Guest Author - Lisa Shea

Directed by Terry Gilliam, this Pythonesque classic stars Uma Thurman, Oliver Reed, Robin Williams, Eric Idle and even Sting makes an appearance!

Baron Karl Friedrich Hieronymous von Munchausen was a real man in the late 1700s - and a series of fantastic stories was written about him in 1785 by Rudolph Raspe. Kids have loved these tales for hundreds of years, and Terry Gilliam thought they'd make a great foil for his creativity-vs-logic argument.

Some of the outdoor scenes were done near Zaragoza, Spain. Others were done in Italy. The movie boasted amazing (for the time) special effects and the film was in serious jeopardy of being shut down many times for going over budget. Sean Connery was supposed to be in it; the man who directed Name of the Rose was supposed to be involved too. In the end they had to cut out many scenes, make do with substitutions on sets (i.e. the sliding-2D-moon town) and the film did not do well in the US.

Europe enjoyed the film, though, and over the years the movie has become something of a cult classic. Note that there was a German film in 1942 by the same name.

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