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Von Richthofen and Brown (1971)
Rate:
8
Viewed:
3/25
3/25:
Pretty much everybody has never heard of Manfred von Richthofen, but they can be certain of recognizing his über
famous nickname: Red Baron.
When I thought The Blue Max had the best aerial WWI photography,
Von Richthofen and Brown goes on to beat the pants off it. What a spectacular display of vintage
single-seat fighter aircrafts. The colors are stunning with plenty of authenticity, especially on the German
side, and the location shots are a plus.
John Philip Law is perfectly cast as the Red Baron, and of course, that's the Pour le Mérite (the Blue Max)
medal he has on around his neck. Don Stroud does a fine job of playing his nemesis Roy Brown. They both have
the right demeanor to fit the period and the seriousness of the subject matter.
I understand a lot of the material was made up, but there are some things that are factually true. A flying ace
with the most credited kills (80) of WWI, the Red Baron liked to collect silver cups, in form of trophies, to
commemorate them. He had sixty in total, and then, silver began to dry up in Germany, ending that practice.
When he was hit in the head and crashed his plane on July 6, 1917, he was never the same again.
At age 25, the Red Baron was shot down on April 21, 1918. For a long while, Roy Brown, who was born in Canada
and went on to enlist in the RAF, was officially given the credit, but upon further inspection revealed he was
actually killed by anti-aircraft gunfire from the ground. After it happened, his flying career was mostly
over due to sickness and an air crash. Having survived the war, Brown died of a heart attack at age 50 in 1944.
What's odd in the film is the Red Baron was in pursuit of Brown yet turned around and let himself be pursued
instead, but that's what happened for real.
All in all, Von Richthofen and Brown is one of Roger Corman's better films.