Von Richthofen and Brown

[Romani]

I have a soft spot for this movie since it was the first WWI movie I ever saw.

Does it have any reedeming values? I liked that Boelcke showed up, but wonder about the flying sequences, any good replicas? Being directed by Roger Corman I wouldn't be surprised if the scenes were robbed from Aces High or similar.

[Skippy]

... and that little rapscallion told me to tell you that, no matter what you may have heard, it really, truly isn't that bad a film; as is his wont, he makes and backs up the following points:

1) There are many flyin' 'n' fightin' sequences, some of 'em done quite well (and some possibly "lifted" from The Blue Max);

2) Goering is portrayed as a bastard, which is historically accurate (although his favourite portrayal of Der Dicke is from The Battle of Britain);

3) At the film's climactic climax, near the finish of the end, some sort of festivity of the RFC is interrupted by a Jasta strafing attack-- in which an accordian player gets what's coming to him as well as a slaughter of Oirish dancers-- so this film can't be all that bad;

4) It's clear that the all-important Vickers Effect-- called, oddly enough, the Spandau Effect east of the Rhine-- ie the gun flashes, were done with gas jets imitating machine gun flashes; and goddamned if this isn't the most realistic depiction of gas jets imitating machine guns in the history of motion pictures!;
&
5) Richard Bach, of Johnathan Livingston Seagull fame (and one of the Captain's favourite cook books), was one of the pilots in that 1971 filmed-in-Ireland epic; in fact, he wrote a magazine article about it, and you can find it in his anthology A Dream of Wings...

"Hopping" that this was of some help to you,
Skip

[buzz1941]

Been a good long time since I've seen it -- why is every slasher movie ever made available on DVD but so few aviation flix? -- but what I mostly remember is that it was a kind of meditation on the passing of the "Knights of the Air" concept to the era of the cold-eyed machinegunners.

Don Stroud, who was in it, who's from Hawaii, almost drowned when the aircraft he was in crashed into an Irish stream.

[Colin A Owers]

You have to look at a movie for what it is, namely a entertainment to make money. Some turn out to be classics. Some classics turn out duds. ( I still can not believe I sat through "Gone with the Wind"). Some duds turn out to be classics in the long run, but basically, if they do not make money, the director is out of a job.

"Von Richtofen and Brown" (aka "The Red Baron") was a quickie - typical of Corman, but it entertained. They used what they had - the left overs from "Darling Lilli" and "Blue Max", and we get to see them in flight and some good fight sequences. "Hells Angles" is still touted as the best WWI movie, but that is more because of the only two good sequences, The Zeppelin raid and at the bombing raid at the end with the reel dogfight. It is a bloody long drag if you do not have fast forward. VonR on the other hand is very light and can be viewed with affection.

Now we have CAD animation we should be able to put the Tiger Moth and Stampe biplanes out to pasture and have real looking WWI aircraft in our movies. "The Aviator" is a good start. Wait for Peter Jackson's "King Kong" with Curtiss Helldivers doing the old guy in.

To my mind "Wings" is the best WWI aviation movie AFTER "The Great Waldo Pepper" and that latter was not about WWI, but rather the consequences.

Colin A Owers

[PeterL]

A small note of dissent. I just can't watch this movie for more than ten minutes, not even for the flying sequences. The whole peice just grates on me. Not so much wooden crates and iron men as wooden acting and leaden plot. A stinker from start to credits.

Right On !!!!! The "Great Waldo Pepper" has one of the best dog fights....and its a great movie !!!!

[ww1 ace]

I think MvR and Brown was a great flick! I saw it for the first time about 6 years ago. It was my first WWI movie. Although most of the facts are wrong, I liked all of the dogfighting sequences and talks!

[stephen]

Originally Posted by PeterL

A small note of dissent. I just can't watch this movie for more than ten minutes, not even for the flying sequences. The whole peice just grates on me. Not so much wooden crates and iron men as wooden acting and leaden plot. A stinker from start to credits.

I concur entirely. However, I have found a suitable use, even for this poor film. I turn the TV on and let it play (I have the VHS) on "mute" while I'm researching, writing and doing other WWI aviation work in my office.

I don't have to hear the bad acting or lousy scriptwriting or the cheap Radio Shack microphones they must have used in this movie, but I do get to see the airplanes.

stephen Quote:
Originally Posted by PeterL
A small note of dissent. I just can't watch this movie for more than ten minutes, not even for the flying sequences. The whole peice just grates on me. Not so much wooden crates and iron men as wooden acting and leaden plot. A stinker from start to credits.


I concur entirely. However, I have found a suitable use, even for this poor film. I turn the TV on and let it play (I have the VHS) on "mute" while I'm researching, writing and doing other WWI aviation work in my office.

I don't have to hear the bad acting or lousy scriptwriting or the cheap Radio Shack microphones they must have used in this movie, but I do get to see the airplanes.

Instead of "background noise"... "background imagery!" Very clever, Stephen.

I've tried to do that with "The Blue Max", but I always end up forgetting about what I was doing... and watching the move...AGAIN.


"Prost!"

[Barrett]

The Towel Scene does reach out and grab one's attention, don't it?