Some claim that this film was made to boost sagging Nazi morale as their world conquest began to falter in early 1943. Please, people, think a moment. This film took two years to make, so if it was released in spring 1943, it would have gone into production in early '41, when the Nazis were still on the rise toward their late 1942 peak of conquest. Plus, the pre-production must have taken a while also, so this film probably started in the conceptual stage as far back as 1939 or 1940! Munchhausen has a swashbuckling feel - with cavalier characters performing outrageous stunts with seeming effortlessness. The funniest is the runner who zips through the countryside like a rocket and isn't even out of breath when he stops. Hans Albers is both good and bad as the lead. He is clearly too old to fit the description of an eternally young man (the jowls alone are a dead giveaway), but his coolly aristocratic and macho bearing seem to suit the type he is playing, so you are able to go along with it. The casual female nudity in the harem scene is another reminder of how advanced over Hollywood the European cinema was in its attitude toward the body. The film's depiction of blacks is no more or less racist than Hollywood's at the time.Although scene flows quickly into scene - there is nevertheless a tedium about the whole business, perhaps because the emotional tone within the scenes is so cool and so talky. No one seems to feel anything very deeply, so it's hard for the audience to feel anything much either. All we can do is applaud the sumptuous set pieces, the endless stunts and cleverness, and chuckle at the silly "magic tricks" like the clothing that dances or the ointment that makes mustaches spring from clean-shaven faces or the gun whose sight can see a target many miles away.

I found the film to be very enjoyable. I was impressed with the use of color. The film used Agfacolor film, which if memory serves me correctly was based on pastels, not at all like Technicolor. The film is very rich and vibrant in its cinematography and color, this is very much appreciated when one sees the work that went into the Moon set.Hans Albers plays an arrogant but lovable rogue who takes many, many years to learn the lesson of what is truly important in a mans life.I am in agreement with one reviewer in that this film is not at all for children and should be screened carefully, this is a European film and the Hayes Act didn't exist in Germany.

Might contain SPOILERSAlthough ordered by Goebbels, the propaganda minister, this movie is not only not a propaganda film, it is actually exactly the absolute opposite, thanks to Erich Kästner. There are two lovely scenes: When the Baron is the Turkish palace, someone, can't remember who, says that all humans are equal. We all know, but remember the time and place when this movie was filmed.Some facts before the 2nd scene, 4 years before the German army invaded Poland and now (1943) it is still war. Münchhausen says something like: We shouldn't invade Poland, our country is big enough. (I still can't imagine how this got in the movie)These two subversive scenes make this film so humane and special.

This is a perplexing film. For all of its ambition, it falls to pieces regularly. There are moments of beauty and spectacle, but never long enough to stick; moments of humor and sentiment are brief and forced. There is no suspense, no real sex, no warmth and ultimately, no heart. One can be impressed, but not moved. For all the fashionable dumping on Hollywood, American pictures of this era, even when stupid, never reached the bleak, impersonal aridity of this epic.Also, the VHS version I saw began with screen notes mentioning that there were few technicians in 1943 Germany who were familiar with special effects. The reason given was that nothing on this scale had been attempted since the silent era. This is dishonest nonsense. The real reason was that the majority of German special effects people had either exiled themselves abroad or been incinerated. The German film industry didn't begin to recover from the Nazis until the 1970's.Terry Gilliam's recent remake is neither better nor worse, just different.