Von Richthofen & Brown

This is the story of Baron Manfred Von Richtofen (aka "The Red Baron") who terrorized the skys over France during WW1 and the Canadian flyer who eventually shot him down. Stars John Philip Law as "The Baron" and Don Stroud as Lt. Roy Brown. Good flying sequences. Not the best movie but fairly accurate historically. Important to note that in the beginning there was a "Code of Honor" between the Germans and the Allied pilots. "The Great Game" as it was sometimes called. As the war progressed and more men died, those who took their place were less interested in honor and more interested in defeating the enemy and surviving to war. In the beginning there was enthusiasm to the flying. Toward the war's end those who survived were cynical and exhausted by what they had seen. Overall a pretty good movie.

Here we have a curious chance to compare the results of the question "How would 2 director's use the same material in different films?" The films are"Richthofen and Brown" and the yardstick for WW1 air films," the Blue Max". Both films use the same aircraft, costumes and many of the same set pieces. Interestingly, neither is particularly accurate to it's source material. Both are quite enjoyable for the aviation buff.What I find most interesting is that the 'lesser' film has far better aerial sequences. Roger Corman seems to be more much aware of the aircraft than John Guillerman, who spends far too much time focusing on the Tiger moths. Corman hardly shows them at all, and then only in group shots where he needs numbers.Generally, he keeps his camera on the Fokkers and Pfalz.
Historically, the film is almost a joke; it almost seems like each side has only 1 squadron. And while I admire John Philip Law greatly as an actor( he is without a doubt the best Sinbad) he looks about as much like von Richthofen as he does Mata Hari; von Richthofen was 5'5' and blonde, whereas Law is over 6'3 and brown haired.
Still, I have to say that I enjoy this film. Perhaps if I turn down the sound when they're speaking...

WELL AFTER ALL THESE YEARS I GOT TO WATCH THIS MOVIE AGAIN AND I MUST SAY OF ALL THE THINGS I KNOW OF MANFRED VON RICHTHOFEN HE WAS PLAYED WELL BY JOHN PHILLIP LAW.THE AIR STUNTS THAT WERE IN THE MOVIE WERE AWSOME SOME OF THE BEST I HAVE SEEN.ONLY FLAW IS THAT IT WAS NOT TELLING THE REAL STORY OF THE RED BARON AND ROY BROWN BUT AGAIN THAT'S HOLLYWOOD BACK IN THE 1970'S.

What a strange, compelling little movie for anyone familiar with World War I air combat history.

No, it's not accurate history:
Voss, Goering, and Udet were not in Boelcke's original Jasta. Von Richtofen was still a Lieutenant there, not yet promoted Rittmeister. Boelcke was not a middle-aged Major suffering from male-pattern baldness, but rather a young captain whom John Phillip Law resembles more than the Von Richtofen he portrays. Goering's airplane was white, not black. "Wop" May had not long been in Brown's squadron prior to Von Richtofen's death. Brown never served under Major Hawker. Don Stroud growls and swaggers his way through the film more like a combination of what we know of Edward Mannock and Frank Luke than what is known about Brown.
And of course, Brown did not shoot down Von Richtofen.

I could go on and on.

And yet, there's enough in this movie to demonstrate at least some of the film makers knew the real history:
Major Hawker did, in fact, wave to Von Richtofen before he was shot down. Von Richtofen did receive a head wound (though not from a fighter plane). May and Brown did know each other from home in Canada. The British did stage a destructive air attack on Von Richtofen's squadron (though not planned by Brown). Brown did have an ulcer and drank milk (albeit often mixed with brandy). They even knew that Goering wore a flight jacket which was too big at the shoulders.


For anyone watching this movie who's familiar with WWI air combat, one gets the distinct impression that the scenario writer was enthralled by the actual war biographies of these early fliers, but some powers-that-be felt need to punch up the drama a bit. The result is 96 minutes of cinematic historical mythology reminiscent of air ace stories which floated around in print during the 1920s and 1930s.

Yet within this mythology and absence of accuracy, there is a truth and a reality to this film that puts to shame the romantic fiction, and most WWI air-war movies from "Dawn Patrol" onward. When history buffs like myself read accounts by the pilots who actually fought in that war, we can recognize a veracity in "Von Richtofen And Brown" that is noticeably lacking in say, "The Blue Max".

Despite it's being myth, the makers of film created something far more believable than others representing the skies of France in 1917-18, so that much of this fiction can be forgiven. There is little of the cloying hail-my-gentleman-foe, knights-of-the-air dialog in this. The characters largely depict men using then current technology to survive beyond the three week life expectency of WWI aviators.
The aerial footage is convincing and well done. For those who've read of the era, there can be a real thrill in seeing for the first time what kind of effect the gaudy colors of the german planes would have had flying in formation -- even if those colors were not accurate for the Flying Circus, and even if the planes were flown in the period after Von Richtofen's death.

As anyone who knows the history of Von Richtofen and Brown can attest, there was no need to dollop new mythology upon these two men. Accuracy would have sufficed, and the fiction presented here does not surpass the reality.
The irony here is that the only ones who probably would be interested in this film are those of us who know the history. I doubt that giving it to us would have significantly changed either the film's budget or script. Accuracy would have scored points with us; but the lack of it does surprisingly little harm to this as a film.

For anyone else, the film would have always been yawn-inducing, regardless of whether it came out as good history or not. There is little romance, little drama to it all. As an Erich Remarque character says in one of his post war novels, "How could anyone experience anything there? It was just war all the time."

What a strange, compelling little movie for anyone familiar with World War I air combat history.

I saw this when it first arrived in the movies in 1971. It was generally ignored back then by audiences tired of the real war in Vietnam but time has marched on and the objections are not as sharp as they once were. It is beautifully filmed and most likely viewed as a "man's picture", with no roles for women other than background props .The musical score by Hugo Friedhofer is excellent and is available on CD if you know where to look. (However, not as great as Goldsmith's "Blue Max" music, which was probably one of the best tunes ever applied to a WW 1 air picture). Now many have spoken of historical problems but it should be said that good situations develop in this work. One of the best is when Don Stroud as Brown walks into the mess and drinks the sour wine that had been left on the table in protest due to his disagreement with toasting the Baron with the chivalry conscious Squadron Commander and Brown's claim that he would drink it when the next pilot is "blown to pieces" by the Baron. The Commander's friend, who had won the Victoria cross was that victim and it makes for effective storyline as Brown convinces the rest of the squadron to abandon the idea of chivalry in war. We also get to see Goering collecting Picasso paintings, a humorous interpretation by the Baron's squadron in painting their planes to obscure their design that led to the famous "Flying Circus" and Henry Fokker introduce the Baron to the Fokker Triplane like a typical car salesman with a sexy woman running her hands along the machine as if we are watching a commercial. Another is when the Allies under Brown attack the German airfield and think they finally have the upper hand but as luck would have it a whole truckload of spare parts arrive for the Baron just after the raid and they put the planes back together in a matter of hours and counterattack the British airfield! We see Von Richthofen as the aristocrat he really was, a young man who transfers hunting in peacetime on his massive estate to "hunting in the air". Also, the fatal flaw of that generation, intent on self destruction due to inability to deal with class change and a willingness to join his former comrades in death. It is a "romanticized" look at the World War 1 Air war. As usual, the allied planes are all SE 5's which makes for boring shots of planes going down continually and the Baron was probably ironically killed by a bullet fired from a trench soldier when he flew too close to the ground in avoiding Brown's pursuit. It should be transferred to DVD and polished so that people can appreciate the scenery that displays the beauty of nature during war to soldier's eyes that was Corman's probable intent.