Von Richthofen and Brown (1971)

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:

Fighter Plane | Aerial Combat | World War One | Part Fiction | Biplane

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	...	Richthofen's father
David Weston	...	Murphy
John Flanagan	...	Thompson
Lorraine Rainer	...	French girl in the woods
Brian Sturdivant	...	May
Maureen Cusack	...	Richthofen's mother
George Armitage	...	Wolff
Gordon Phillips	...	Cargonico
David Osterhout	...	Holzapfel
Seamus Forde	...	Kaiser
Fred Johnson	...	Jeweler
Des Nealon	...	British Intelligence Officer
Emmet Bergin
rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Shane Briant	...	German Pilot
Julie Corman	...	Rear gunner on plane attacking German airbase (uncredited)
Michael Fahey	...	Richthofen at Age 3 (uncredited)
Vernon Hayden	...	Trackl (uncredited)
Peadar Lamb	...	German Staff Major (uncredited)
Patrick McLarnon	...	German Officer (uncredited)
Robert Walsh	...	Richthofen at Age 13 (uncredited)

Directed by
Roger Corman

Writing credits
John William Corrington		(written by) and
Joyce Hooper Corrington		(written by) (as Joyce H. Corrington)

Produced by
Gene Corman	....	producer
Jimmy T. Murakami	....	associate producer

Original Music by
Hugo Friedhofer

Cinematography by
Michael Reed

Film Editing by
Alan Collins

Art Direction by
Jimmy T. Murakami		(uncredited)

Set Decoration by
Maureen Roche

Costume Design by
Dymphna McKenna

Makeup Department
Toni Delaney	....	makeup artist

Production Management
Peter Manley	....	production manager

Second Unit Director or Assistant Director
Redmond Morris	....	assistant director
Jake Wright	....	assistant director
Jimmy T. Murakami	....	second unit director (uncredited)

Sound Department
Liam Saurin	....	sound mixer

Special Effects by
Peter Dawson	....	special effects
Noel Gallagher	....	special effects

Stunts
Richard D. Bach	....	stunt flyer (as Richard Bach)
Ken Byrne	....	stunt pilot

Camera and Electrical Department
Peter Allwork	....	aerial photographer
Seamus Corcoran	....	aerial photographer
Lynn Ellsworth	....	assistant camera
Paddy Keogh	....	key grip
Peter Pechowski	....	aerial photographer
Neil Siegler	....	assistant camera
Robin Browne	....	aerial photographer (uncredited)

Costume and Wardrobe Department
Charles Guerin	....	wardrober

Editorial Department
George Van Noy	....	supervising editor

Other crew
Julie Halloran	....	assistant to director
John Maher	....	aviation engineer
William O'Kelly	....	production liaison
William O'Kelly	....	technical advisor (as Colonel William O4Kelly)
Hilary Wardrop	....	script supervisor

Production Companies

• Corman Company, The

Distributors

• United Artists (1971) (USA) (theatrical)
• United Artists (1971) (West Germany) (theatrical)
• United Artists (1972) (France) (theatrical) (as Les Artistes Associés)
• Audio Visual Enterprises (1990) (Greece) (VHS)
• Koch Media (2011) (Germany) (DVD)
• MGM Home Entertainment (2007) (USA) (DVD)
• MGM Home Entertainment (2007) (USA) (VHS)
• Warner Home Video (????) (West Germany) (VHS)

Also Known As:

MPAA:

Rated PG-13 for war action violence (re-rating) (1994)

Runtime:

97 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono

Certification:

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

Filming Locations:

Dublin, County Dublin, Ireland

Company:

Corman Company, The

Trivia:

Director Roger Corman's soon-to-be wife, Julie Halloran, filled in as a gunner in one of the planes during the raid sequence when the production came up one actor short.

Goofs:

Continuity: There are many scenes in the film where the sunlight is not correct. Often the planes are seen fighting on completely overcast days, when suddenly there is a few seconds where the sky is blue in every direction and the sun is shining on the pilot or plane. In one scene on the ground, several pilots are discussing the death of one of their peers. They are in the shade of a wing, then standing in the sun without moving.

Quotes:

Roy Brown:[Walking away from another pilot after an argument on the firing range, when the other officer turns his machine gun to Brown but does not use it] What's the matter? You can't shoot a man in the back if he's not in a plane?

Movie Connections:

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

Mistakes were made, but...

It is pointed out that "goofs" were made in the making of this film. (A) Von Richofen is depicted flying a Fokker D-VII over a year before the plane was actually introduced (and prior to flying the Triplane) (B) Brown's squadron is shown flying SE 5s when in actuality, they were equipped with Sopwith Camels.

I suspect these were intentional choices on the part of the director. Von Richtofen's plane in early 1917 was actually an Albatros D5 - an improvement over the earlier D3, but having an unfortunate tendency to shed its wings in a dive. Even if this were corrected in a modern reproduction, the Albatros design is nose-heavy and difficult to control.

The Sopwith Camel, while an effective fighting machine, was called th "Widow-maker" for good reason. It's extremely high-torque rotary engine made it very difficult to fly and very unforgiving of mistakes. The SE 5 and 5a, on the other hand were fairly stable craft and easier for novice pilots (they've been used exclusively in other WW I films).

Only hard-core WWI historians would have noticed these inconsistencies, and I suspect the choices were made for the safety of the stunt pilots. Don't let them stop you from enjoying some great aerial combat scenes.

Incidentally, the events that were reversed were the circumstances of von Richtofen's crashes. In the first one, he is depicted as crash landing, while in the second (fatal) one, the plane actually lands quite well by itself (this would NEVER have happened in a Fokker triplane!)

It was actually the other way around. The first time, the wounded von Richtofen managed to bring his Albatros to a landing. The second time -already dead before he hit the ground - the plane crashed in no-man's land near an Australian unit who may indeed have hit him from the ground.