Re: The Adventures of Baron Munchausen (Blu-ray) - Apr. 8, 2008
High-def Time Bandits is certainly a must. And Brazil. I feel rather spoiled that my particular favorite out of his celebrated trilogy of 80s fantasies made it onto blu-ray first.
I spun up the Munchausen disc last night, with the commentary on, and watched the documentary.
I found the transfer (viewed on a 110" Carada screen with an image thrown by a Panasonic PT-AE1000U 1080p projector being fed by a PS3) to be pretty terrific. Not as sharp as Casino Royale or anything, but it's still a beautiful image, offering details that no one's seen 1989, and vastly superior to the previous DVD release.
As this film is something of a baroque Blade Runner in terms of design, with information and visual jokes packed into all corners of the frame, the extra detail is much appreciated. This is obviously the best this film has looked and sounded on video, and I doubt you'll find many films from this era looking much better in the home.
Can't really speak to the soundtrack yet, as I had the commentary on. The commentary is all-new, with Gilliam and co-writer Charles McKeown reminiscing frankly and entertainingly about the ridiculously tumultuous and arduous shoot. I was a bit surprised not to hear any mention of The Imaginarium of Dr. Parnassus, on which the two are collaborating again, and which seems (at least by the plot details I've gleaned) to be kindred to Munchausen in its themes.
The documentary is pretty healthy, clocking in around 75 minutes according to DVD Beaver (which sounds about right). Gilliam, McKeown, Eric Idle, John Neville, Jonathan Pryce, Dante Ferreti, producer Thomas Schuhly, FX guru Richard Conway, and even Sarah Polley and Robin Williams all take part. Schuhly (sp?) is particularly entertaining -- he's the inexperienced but enthusiastic producer who (along with Gilliam himself) is generally credited with having allowed the production to become the beautiful disaster it did. Schuhly is aware of his reputation, and attempts to clear his name, not always convincingly, and ending almost every other sentence with "Ja?"
There are also deleted scenes (familiar to owners of the Criterion set), storyboards, and an in-movie trivia track feature that I haven't sampled yet. No trailers, I'm afraid. Well, none for Munchausen (The Water Horse trailer doesn't count).
Speaking as someone who's been dizzily in love with this film since its (pitifully limited) U.S. theatrical release in March 1989, I think I can safely say this is my favorite blu-ray release so far. It's not the most comprehensive disc out there, but it's better than I had any reason to believe it would be, given the film's vintage and relatively small (but ever-growing) cult of admirers.
--Jefferson Morris
