Munchhausen Review:


Synopsis

This highly significant film was only the fourth in German filmmaking history to be made in colour, and includes a fantastic array of special effects. Restored by the world-renowned Friedrich Murnau Foundation, Munchhausen is an outstanding example of Third Reich cinema at its most extravagant.

Arguably director Josef von Baky's most controversial piece, Munchhausen was commissioned by Propaganda Minister Joeseph Goebbels to commemorate the 25th anniversary of the greatest German film studio, UFA. With a highly impressive cast headed by Hans Albers, the most popular German film actor of his generation, Munchhausen began pre-production in 1941 with a 5 million Reichsmark budget. Premiered on 5th March 1943 at Berlin's prestigious Ufa-Palast am Zoo, the film was instantly a critical and popular success.

Set in 18th Century Venice, Munchhausen tells the story of The Baron von Munchhausen and his extravagant adventures. Accompanied by his servant Kuchenreutter, Munchhausen endures a journey entailing romance, war, capture, imprisonment, escape and ultimately death. However, during this time the audience enjoys numerous stories that Munchhausen is only too willing to tell. Known for his sensationalism, he manages to entertain the Sultan during his imprisonment, which leads to the freedom of the Princess and his own escape.

Critique

Josef von Baky's spectacular Munchhausen from the Third Reich era was a glorious achievement in German filmmaking history. Serving as only the fourth film in the country's history to be released in colour, this epic featured opulent sets and fantastic costume design along with a plot that was magical, mystical and manical all at once.

Leading man of the day Hans Albers stars in the title role of Baron von Munchhausen, an impossibly charismatic gentleman who embarks on an incredible journey with his loyal servant Kuchenreutter. On his travels through distant lands, he picks up an invisibilty ring, attains eternal youth, gets taken prisoner by a Sultan and even flees to the other side of the moon in nothing more than a hot air balloon! The outrageously outlandish nature of the plot perfectly suited the offbeat nature of Director Terry Gilliam, who remade the film some decades after this original was released.

The aim of the film was to impress the international audience with Germany's filmmaking power, in addition to inspiring industry pride amongst national viewers. This goal was fully realised, with the end product being a highly entertaining standout spectacle costing somewhere in the region of 5 million Reichsmark. This vast amount of money for the time was spent on vast sets populated with intricate costumes and expensive production design - the shrewd special effects would have also taken up a fair proportion of the the final budget.

The final cut was in excess of two hours, while further trimmings were made for the export market. Sadly, further footage has been subsequently lost and this DVD version's running length of 110 minutes is perhaps slightly shorter than it should have been as a result. Overall, however, Munchhausen remains a wonderfully playful fairytale from a troubled era - its unique blend of eccentricity and grandeur has given it a deservedly prime spot in German filmmaking history.

8 out of 10

The Video

Since the film was shot some sixty years before this DVD was even mastered, it is hardly surprising to find that the feature looks decidedly ugly. However, it should be noted that the image quality is actually better than expected and, overall, this is a pleasing video trasfer as opposed to a disappointing one when taking all factors into consideration.

The lavish project was intended to show off the capabilities of the German film industry and, as a result, it became only the fourth German film to be shot in colour. The production took advantage of this new technology to the fullest extent, putting on a vibrant and varied display of colours whenever possible. Thankfully, this eye-catching vibrancy is retained on the disc fairly well, although the careful tinting of certain scenes has probably lost its originally intended look, creating a different effect than Baky first envisaged.

Black levels are pleasingly solid from start to finish, while sharpness varies significantly - details are distinct and clean at times, while other points see objects and faces become fuzzy and unclear, presumably due to a temporary decline in source print quality. The transfer escapes without suffering at the hands of grain, while the relative absence of marks and specks is also admirable for such an old film - 'admirable' here of course implies that the odd scratch and speck does still crop up quite regularly.

Overall, this is a very watchable version of Munchhausen that hides the age of the feature quite well, allowing the opulence of the production to ooze through.

7 out of 10

The Dolby Digital 2.0 Mono soundtrack is definitely less impressive than the transfer. However, once again, there would have been a limit to what could have been achieved in the restoration process. As it stands, the soundtrack delivers score and dialogue intelligibly, if not noticeably harshly for the most part. With source material this old, an upgrade to Dolby Digital 5.1, or even Dolby Digital 2.0 Stereo, probably would not have been worth the effort. Overall, therefore, this German language soundtrack fulfils its basic tasks more than competently, but fails to amaze on any level.

6 out of 10

The Extras

Unlike the 2-disc Special Edition treatment that Eureka Video lavished upon their release of Fritz Lang's Metropolis, this offering of Munchhausen is more than a little skimpy on bonus material. Starting off the extras is the excellent 'Third Reich Cinema's Finest Fictional Moment - Josef von Baky's Munchhausen' essay, which runs for 14 minutes in 1.33:1 full-frame with Dolby Digital 2.0 Stereo sound. Written by R. Dixon Smith and narrated by Russell Cawthorne, this item starts off by discussing the real-life Munchhausen, before revealing some very interesting trivia on the film itself.

The penultimate extra on the disc is a fairly large static stills gallery - sadly, these are not reproductions of actual photographs, but merely screen captures from the film, meaning that the stills are far from pleasing to the eye in terms of image quality. Since there are so few extras on the disc already, a wiser option would have been to include the photos as a five minute video montage with accompany audio commentary that revealed more about either the making of the film or the DVD restoration efforts.

Finishing off the supplements is the 4 minute German theatrical trailer, which appears to have been included in an incorrect fashion. The video stream is in 1.33:1 full-frame, but the source image was clearly in widescreen and then compressed, or squashed, horizontally to conform to the full-frame aspect ratio. The accompanying sound is in Dolby Digital 2.0 Stereo, while English subtitles are provided to address the German voiceover. On a final note, the disc's menu screens are animated and presented with background music in Dolby Digital 2.0 Stereo.

Overall, this is a disappointing showing of extras in comparison to the likes of the recent Metropolis - Special Edition. The essay is a quality item, but a second disc should have really been included to make room for a lengthy documentary and perhaps even an audio commentary or two by film historians.

3 out of 10

Movie 8
Video 7
Audio 6
Extras 3

OVERALL (not an average) 6

DVD Bulletin

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