This is the greatest Russian film of all time and the late, great Oleg Yankovsky gives a performance for the ages. Yankovsky is given probably the hardest task an actor has ever been given, to make the Baron a believable human and a man who always tells the truth. If you don't believe him the film fails miserably. As he says, "Baron Munchausen is famous not for flying to the moon but for never telling a lie." And you do believe him and root for him to overcome all obstacles and settle down with his beloved Marta. The ending is one of the greatest in all Russian film as the Baron goes on to immortality.Photography is spectacular as are the sets and this film is the only one that has a song sung by a 15 1/2' woman! And the Baron's theme is unforgettable.If you only see one Russian film, see this or An Ordinary Miracle, both with Yankovsky and both directed by Mark Zakharov.

The film is based on a brilliant screenplay by G. Gorin.It uses an all-star cast of some of the best Soviet theater actors, so it borrows a lot (in a good way) from a theatrical performance, while still remaining a "movie".The film succeeded in creatng a witty, powerful, sentimental yet funny story of a very uneven battle between color and dullness, between personal freedom, especially freedom of mind, and constricting pressure of conformist society that tries to destroy anybody who refuses to be just like everybody else.I gave it 9 points.

Most of the time it would be difficult for one to describe one's favourite piece of anything: favourite movie, book, composer or even dish. It is normally the same for me, however, when it comes to movies I always answer "Tot samiy Munchgausen" is my all time favourite. You could hardly find another movie full of such an amazing combination of perfectly matched ingredients, ie. humour, romantics, superb screenplay, incredible cast with the best Russian actors involved and, of course, the best (in my opinion) Russian director Mark Zakharov who brought these all to be a masterpiece. The movie makes you laugh and think all at the same time. Every word, phrase and scene are full of such deep meaning that makes you watch this movie over and over again. I don't know if the movie was ever translated into English, or French, but I would so much like all people could see this. This one just gets 10 of 10.

The script for the movie (available as a book, BTW) is absolutely superb - all punch lines without a filler. The movie thus is liable to become a vehicle for just delivering the brilliant text with minimum of acting and that it essentially became. Still utterly enjoyable this movie does not have much in a way of acting despite a star-N-stud cast and M. Zakharov as a director.