Münchhausen is a 1943 fantasy comedy film directed by Josef von Báky, a prominent director who remained in Germany under the Nazi regime. Despite being made in Nazi Germany, this film is noted for the way in which it was able to avoid the politics of the time. Science Fiction author David Wingrove has commented that this work "sidesteps immediate political issues whilst conjuring up marvellous visual images of an ageless pastoral Germany."
Writer Erich Kästner is widely reported to be billed as "Berthold Bürger" on this film, but there is in fact no writing credit at all. Kästner was a banned author in Nazi Germany and his books were among those burnt in 1933, which might account for the lack of writing credit here.
Josef Goebbels, Reichsminister of propaganda and also chief of the German UFA-studios, ordered this film to be made for the 25th anniversary of the UFA.
The length of this film, according to the Deutsche Filminstitut, was originally 134 minutes, or 3662 meters (March 1943). However, a mere three months later, it had been pruned to 118 minutes (3225 meters). After the war, the next version (December 1949) was 105 minutes, the 1954 version 101 minutes, the version for general audiences (shown that year) 88 minutes. The currently restored version, assembled by the Murnau Foundation in 1995, clocks in at 114 minutes.
