Baron Karl Friedrich Hieronymus Freiherr von Münchhausen

I have seen and own both the 1943 German film and the 1988 film directed by Terry Gilliam of Baron Munchausen. For those of you who know me well, The Adventures of Baron Muchausen starring John Neville is one of my all time favorite movies. I can't get enough of the film and it's a shame it was so poorly recieved. But unfortunately, people lack imagination and the ability to suspend their disbelief when it comes to movies.

And some people are just stupid in general and have to complain throughout a movie just because THEY don't understand it and are too arrogant to admit it...

...but I digress.

I finally got the opportunity to buy the Kino release of Münchhausen (1943). Kino is a great company who released and restores rare films like The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari, Münchhausen and The Extra Girl which starred the lovely Mabel Normand. In the case of Caligari, they even went in and added the different sepia tones the director had used to paint the film. For someone like me who was only use to bad copies of Caligari, it was a real treat to see it as it was suppose to be seen.

What makes Münchhausen so interesting is it is in fact a propaganda film created by Ufa Studios to commemorate the company's 25th Anniversary. It was produced at 6.5 Million Reichsmarks and filmed in Agfacolor. It was the Nazi's response to films like Britians The Thief of Bagdad and Hollywood's The Wizard of Oz.

AND the movie is it was actually scripted by banned Jewish writer Erich Kastner under a pseudonym.

It's a beautiful film, but at the same time it's somewhat strange to watch realizing the bloodshed and the lives lost to the Nazi oppression at the time. I read online a really good comment someone wrote which read: "It's like looking at a beautiful painting but realizing the horror and atrocity behind that painting. Is it still to be considereda beautiful painting".

It makes for an interesting arguement.

I had also started flipping through the original book by Rudolf Erich Raspe with illustrations by Gustave Dore. I've been putting some thought into creating a Baron Muchausen graphic novel sometime down the road. Both films about Muchausen take the stories with the directors own unique twist to them.

I had thought about perhaps doing my adaptation directly from the stories. There were some really great scenes that didn't make it in either the 1943 and 1988 films that I would love to do.

I had also thought about using my own Dad as the basis for Baron Munchausen. Not that he's a teller of tall tales. But when he does reminisce, his stories from his past are very engaging and amusing.

But I still have to get through the remaining 11 pages of Sherlock Holmes and a couple other pet projects I'm working on with other people before I can think about starting this one.

But I think it would make an excellent graphic novel.