As the centerpiece for Ufa’s 25th anniversary celebration, Münchhausen offered Germans reeling from news of defeat in Stalingrad a welcome escape. Created in conjunction with the Ministry of Propaganda, the film enacts the definitive Aryan fantasy in this tale of the man who mastered his own destiny and marshaled the march of time. Here, the protagonist’s legendary powers become employed in Hitler’s war effort, literally cast in the role of a wonder weapon that could reanimate a paralyzed nation. Both a popular vehicle and a tool of propaganda, Münchhausen represents one of the Third Reich’s consummate cinematic achievements.