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Between 1964 and 1981, Oldřich Lipský and Jiří Brdečka collaborated on a loose trilogy of films, each of which paid loving, yet subversive, homage to a strain of pop culture that would’ve been seen as hopelessly disreputable by the Communist authorities in the former Czechoslovakia. Lemonade Joe is a tribute to the John Ford western, while Adela Has Not Had Supper Yet tinkers with the conventions of the private eye film. And Mysterious Castle in the Carpathians delivers a hilarious and surreal steampunk riff on a lesser known Jules Verne novel, in which the French writer filters the trappings of gothic fiction through his “scientific-technical” worldview.

The comedic sensibility behind Mysterious Castle bears comparison to a number of other films and filmmakers. Its sense of anarchy and unpredictability brings to mind the work of the Marx Brothers, while the delight that it takes in in absurdism and abstruse wordplay (only some...

The 1969 Czech anthology film Prague Nights consists of a trio of tales of lust, revenge, and feminine wiles, each infused with a singular combination of the macabre, the grotesque, and the comically sensual in depicting some of the darkest and most mysterious aspects of Czech culture. Between the intriguing visual techniques (including color filters and stop-motion animation), genre mashups, and musical scores that range from Gregorian chants to Nino Rota-esque orchestral pieces, the segments readily whip up dense, moody atmospheres that are as playfully provocative as they are eerily doom-laden.

The film opens with a framing story in which a foreign businessman (Miloš Kopecký) is looking for a good time and follows a coquettish blonde (Milena Dvorská) into a remote cemetery where she regales him with three supernatural, fantastical stories. Where the pair are gallivanting about contemporary Prague, each successive segment is set further in the past and draws on...

Terry Gilliam’s grandest, most joyful fantasy is still a marvel, a fully adult adventure that will equally spark younger imaginations. Creative tricks and eye-popping Italo designs bring us a magical, satirical world of absurd wars, sultan’s hareems and a flight of fancy to the moon. John Neville’s ideal Baron is abetted by spunky Sarah Polley and a gallery of winning characterizations, from Eric Idle, Oliver Reed, Jonathan Pryce, Uma Thurman, Jack Purvis, Robin Williams, Valentina Cortese, Sting. So what if the Baron is history’s most notorious liar: we understand his complaint when performing a technically preposterous trip through outer space: “This is Precisely the sort of thing nobody Ever believes.”

The Adventures of Baron Munchausen 4K

4K Ultra HD + Blu-ray

The Criterion Collection 1166

1988 / Color / 1:85 widescreen / 126 min. / available through The Criterion Collection / Street Date January 3, 2023 / 49.95

Starring: John Neville, Eric Idle, Sarah Polley, Oliver Reed, Charles McKeown,...