The Adventures of Baron Munchausen

"You do believe me, don't you?"

"I'm doing my best."

With explosions in the background, a troupe of actors perform a show about the amazing / fantastical adventures of Baron Munchausen.  The show is interrupted by a man claiming to be the real Baron (Neville), who says they are telling the story wrong... and picks up the narrative, enlisting the aid of the cast.  He claims to be the reason the city is under siege: the Turk (Peter Jeffrey) wants the Baron's head.  The show is interrupted again, by stray cannon fire.  The players and audience scatter.

The Baron believes the world no longer believes in him and wishes for death.

 "I'm tired of the world and the world is evidently tired of me."

"But why? Why?"
"Why, why, why! Because it's all logic and reason now. Science, progress, laws of hydraulics, laws of social dynamics, laws of this, that, and the other. No place for three-legged cyclops in the South Seas. No place for cucumber trees and oceans of wine. No place for me."

But he is stopped by the faith of a child, Sally (Polley).  With Sally's help, the Baron plans to find his amazing friends/servants so they can defeat the Turk, again.  They fashion a balloon out of women's undergarments and set out to find Berthold (Idle) the worldest fastest man, Albrecht (Dennis) who has incredible strength, Adolphus (McKeown) a marksman with incredible sight (and accuracy), Gustavus (Purvis) who has extraordinary hearing and the ability to literally blow away the competition, and the Baron's horse Bucephalus.

But will his friends agree to help?  Will they get back in enough time?  And what is really happening?


I love fairytales...  Especially the old German ones where anything could (and did) happen.  You know that it can't really happen, but you really wish it would happen.  And for that reason, I really enjoyed this film.  It is like a cross between a fairytale and reality, and like Sally, you don't really know what to believe.

The characters go to a slew of interesting places: the moon, to a planet inhabited by gods and goddesses, the belly of a rather large fish... and meet interesting characters.  The sequences are interesting, but some seem to drag out longer than others.  From what I have read there were many production issues (like money and interference from the studio/producers) which could have contributed to this problem... but perhaps the writers/director overreached their original vision or the technology that was available at the time.

All of the actors and actresses involved are talented and fit their roles well.  It was nice to see another former Python in the cast (Eric Idle), and it was interesting to see Uma Thurman and Sarah Polley towards the beginning of their careers.  It was also fun to see other Gilliam regulars, like Jack Purvis (Gustavus), Charles McKeown (Adolphus) and Jonathan Pryce (Horatio Jackson).  Once again Pryce is a great villain (like in "The Brothers Grimm," also directed by Terry Gilliam).

Overall, I didn't have any major objections to this film.  It was funny at times, sad at times, and serious/scary when necessary.  This film was to viewed as part of a trilogy of the ages of men (or thats how people view it) with "Time Bandits" as adolescence, "Brazil" as adulthood, and "The Adventures of Baron Munchausen" as old age, and I think that works as well.  Either way, an enjoyable film.  Not the best, but still good.

The Adventures of Baron Munchausen (1988) 126 minutes
Director: Terry Gilliam
Starring: John Neville as Hieronymus Karl Frederick Baron von Munchausen
Eric Idle as Berthold / Desmond
Sarah Polley as Sally
Charles McKeown as Adolphus / Rupert
Winston Dennis as Albrecht / Bill
Jack Purvis as Gustavus / Jeremy
Jonathan Pryce as The Right Ordinary Horatio Jackson