Münchhausen (Munchhausen) 1943 - 2/18/20

[James Luckard]

I just saw that KL is releasing this film next month:


https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B082JQB38T/

In early 1943, just as Nazi Germany began its collapse with the surrender at Stalingrad, the Ufa Studios released an elaborate super-spectacle to celebrate the company’s 25th anniversary. Produced at the enormous cost of 6.5 million Reichsmarks, Münchhausen was the German response to such extravaganzas as Britain's The Thief of Bagdad and Hollywood’s The Wizard of Oz, both of which were jealously admired by Propaganda Minister Goebbels. Starring hypnotic, blond superstar Hans Albers, this lavish, impudent, adult fairy tale takes the viewer from 18th-century Braunschweig to St. Petersburg, Constantinople, Venice, and then to the moon using ingenious special effects, stunning location shooting, and a rich color palette.

Special Features:
-Audio commentary by film historian Samm Deighan
-Theatrical trailer
-Documentary on the production and restoration
-1944 Animated short by Hans Held
-Samples of Agfacolor restoration

I watched it in college when I wrote a parer on entertainment propaganda films of the Third Reich. It's fascinating to see an epic color fantasy/comedy like this that was filmed as some of the most awful events in history were happening around it.

It was written by the famous anti-Nazi novelist Erich Kästner. The Nazis had forbidden him to publish in Germany, but he was given a special exemption by Joseph Goebbels to write this film, using a pseudonym. The making of the film must have been even more fascinating and compelling than the film itself, so I'm looking forward to the documentary and commentary.

As for the film, it's difficult in many ways to divorce it from the circumstances under which it was made, but it's a classic of German cinema and I'm glad to see it getting a restored release.

By the way, I put the film's title in the subject line both with and without an umlaut, so people can find it more easily when they search.