#1017: ZEMAN, Karel: The Fabulous Baron Munchausen [1962]
ZEMAN, Karel (Czechoslovokia)
THREE FANTASTIC JOURNEYS BY KAREL ZEMAN
The Fabulous Baron Munchausen [1962]
Spine #1017
Blu-ray
By Spine #
THREE FANTASTIC JOURNEYS BY KAREL ZEMAN
The Fabulous Baron Munchausen [1962]
Spine #1017
Blu-ray
A one-of-a-kind silver-screen illusionist, Czech filmmaker Karel Zeman devoted his career to transporting viewers to realms beyond their wildest imagining. The deft, breathtaking combinations of live action and animation techniques that he pioneered in the postwar years earned him comparisons to legends such as Georges Méliès, and an array of followers that includes Jan Ŝvankmajer, Terry Gilliam and Wes Anderson. Presented here are three of Zeman's most enchanting fantasies — a boys' adventure into the mists of prehistory, a Jules Verne-derived flight of fancy, and an exotic eighteenth-century tall tale — all of them treasure chests of wondrous sights, tactile textures, and headlong yarn-spinning that helped put Czechoslovak cinema on the international map.
In The Fabulous Baron Munchausen, Karel Zeman conjures the adventures of the legendary, boastful baron, whose whirlwind exploits take him from the moon to eighteenth-century Turkey to the belly of a whale and beyond. A kaleidoscopic marvel that blends live action with techniques including stop-motion, cutout collage, puppetry, painted backdrops, and antique tinting, Zeman's film is an exhilarating visual delight and a warmhearted whirl through a bygone age too entrancing to have existed.
83 minutes
Color
Monaural
in Czech
Monaural
in Czech
1:37:1 aspect ratio
Criterion Release 2020
Director/Writers
Based on the works of Gottfried August Bürger, Gustave Doré.
Karel Zeman was 52 when he wrote and directed The Fabulous Baron Munchausen.
Other Zeman films in the Collection:
#1015: Journey To The Beginning Of Time (1955)
#1016: Invention For Destruction (1958)
The Film
Other Zeman films in the Collection:
#1015: Journey To The Beginning Of Time (1955)
#1016: Invention For Destruction (1958)
The Film
A
Film Rating (0-60):
60
The Extras
The Booklet
Four-page faux-newspaper featuring an essay by film critic Michael Atkinson, along with deluxe pop-up art.
Commentary
None.
U.S.-release version
Of Journey to the Beginning of Time from 1960.
Alternate
Soundtrack for Invention for Destruction, and the opening sequence of the 1961 U.S.-release version.
Programs
With animation filmmaker John Stevenson and special-effects artists Phil Tippett and Jim Aupperle discussing director Zeman and his complex visual trickery.
Four early short films
By Zeman: A Christmas Dream (1945), A Horseshoe for Luck (1946), Inspiration (1949), and King Lavra (1950).
Film Adventurer: Karel Zeman
A 2015 documentary about the director, featuring filmmakers Tim Burton and Terry Gilliam, illustrator Ludmila Zeman, and others.
Short documentaries
Produced by the Karel Zeman Museum profiling the director and detailing the production and effects of all three films.
The Booklet
Four-page faux-newspaper featuring an essay by film critic Michael Atkinson, along with deluxe pop-up art.
Commentary
None.
U.S.-release version
Of Journey to the Beginning of Time from 1960.
Alternate
Soundtrack for Invention for Destruction, and the opening sequence of the 1961 U.S.-release version.
Programs
With animation filmmaker John Stevenson and special-effects artists Phil Tippett and Jim Aupperle discussing director Zeman and his complex visual trickery.
Four early short films
By Zeman: A Christmas Dream (1945), A Horseshoe for Luck (1946), Inspiration (1949), and King Lavra (1950).
Film Adventurer: Karel Zeman
A 2015 documentary about the director, featuring filmmakers Tim Burton and Terry Gilliam, illustrator Ludmila Zeman, and others.
Short documentaries
Produced by the Karel Zeman Museum profiling the director and detailing the production and effects of all three films.
Restoration demonstrations
And an interview with restoration supervisor James Mockoski.
Trailers
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