Hope for a Criterion DVD Release


I saw this movie in the theater when I was ten years old and multiple times in the summer of 1990 on Showtime. It introduced me to the genius of Terry Gilliam. The first two films in the "Dreams Trilogy" are available in DVD form through Criterion. "Time Bandits" and "Brazil" are great additions to the Criterion DVD catalog, but I really think they need to go out of their way to put out Baron Munchausen.

It was released in 1992 on Laserdisc through Criterion and it came with a slew of great bonus features. 4 Deleted Scenes, Storyboards, Making-of-Documentary, and commentary from Terry himself.

As far as those people who don't like this film, I can understand. It is truly an acquired taste. But I think I can watch it almost anytime anyday and never be bored. Go figure. If anyone knows of a petition that exists online or where I can start one up, please respond and let me know. Thanks for reading!

"Don't think you are....Know you are"-Morpheus

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I recently read through almost all of the book Gilliam on Gilliam, in-depth take on his life and career in films. The stuff about Baron Munchausen was pretty shocking, the amount of *beep* Gilliam had to put up with via his ridiculous producer and a stalwart Italian crew. When asked if he would want to put together a restored 'director's cut', which is sort of in two answers (the first question being what was missing from his final release version, the second being if he would ever make a restored cut for a Criterion DVD release), here's what he said:

1) It's not any one thing. It's a question of pacing; I think we ended up rushing some sections, so it becomes a bit of a jumble - like conducting an orchestra too fast. An extra five minutes would make a big difference. In my films there's always a danger of being swamped by the visuals, that's my albatross; and I think the longer version of Munchausen wasn't so frentic, so you had time to absorb the ideas. Our first cut ran three hours and I thought it was just perfect. it was so dreamlike, it floated; you could just wallow in those images or listen to the ideas. Now I find it whizzes past in a rush and Michael Kamen's music is probably too loud and too in your face. By the end there was so much energy pushing to get the film out that it actually hurt it.

2) I don't think I have the energy for it. I had a chance when we did the laserdisc, but it would be a hugely expensive process to dig out all the stuff and I would have to recut the film, so it would cost hundreds of thousands of dollars. Nobody's going to give me the money for that, since the film didn't make any money in the first place. What the editing down didn't do was solve the problem of getting the film released properly - which is what I was aiming for. I would have been happy with two hours twenty minutes - which would have been a better film - but we ended up with two hours.



so, some bleak words sad to say. Maybe some day someone will come forth and give Gilliam that kind of money, but till then, what we got is what we got. Personally, I would LOVE to see a three-hour cut of Munchausen, as it stands I give the final release version a 7/10, but for three hours, or even 140 minutes, who knows...





I prefer to be amazed by motivation, not manipulation.- Roger Ebert

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Wow.

I think the expense would definately be recouped in sales. I'd certainly buy a Criterion edition of a 3-hour Gilliam fantasy epic.

I'm extremely sorry to hear that he was forced to cut his intended theatrical release, and those comments (assuming they're his) do hit on some aspects of the film that I always thought were a bit klunky.

The pacing is off, it does seemed rush, and somewhat kludged together in certain parts. Even so I still like the film a great deal, but am now thirsty for the 3-hour version.

Wow, again. I really don't know what to say about that.

I was always under the impression that Gilliam had kind of gone wacko by wanting to spend money for the sake of it. I think he actually wrote that he wanted to make a movie that was prohibitively expensive... but maybe I'm not remembering that correctly.

Wow.

I too hope someone gives him the money to complete his work.

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*beep* it, lets put all gilliam films on criterion. seriously. especially tideland. grimm, maybe... I seem to be the only gilliam fanboy who actually liked that film a lot.

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all his movies are amazing even grimm. and it would be awesome if a series of his movies were released on criterion, but a better thing would be to release the imagination trilogy. dreams

there will be no fighting in the war room

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yeah i got it from borders for $10...good investment...one of the first movies i vivdly remember seeing in the theaters! that whole moon scene, inside the whale's stomach scene, that whole part where their falling from the moon through space, the dancing in the air....all parts i had in my memory banks for years...and finally i got to freakin' see it all again....and you know what? it may not be as great as it was when i was five or six...but its still pretty damn cool.

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Gilliam has just been in Berlin for a retrospective of his films. In a public QnA he mentioned an elaborate multi-content HD-DVD-Box of Munchhausen that he has been working on. He says he had seen the movie for the first time in ten years, and "wow, it's a good film".
I don't know if it will feature a recut of the movie, though.

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This is great news!

I have felt for some time that, psychologically speaking, he needed to find closure and happiness about Munchausen before he could restart Quixote. I really hope this box set comes about, and we finally get the dreamlike three hour cut.

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Very excellent news.

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WOOHOO! Closure to a very long running thread, too!

I know Kung Fu.

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I hope that Gilliam finally gets the chance to incorporate the 20-30 minutes worth of footage that he was pressured to excise.

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I spoke with Terry Gilliam today, at a signing for the DVD release of Tideland, and said that the studio had got all excited about Munchausen and were giving it the full remastering - deleted scenes - etc treatment, though he didn't say that he was 're-editing' it: it looks as if we might not get the complete 3hr version. Oh well. I still have some hope it will one day happen, but for now we should be greatful that the studio, and increasingly critics and the public, respect the film.

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Any additional work is welcome. One of my favorite films; it deserves a release treated with TLC by someone who really cares about it.

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That's awesome, I hope it does make it to release. However, I don't think HD-DVD is going to be around much longer. It would make more sense to be on blu-ray, since Columbia-Tristar is now Sony Pictures and Sony owns Blu-Ray. Oh, well, hopefully we'll see.

"Where we're from, the birds sing a pretty song. And there's always music in the air."

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it's 2013 and now i'm waiting for the blu-ray

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I just got the blu-ray with tons of features for $10 brand new. Worth the wait. I loved this when it was in theatres.









'Then' and 'than' are completely different words and have completely different meanings.

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