Movie Night: Absolutely Fabulous

Well, yesterday was Movie Night at Babeloth, and my contribution was suggesting The Fabulous Baron Munchausen, a 1962 Czechoslovakian film version of the Munchausen legend that utilizes a combination of live action and various types of animation. In it a contemporary astronaut named Tonik lands on the moon and discovers several legendary moon explorers, including Cyrano de Bergerac, characters from Jules Vernes’ From the Earth to the Moon, and of course, Baron Munchausen. The astronaut’s outlandish gear makes them mistake him for a moon native, and they determine that Munchausen should escort him to earth to show him how humans live.

When they descend, however, they seem to have traveled to the earth of the Baron’s time. They then recapitulate several of the Baron’s escapades, including clashes with Turkish forces, the rescue of a Princess, and travels inside a giant fish that swallows them. Despite the Baron’s best efforts, the Princess falls increasingly in love with Tonik, who overcomes his rationalist tendencies and becomes a romantic hero, even to the extent of devising an improbable plan (aided by Munchausen) to rescue the Princess when they are trapped in a warlike fortress. They are all three blown back to the moon, where Tonik and the Princess live happily ever after as heroes of romance.

Many of the special effects and backgrounds were based on the famous Gustav Dore illustrations of the classic edition. Terry Gilliam revealed that his own The Adventures of Baron Munchausen were influenced by a 1980’s viewing of the 1962 Film:

“I remember when I was doing Baron Munchausen seeing a picture in a [British Film Institute] catalogue from Karel Zeman's Baron Munchausen and saying, "Wow, what is this?" and eventually seeing the film, and saying, "Wow, that's great," because he did what I'm still trying to do, which is to try and combine live action with animation. His Doré-esque backgrounds were wonderful. The film captured the real spirit of the character.” – quoted on Wikipedia.

The film was given a digital restoration in 2016; the restored version is about six minutes shorter and omits 27 scenes. This is the version that we watched, and I have to say, although there was some doubt whether the younger generation would be entertained by the ‘primitive’ effects (we had just watched Kong: Skull Island, 2017), a good time was had by all.

The Fabulous Baron Munchausen

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aeDF_OvQtPk&list=RDaeDF_OvQtPk&start_radio=1

Terry Gilliam introduces The Fabulous Baron Munchausen

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dxQpRAtz3LU