Les Fabuleuses Aventures du légendaire baron de Münchhausen

Les fabuleuses aventures du légendaire Baron de Munchausen (translation: The Fabulous Adventures of the Legendary Baron Munchausen) is a 1979 animation fantasy co-written, directed and produced by Jean Image under his own production company, Films Jean Image, with Studio Jean Image for the animation. A French production, the film adapts the tall tales of the 18th-century German nobleman, Baron Munchausen, and his exploits as a hunter, soldier and statesman, including his fantastic quests and his entourage of extraordinary servants. The movie was followed by a sequel, Le secret des sélénites, also written and directed by Image, produced in 1982 and released in 1984.

Baron Munchausen entertains his noble guests with imaginative stories about his hunting prowess (often accompanied by his hunting dog Diana (Zounds in the English translation), who can speak human language but only to the audience), including one tall in which the Baron attracts a flock of ducks by tying pieces of bacon to a rope as bait. However, when the ducks have eaten the bacon and he grabs the end of the rope, they take flight and drag him into the air.

Through a messenger, the King instructs the Baron to send a gift to the Pasha of Trukesban, in Trukestinoble, to strengthen the bonds of friendship between their countries, and gives the Baron a spirited bay horse for the journey. En route with Diana, the Baron encounters men with prodigious abilities, whom he hires into his service: Cavallo (Horse), who with his peculiar gait is faster than anyone else; Hercule (Hercules), of extraordinary strength; and Ouragane (Hurricane), whose blowing is like a powerful cyclone. After attempting to hunt a deer by shooting cherry pits at it (and causing a cherry tree to grow on its head), the Baron also encounters Nemrod (Nimrod), the great hunter, and Jécoute (I-Listen), gifted with superhuman hearing, whom he also recruits. The group has some difficulties reaching Trukesban, but they resolve them when the Baron orders his men to use their extraordinary abilities cunningly. The gift the Baron gives the Pasha, it turns out, is a cup-and-ball encrusted with jewels and precious stones. The Pasha's vizier (archepampan) mocks the Westerners for bringing a mere child's toy, but the Baron, after demonstrating the toy's use, invites the archepampan to try it, and the archepampan is made a fool of in front of the court when he fails. When the Pasha tries the toy, Diana discreetly pushes it to make the Pasha look good. The Pasha, satisfied, gives a party in the Baron's honor, and the performers impress the Baron and his retinue. However, when the Pasha offers the Baron wine, the Baron offends the Pasha by saying that the Tokay (Tokaji) from his lands is better: The Pasha bets as much wealth as a man can carry that the Baron's wine is lousy, if it could be proved; the Baron agrees, putting his own head as collateral, and promises to bring a bottle of his Tokay within the hour; Cavallo is sent to the Baron's castle, while the Pasha's court takes to play cup-and-ball. However, on the way back, Cavallo tastes some Tokay and falls asleep under a tree. Worried about the delay, the Baron has Jécoute and Nemrod search for Cavallo with their heightened senses, and Nemrod awakens Horse by shooting at the top of the tree under which Cavallo sleeps. Ouragane then brings Horse with his supply. The Tokay effectively impresses the Pasha and the archpampan. After the Baron's servants perform a musical number for the Pasha, Hercules is charged with collecting the treasure. The archpampan is enraged that Hercules can carry off virtually all of Trukesban's treasure, and has his guards pursue the Baron and his men across the desert; but the Baron escapes his pursuers, once again making creative use of his men's skills. Back in his castle, the Baron recounts this adventure to his guests, adding that he distributed the treasure among the poor in his domain.

Continuing the story, the Baron explains that, on his return, he was separated from his men and taken prisoner by the bandit Ubor Khan, thrown into the dungeon of a tower in Ubor's fortress. However, the fortress was besieged by Ubor's enemies, initiating a cannon battle. A chance cannonball damages the Baron's cell, allowing him to escape, but the Baron finds bandits outside; he manages to bring them down by using the cannonball to knock them over like bowling pins. He then loads a cannon and flees the fortress, literally riding on the ball. Losing the ball mid-flight, the Baron decides to rest on a cloud, but this cloud disappears at dawn, and the Baron falls into the sea. In the depths, he encounters fantastic creatures such as an enormous seahorse that he tries to tame, and singing mermaids. Struck by the beauty of a mermaid, he seduces her by kissing her hand, and later helps her when a hostile swordfish attacks the area; the Baron demonstrates his swordsmanship against the swordfish. The mermaid then takes the Baron to the Sea King (alternatively called the Sea God, who looks like Poseidon), to defend his actions. The Baron suddenly realizes he is underwater and suffocates; the Sea King urges the mermaid to return him to the surface world, which she does, tearfully placing him on a wooden board and vowing that she would always remember this heroic stranger.

The Baron is rescued by a ship of friendly sailors, but a huge whale attacks the ship. Although the captain tries to escape, the whale swallows the ship whole, and the Baron discovers other ships in the animal's belly. On one of the ships is Ouragane. The Baron has the ships unfurl their sails and set their anchors, and has Ouragane blow out the sails. The whale, bewildered by their discomfort, opens its mouth, and the ships escape. Overjoyed, the sailors demand that the Baron dance in celebration.

But the ship is then attacked by a dense flock of enormous two-headed vultures; despite the Baron and the sailors' attempts to defend themselves, many are captured, taken to a volcanic island, and locked in cages (although Ouragane is not seen among the prisoners). They discover that they have been captured by a civilization of gigantic intelligent birds who, in a trial, accuse humans of genocide against their species and of destroying their culture. Although the Baron tries to defend himself, claiming that humans feed and pamper the birds they capture and only kill the harmful ones, the birds order the prisoners to be thrown, alive, into the volcano's lava. Initially, they throw only the Baron, but the lava bubbles up and causes several stones to shoot upward, including one on which the Baron "rides." Flying over the volcanoes, the Baron finds a hot-air balloon occupied by Ouragane and a girl almost identical to the mermaid the Baron had courted (but she has legs). The Baron becomes hooked to the balloon's anchor and is then pulled into the basket. Intelligent vultures chase the balloon, but the Baron has Ouragane blow to outrun and fleece them. Ouragane introduces the lady as his niece Irena, whom the Baron courts, again kissing her hand.

The balloon heads for the Baron's castle, where the Baron wants Ouragane and Irena to live. Wanting to land among his guests, the Baron punctures and pops the balloon so that they somehow fall through the ceiling of his dining room. The Baron, Ouragane, and Irena arrive at the dining room table, where his other servants (Cavallo, Hercule, Nemrod, and Jécoute) are waiting. As he is next to Irena, the Baron kisses her hand - and then realizes he had been fantasizing, because he is kissing the hand of a noble guest with a mustache, to the laughter of the noble attendees. His servants are nowhere to be seen.

Singer Danielle Licari provides the singing voice of the mermaids during their musical number.^[2]

Rudolf Erich Raspe's book Baron Munchausen's Narrative of His Marvellous Travels and Campaigns in Russia was translated to German and expanded by Gottfried August Bürger. Bürger's version was adapted for this movie. Raspe based the character on a real-life Freiherr (Baron), Hieronymus Karl Friedrich, Freiherr von Münchhausen (1720–1797). The fictional Baron of the novel is a retired soldier and world traveler, who narrates tall tales about his past.

The movie was co-written, directed and produced by Jean Image under his company Films Jean Image; the animation was done by Studio Jean Image and other companies.^[2]

This movie had a sequel, Le secret des sélénites, also written and directed by Jean Image, produced in 1982 and released in 1984.^[3]