Von Richthofen and Brown (1971)

User Rating:

5.6/10   

Director:

Roger Corman

Writers:

John William Corrington (written by) and
Joyce Hooper Corrington (written by)

Release Date:

10 September 1971 (Finland)

Genre:

War | Action | Drama

Tagline:

On April 21, 1918, the Red Baron of Germany and the Black Sheep of the R.A.F. met in the skies of France for the last time!

Plot:

The story of Manfred von Richtofen, the german air ace during the World War I and his truggle with the enemy aces and some jealous german officers.

Plot Keywords:

Triplane | Fighter Pilot | Biplane | Aerial Combat | Part Fiction

Cast

John Phillip Law	...	Baron Manfred von Richthofen
Don Stroud	...	Roy Brown
Barry Primus	...	Hermann Goering
Corin Redgrave	...	Major Lanoe Hawker VC
Karen Ericson	...	Ilse (as Karen Huston)
Hurd Hatfield	...	Anthony Fokker
Stephen McHattie	...	Werner Voss
Brian Foley	...	Lothar von Richthofen
Robert La Tourneaux	...	Ernest Udet
Peter Masterson	...	Major Oswald Boelke
Clint Kimbrough	...	Major von Höppner
Tom Adams	...	Owen
Ferdy Mayne	...	Father Richthofen
David Weston	...	Murphy
John Flanagan	...	Thompson

Also Known As:

The Red Baron

MPAA:

Rated PG-13 for war action violence.

Runtime:

97 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono

Certification:

Iceland:12 | West Germany:16 (f) | Singapore:PG | Finland:K-12 | Sweden:15 | USA:GP (original rating) | USA:PG-13 (re-rating) (1994)

Filming Locations:

Dublin, County Dublin, Ireland

Company:

The Corman Company

Trivia:

Reused the vintage airplanes from The Blue Max (1966).

Goofs:

Factual errors: The national anthem, you can hear during the German empire scenes, is the republican anthem, introduced after the revolution 1918. Funny enough the German anthem during the Kaiserreich had same melody like UK anthem 'God Save the King'.

Quotes:

Reporter: You started the war as a cavalry officer, yeah?
Baron Manfred von Richthofen: Yeah.
Reporter: So, now, how does it feel to fly? To fight in the sky?
Baron Manfred von Richthofen: My ancestors were Teutonic knights; I've merely exchanged my horse for an airplane.
Reporter: [laughing] I see, so the flying is just a means to an end?
Baron Manfred von Richthofen: The flying is wonderful! But it's the hunt that I find most satisfying: the stalking, the chase, and finally the kill. The climax.
Reporter: Oh, so you enjoy it sir?
Baron Manfred von Richthofen: What should I say? War is the father of nations. It makes them slaves or it makes them free. Victory brings with it a climax, a sense of fulfillment.
[...]

Movie Connections:

Referenced in "The Directors: The Films of Roger Corman (#1.5)" (1999)

Better than expected

Given the very negative comments by others on IMDB about this film, I wasn't really expecting much, especially given that it was directed by Roger Corman, who, whilst he certainly has his talents, would not really be expected to helm a period piece with high production values. Actually I found this film not at all bad. Certainly its narrative plays fast and loose with historical details. But it is quite authentic in many respects - the planes themselves, and the nature of air combat depicted, are reasonably accurate (better, for example, than the planes in The Blue Max, which often look like very thinly disguised Tiger Moths). And fair chunks of the dialogue seem to be taken almost directly from the writings of actual WW1 flyers. Even the rather melodramatic plot does have roots in historical truths, and functions well enough to engage the viewer's attention throughout. I'd say it's definitely worth a look, and compares surprisingly well with the generally much better regarded The Blue Max.