Baron Munchausen 1979 Russian television film "The Very Same Munchhausen", directed by Mark Zakharov from Grigori Gorin's screenplay, produced and released by Mosfilm. The film, a satirical commentary on Soviet censorship and social mores, imagines an ostracized Baron attempting to prove the truth of his adventures in a disbelieving and conformity-driven world. In 1988, Terry Gilliam adapted the Raspe stories into a lavish Hollywood film, "The Adventures of Baron Munchausen", with the British stage actor and director John Neville in the lead. Roger Ebert, in his review of the film, described Neville's Baron as a man who "seems sensible and matter-of-fact, as
The Adventures of Baron Munchausen are never more than a detail in Gilliam's compositions". Richard Corliss wrote: Everything about "Munchausen" deserves exclamation points, and not just to clear the air of the odor of corporate flop sweat. So here it is! A lavish fairy tale for bright children of all ages! Proof that eccentric films can survive in today's off-the-rack Hollywood! The most inventive fantasy since, well, "Brazil!" You may not believe it, ladies and gentlemen, but it's all true. Vincent Canby called the film "consistently imaginative" and a "spectacle [that] is indeed spectacular and worth the admission price and patches of boredom"; he said