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The Adventures of Baron Munchausen
(1988, UK)
In writer/director Terry Gilliam's absurdist and imaginative "fantasy
to end all fantasies" - a story-within-a-story:
- the fabulous and fanciful misadventures (illustrated
with expensive special effects) of a legendary late-17th century
European aristocrat (John Neville) who was a reputed chronic liar
-- to the moon in a hot-air balloon created with inflated ladies'
underwear along with a stowaway girl Sally Salt (Sarah Polley)
to meet the King of the Moon (uncredited Robin Williams) who could
detach his head from his body while making love to the Queen of
the Moon (Valentina Cortese)
- their entrance into the interior of a fiery volcano
and into the presence of the Roman god Vulcan (Oliver Reed) where
the goddess Venus (Uma Thurman) made a spectacular birth entrance
from a giant clamshell - and then the Baron experienced a lyrical
spinning airborne dance with her
- the group's entrance into the belly of a whale-sized
sea monster where he was reunited with his white horse Bucephalus
and used his snuff to 'sneeze' their way out through the whale's
blowhole
- the scene of the Baron's own shooting "death" or
assassination by city official "The Right Ordinary Horatio Jackson" (Jonathan
Pryce) during a victory parade when his life's soul was taken by
the Grim Reaper 'doctor' - as the Baron's body was lowered into a
grave
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Grim Reaper Taking the Baron
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Death of Baron
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The Baron Riding Off
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- and the characterizations of the Baron's friends,
including fast-running Berthold (Eric Idle), Adolphus (Charles
McKeown) with miraculous sight for sharp-shooting, wind-blowing
Gustavus (Jack Purvis) and super-strong Albrecht (Winston Dennis)
- the film's twist - the Baron's fabricated tale was
also a made-up "story within a story" - it was the final
scene of another tall-tale staged story the fabulist was telling
the audience as he appeared back on stage and told the audience: "And
that was only one of the many occasions on which I met my death,
an experience which I don't hesitate strongly to recommend!"
- Sally Salt - the young daughter of the theater company's
leader, remarked incredulously: "It wasn't just a story, was
it?"
- in the finale, the Baron strode through the city's
opened gates, rode off onto a faraway hillside onto a faraway hillside
on his horse Bucephalus, saluted the town, and then cryptically disappeared
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The Baron in Hot-Air Balloon with Stowaway Sally
King of the Moon
Goddess Venus
(Uma Thurman)
Sally Salt (Sarah Polley): "It wasn't just a story,
was it?"
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