- Highlight
- #1
So, I was looking for clips of Terry Gilliam's The Adventures of Baron Munchausen, when for reasons I cannot explain, I came across another version of the tale:
Yes, my friend, you read right: this is a light hearted action comedy that was released in Germany, in 1943. While the final days of Paulus and his 6th Army around Stalingrad were over, and the beginning of the collapse of the Eastern Front, and the tidal waves of steel & fury from the Red Army were beginning to be felt, the average citizen of the Reich, or its occupied territories could go into a cinema, and enjoy this piece of high fantasy!
This film in particular was commissioned by Dr Goebbels himself, who, unlike his Boss, believed escapism to be an essential part of keeping the spirits of the Master Race high, especially when things were going steadily from tolerable, to Hell on earth. It is only the 3rd film to be shot in the Reich with color film, as this was restricted due to embargoes, and the Germans had to invent their own process of making it.
There's a few interesting little tidbits about the movie. A lot of the swanky props were in fact museum pieces, taken from actual museums. A number of the extras were all SS, charged with keeping an eye on the museum loot, to ensure that none of it disappeared. Han Albers, who plays the wacky Baron, had a Jewess lover, and managed to shield her by being the biggest box office stud in German cinema.
Watching this film is an eerie, fascinating experience. Production started in 1941, when the Reich was at the zenith of its power. When it was released in 1943, things had gone wrong, and the chances of victory, and survival, were past.
Aside from those things, it's a genuinely fun movie. There's not really the sort of things you'd expect in a movie from that time, and that place. The purpose was pure escapism, and it worked.
Anyways, I was curious: if I could find a surprisingly watchable movie from The 1,000 Year Reich, is there anybody else out there who has?
Yes, my friend, you read right: this is a light hearted action comedy that was released in Germany, in 1943. While the final days of Paulus and his 6th Army around Stalingrad were over, and the beginning of the collapse of the Eastern Front, and the tidal waves of steel & fury from the Red Army were beginning to be felt, the average citizen of the Reich, or its occupied territories could go into a cinema, and enjoy this piece of high fantasy!
This film in particular was commissioned by Dr Goebbels himself, who, unlike his Boss, believed escapism to be an essential part of keeping the spirits of the Master Race high, especially when things were going steadily from tolerable, to Hell on earth. It is only the 3rd film to be shot in the Reich with color film, as this was restricted due to embargoes, and the Germans had to invent their own process of making it.
There's a few interesting little tidbits about the movie. A lot of the swanky props were in fact museum pieces, taken from actual museums. A number of the extras were all SS, charged with keeping an eye on the museum loot, to ensure that none of it disappeared. Han Albers, who plays the wacky Baron, had a Jewess lover, and managed to shield her by being the biggest box office stud in German cinema.
Watching this film is an eerie, fascinating experience. Production started in 1941, when the Reich was at the zenith of its power. When it was released in 1943, things had gone wrong, and the chances of victory, and survival, were past.
Aside from those things, it's a genuinely fun movie. There's not really the sort of things you'd expect in a movie from that time, and that place. The purpose was pure escapism, and it worked.
Anyways, I was curious: if I could find a surprisingly watchable movie from The 1,000 Year Reich, is there anybody else out there who has?
