colorful and fanciful adventures of Münchhausen - from books in which the 18th Century nobleman traverses the globe (and even makes it to the moon) - were a logical choice to provide a cinematic answer to Hollywood's treatment of L. Frank Baum. But in the end, Samuel Goldwyn and Louis B. Mayer needn't have worried: Münchhausen is a fairly tiresome piece of work. Instead of following a path toward a well-defined goal, this tale simply meanders. It also suffers from a confusingly talky script. Action scenes are clumsily staged, and Münchhausen's (barely) climactic trip to the moon has all the professionalism of a grade school play.

In certain places, Münchhausen achieves a visual splendor worthy of Goebbels' ambitions - in the lavish palace of a Turkish pasha, for example, or in a balloon ride into the stars. And at other times the excessive dialog at least yields some interesting pseudo-philosophical musings. But for the most part, it all adds up to an uninspired and amateurish spectacle. Unlike the recently re-released 1943 German Titanic, which has at least an interesting point of view, Münchhausen is a curiosity at best.

DVD Extras: The most interesting extra here is a surreal animated short from 1944, which succeeds in making Münchhausen a compelling hero, even if he never speaks. The cartoon has an absorbing rhythm, and crams more action into its few minutes than its live-action counterpart gives you in two hours. There is also an introduction by the head of the F. W. Murnau Foundation. While he gives some necessary historical background to the film, and describes efforts to restore it to its condition here, his introduction would have benefited if more clips from the film played over his speech. The original trailer is also provided, but is not translated. We have no idea what the German narrator is saying. Also featured is an excerpt (again, not translated) from Die Fledermaus (1944), after the Johann Strauss operetta. (Someone must have noticed that the musical numbers were missing from the "German Wizard of Oz"). It looks to be worth watching, if (as seems safe to assume) Kino intends to release it. Arthur Vaughan
August 23, 2004