I agree: Get this Stateside, somehow. I was lucky to view a German-marketed Region 2 DVD, opting to hear the Czech dialogue with English subtitles, some of which were embarrassingly fleeting. I may next opt to listen to it in German...I learned of Zeman as a youth with the occasional broadcast of "The Fabulous World of Jules Verne" (in a word, fabulous). This retelling of select tales of Baron Munchausen appeared with the next highest recommendation from fellow users.It's a retelling with great style and no small amount of innovation. It had to have influenced the animation of Terry Gilliam among many others. Principally stop-motion, occasionally mixed with cel animation and live action, and an at-times monochrome background likely changed by hand. Of course the style is dated but well suited for a dated story, and therein lies the film's timeless charm.Familiarity with the tales may slow the viewer's perception of the film's pace. The sandwiched sequence is also familiar: The visit to the Sultan's palace; escape to the sea, getting swallowed by a whale and keeping company in its cavernous gut; and the comical resolution of a battle between warring European powers.What's unfamiliar is an opening and ending with a cosmonaut who meets other fabled travelers to the Moon and eventually wins the hand of a lovely princess on whom the Baron also has designs. But I frankly need re-view and determine just how the princess dismounts from "Tony's" swimming horse while he goes straight to another island...Genuine wit, some of it very dry and some mixed with slapstick, helps bridge if not punctuate the FX. ("Jules Verne" doesn't have as much.) An imaginative musical score that verges on the wacky. And acting that is refreshingly relaxed and subdued. This Baron is no blow-hard but so innately gallant that he just can't help but rely upon his most powerful weapon...his imagination...to repeatedly save the day.The film is perhaps not for the children unless one or both parents are around to help explain the historical context, the action, and its decidedly off-the-track pace. But it's a durable treat nonetheless.

By now, nearly everyone should be familiar with the Munchausen story or, at least, some portion of it even if shi didn't grown up on these German drinking boasts which got way out of hand. This is not the first or last treatment of the braggart Baron, but this version has a charm that many others lack. The film is shot, predominantly in sepia tone with occasional bits in exaggerated color for artistic emphasis. Those who recall the pink coat in Schindler's List will have some idea of what is happening. But, in this case, the effect is not so much an attempt to indicate a major event that was necessarily slighted in the film. Rather, it helps to emphasize the aspects of the fantastic and the fairy tale romanticism that the director is emphasizing. The live actors are shot against an animated background and are often blithely unaware of the fantastic things that are sweeping around them while they concern themselves with the essentially silly issues of their lives. This is Czech animation which seems rather exotic to those of us raised on Disney-esque 'realism'. Still, it's stylism adds a charm to the film that helps to reinforce the multiple layers that the director has built into this piece. You should not attempt to become involved in the film so much as to sit back and marvel at the world that is passing unobserved by those passing through it. When it has finished,you will want to watch it again and again to catch how all the different visual layers interact in your mind if not on the screen. If I had to compare this effect to any other film, I suppose I would choose the way that Altman weaves the foreground and background into the midground in "M*A*S*H", though the two films are very different and have completely different statements about the world. This is a fantasy and it is truly fantastic, but only on an adult level. Children will have many questions that all come down to 'why is it happening that way?' For children, fantasy is a chance to dream dreams and play games. This is a film for adults that has found an adult way to present the wit and contradiction of the original stories while acting out the ingenuousness of the characters' actions. See this one. It deserves your attention.

Unfortunately, I was only able to see the Czech version one time. But it made a lasting impression on me and I've been looking for it ever since but just can't seem to get my hands on it. It's elusive, but well worth searching out. I thought I had it once at a rental store, only to find out it was the 1943 Nazi version and it just didn't capture the surrealism that the 1961 Czech version did. When Terry Gilliam's version came out in 1988, it disappointed in comparison as well.So, if you liked the 1988 remake, you owe it to yourself to see the Czech version - if you can get your hands on it!

One of the most imaginative, faithful, haunting versions of Munchausen ever. Zeman was a genius that no one seems to remember. A masterpiece of live action and stop motion using Doré's etchings as a springboard.The fact that this movie hasn't ben resurrected and distributed (on video at least), is a true tragedy. I haven't seen it for years, but I'll never forget it. Just stunning.