Rent The Fabulous Baron Munchausen (1961)

A magical, delightful surprise - The Fabulous Baron Munchausen review by RJ

I only recently discovered the films of Karel Zeman - this is the second I have seen following 'Journey to the Beginning of Time'. If the most obvious comparison (albeit only superficial) to that film was the work of Ray Harryhausen, Munchausen is much more in the mould of Georges Méliès. It combines animation and live action to tell the fantastical tale of Baron Munchausen's adventures with 'Tony', an astronaut from Earth who Munchausen mistakenly assumes to be a native 'Moonman' (understandably, given that they meet on the moon, where Munchausen happens to be dining with characters from Jules Verne's 'From the Earth to the Moon' as well as 17th Century French poet Cyrano de Bergerac). The early scenes on the moon immediately recall Méliès' 'Le Voyage dans la Lune'.

Munchausen takes Tony back to what I would confidently describe as 'olden-days' Turkey (Wikipedia tells me it's 18th Century). The ironic joke running through the film is that although Munchausen believes himself to be a great hero, it is the unassuming Tony who almost unwittingly takes on that role, rescuing the damsel in distress Princess Bianca from the clutches of the sultan. The more serious theme of the film is the ability of science to put the imagination of man into practice. Munchausen (and his moon-based associate Cyrano de Bergerac) inhabit the world of poetry and fantasy, where the notion of the moon is pure imagination. During the course of the film the baton is essentially passed from these figures to Tony, who represents science and the ability to make these dreams real. Man first set foot on the moon at the end of the decade this film was made in.

The combination of live action and animation is really delightful and it has a great score/soundtrack (there were parts of it that reminded me of the score Air made for 'Le Voyage dans la Lune' a few years ago - I don't know if this is coincidence or whether they drew on this soundtrack for inspiration). It's also genuinely funny throughout and brilliantly performed by the whole cast.

A Whale of a Time - The Fabulous Baron Munchausen review by CH

This is another highly enjoyable one by Zeman, even if it is slightly too long and is more a series of imaginative vignettes than an overarching narrative. Magical, the way in which film and animation combine. There is nothing to match this. Watch it to savour the heading I have given this review.