In an unnamed European city in the late 18th century, a stage play about pathological liar Baron Munchausen is being performed. An old man (John Neville) interrupts the show, claims he is the real Baron and protests the inaccuracies in the play. He proves his identity with an unbelievable account of one of his adventures.
There is warfare outside the theatre, which disrupts the Baron's tall tale. He escapes the city in a hot air balloon, accompanied by stowaway Sally Salt (Sarah Polley). They travel to the Moon and find Berthold (Eric Idle), but anger the King of the Moon (Robin Williams) who resents the Baron for his past romance with Queen Ariadne (Valentina Cortese). The trio next go beneath Earth, find Bill Albrecht (Winston Dennis) and the god Vulcan (Oliver Reed), who is their courteous host until the Baron romances Vulcan's wife Venus (Uma Thurman). Vulcan expels the four into the South Seas.
Baron: "What's this?"
Vulcan: "Oh, this is our prototype. RX Intercontinental, radar-sneaky, multi-warheaded nuclear missile."
Baron: "Ah! What does it do?"
Vulcan: "Do? Kills the enemy."
Baron: "All the enemy?
Vulcan: "Aye, all of them. All their wives, and all their children, and all their sheep, and all their cattle, and all their cats and dogs. All of them: all of them gone for good."
Sally: "That's horrible."
Vulcan: "Ahh. Well, you see, the advantage is you don't have to see one single one of them die. You just sit comfortably thousands of miles away from the battlefield and simply press the button."
Berthold: "Well, where's the fun in that?"
They are swallowed by a huge sea creature, where the Baron finds his horse Bucephalus. An escape is made with the use of snuff, causing the creature to sneeze everybody out its blowhole. The Baron says, "I have learned from experience that a modicum of snuff can be most efficacious." When they go ashore there is a battle scene with the Turkish army. The city is victorious, but during a celebration the Baron is shot dead by Jackson (Jonathan Pryce). There is a funeral, but then it turns out everything is only a fantasy and the Baron tells the audience it was "only one of the many occasions on which I met my death, an experience which I don't hesitate strongly to recommend". However, the city has been saved and the Baron orders, "Open the gates!" and rides off on Bucephalus.
THE ADVENTURES OF BARON MUNCHAUSEN is derived from Rudolf Erich Raspe's 1785 book based on the real German adventurer Karl Friedrich Hieronymous von Munchhausen (1720-1797). He spent his life in the army and enjoyed telling fanciful stories about his adventures. Karl disapproved of Raspe's "Baron Munchhausen's Narrative of His Marvelous Travels and Campaigns in Russia". The book was very popular and other authors jumped on the band wagon, most notably Gottfried Burger.
The movie is ambitious, imaginative and chaotic with a dream-like design. It is opulent, grandiose, out of control, and often buried in special effects. Sometimes it is dark, pessimistic, and somewhat macabre. Furthermore, the plot is not clear because of a circular narrative with flashbacks that are easily confused with the present. Baron Munchausen's age keeps changing drastically.
Terry Gilliam directed and co-wrote this movie to complete his trilogy of fantasies, which also includes TIME BANDITS (1981) and BRAZIL (1985). With a budget of over $45 million, it was not very popular in its theatrical run, and it didn't help that Columbia only made 115 prints. Fortunately, it was and is a lucrative property on home video.
Others in the cast include: Peter Jeffrey (Sultan), Alison Steadman (Daisy), Jose Lifante (Dr. Death), Sting (Officer), Kiran Shah (Assistant), Don Henderson (Commander), Franco Adducci (Treasurer), Tony Smart (Gunner), and many others. Charles McKeown and Terry Gilliam wrote the screenplay. Eric Idle and Michael Kamen composed the original music.
MUNCHHAUSEN (1943) was produced by the German Nazis to compete with THE WIZARD OF OZ (1939) and similar movies made by the Allies. It's a lavish adult fairy tale with the same basic story of a braggart and liar. It was scripted by Jewish author Erich Kaestner using the pseudonym "Bertold Buerger". The music by Georg Haentzschel is good. Hans Albers stars as Munchhausen, and Josef von Baky directed. The Nazis considered the film artistically but not politically important. This version has many similarities to the 1989 version, and therfore Terry Gilliam was legally obligated to add a disclaimer to his film. A disclaimer regarding a Nazi film? That's like a Monty Python sketch.
BARON PRASIL (1961) aka THE FABULOUS BARON MUNCHAUSEN is a Czech version with a mixture of live action and animation. The story is basically the same, with the Baron visiting the strange and beautiful land of Trukesban. There are good special effects, with a boring and uneven storyline. Milos Kopecky plays Baron Munchausen. Jiri Brdecka wrote the script and Karel Zemen directed. It's available in Czech, Finnish, etc., but in North America is usually shown in German with English subtitles.
TOT SAMYI MUNCHHAUSEN (1979), "One And Only Munchhausen" is a Russian TV movie written by Grigori Gorin and directed by Mark Zakharov. Oleg Yankovsky plays Myunkhgauzen, a symbol of honesty who chooses death on a cannonball to the Moon. Unanimous rave reviews on the internet, and my Russian neighbour says, "It's not too bad. It's a legend, not true, interesting, mostly for children and adults who like fantastical fairy stories."
In 1911 the silent "Les Hallucinations du baron de Munchhausen" by cinema pioneer Georges Melies was produced. There was a British version in 1927. A German TV production starring Richard Munch was made in 1966.
