The Adventures of Baron Munchausen (1988)

Calificación de los usuarios:

7.0/10   

Director:

Terry Gilliam

Escritores:

Charles McKeown (screenplay) &
Terry Gilliam (screenplay)

Fecha de Lanzamiento:

10 marzo 1989 (USA)

Género:

Acción | Aventura | Comedia | Drama | Fantasía

Frase comercial:

Remarkable. Unbelievable. Impossible. And true.

Plot:

An account of Baron Munchausen's supposed travels and fantastical experiences with his band of misfits.

Plot Keywords:

Baron | Girl | Sea Monster | Moon | Escape

Premios:

Nominated for 4 Oscars. Another 6 wins & 8 nominations

Comentarios de los usuarios:

Before "The Golden Compass", and before "Stardust"

Reparto

John Neville	...	Hieronymus Karl Frederick Baron von Munchausen
Eric Idle	...	Desmond / Berthold
Sarah Polley	...	Sally Salt
Oliver Reed	...	Vulcan
Charles McKeown	...	Rupert / Adolphus
Winston Dennis	...	Bill / Albrecht
Jack Purvis	...	Jeremy / Gustavus
Valentina Cortese	...	Queen Ariadne / Violet
Jonathan Pryce	...	The Right Ordinary Horatio Jackson
Bill Paterson	...	Henry Salt
Peter Jeffrey	...	Sultan
Uma Thurman	...	Venus / Rose
Alison Steadman	...	Daisy
Ray Cooper	...	Functionary
Don Henderson	...	Commander

También conocida como:

Die Abenteuer des Baron Münchhausen (Alemania Occidental)
Las aventuras del barón Munchausen (Argentina) (Spain) [es]

Duración:

126 min

País:

UK | Alemania Occidental

Idioma:

Inglés

Color:

Color (Eastmancolor)

Relación de Aspecto:

1.85 : 1

Sonido:

70 mm 6-Track (70 mm prints) | Dolby SR

Clasificación:

Australia:PG | Singapore:NC-16 | Brazil:12 | Germany:12 | Argentina:13 | Chile:14 | Finland:K-12/9 | France:U | Iceland:LH (video rating) | Peru:14 | South Korea:12 (DVD rating) | Sweden:11 | UK:PG | USA:PG | West Germany:6 | Iceland:10 (original rating)

Locaciones de Filmación:

Almería, Andalucía, Spain

Compañía:

Allied Filmmakers

Trivialidades:

In the scene in the King of the Moon's bedroom, above the headboard is a small bust. In a close-up shot, the eyes of the bust are seen to contain lights that blink on and off, accompanied by the sound of a camera whirring and clicking. This is line producer David Tomblin's homage to "The Prisoner" (1967), which he helped produce and direct in the late 1960s.

Errores:

Sin sincronía de Audio o Visual: While on the boat flying to the moon, the Baron's phrase "bodily activities" is dubbed.

Citas:

Sally: It wasn't just a story, was it?
[the Baron tosses her a flower]

Conexiones de Película:

Referenced in "Foster's Home for Imaginary Friends: Bye Bye Nerdy (#2.11)" (2005)

Banda de Sonido:

The Torturer's Apprentice

Before "The Golden Compass", and before "Stardust"

And all the other fantasy market driven flicks to come out in recent years at the time of this writing, there was Gilliam's take on Munchausen.

Though the miniature effects by today's standards might seem rather primitive, the scope and scale of the film, combined with some exceptional and exquisite art direction and acting, create an incredible visual tapestry. Unknown to much of the audience at the time, Gilliam's film was to be the future of movies in terms of genre and character exposition. I and an acquaintance of mine at the time were hopeful that "The Adventures of Baron Munchausen" would succeed, because then it would open the doors for other "superhero" films, and push story telling to its limits. But, that was back in 1989, and the boom that we anticipated took some fifteen years to take off. Well, at least our careers weren't riding on that hedge... but I digress.

The other aspect of this film, as I was reminded of on the IMDb BBS, is that the story itself is a blend of both an old Russian tale, "The Fool of the World and the Flying Ship", and Rupert Raspe's take on Baron Munchausen's tall tales. In short, without divulging facts of either sets of fables, the Baron, as originally portrayed, was just a little too robust, and the Russian tale offers a chance to splinter the Baron's self aggrandizement.

Some facts you won't find in the film; Baron Munchausen was a real man, and liked to "brag" about himself (to put it mildly). He actually fought for the Turks, being a German mercenary for hire. He claimed to have all kinds of amazing abilities with a gentleman's character (even having visited Royalty as well as the U.S. and the president in the white-house), but was more or less simply a soldier of fortune.

Gilliam's film, in this vein, pays homage to Munchausen, real and fictional alike by playing fast and loose with the "facts" of his dual existence. In this way it's a pleasant ride, and the sets and locations are incredible to look at.

Critiques; there's a couple of miniature shots that bug me--in particular the ballroom dancing sequence. I'm sure it was a difficult shot to get, but some articulation of the models was really a must to sell this sequence. Using a process shot for the closeups kind of added to the destruction of the illusion. Putting the actors on a scissor's life, and shooting them against the actual set would've served the production better, and probably saved money (a must for this production). Also, it's a tragedy the moon sequence, as originally envisioned, wasn't realized. Were left with two actors to carry that sequence, instead of the highly populated kingdom as described in the actual tales.

The new DVD is a blessing. The colors and details of the film are far richer than the original DVD release. The colors are vibrant and rich in luminosity. They accentuate the late 18th century visual thrust that this film is attempting to deliver. On top of that the overall level of visual information has been enhanced from both initial DVD and VHS releases. One can almost feel the texture of the clothes and clouds as they scroll and undulate across the screen. A definite plus.

A very fine film that predates superhero and fantasy genres by almost a couple of decades. As I stated earlier, some of the SFX may not hold, but the overall scope of the film should prove more than a counterweight to this, and give to the viewer an emotional and visual effulgent experience.

WARNING; it's not a film for everyone. As a family film it skirts the edges of PG and PG-13 territory, and the far-out nature of the film may be a bit too existential for some adults to absorb. Still, I liked it very much.

Enjoy :-)