Director:
Roger Corman
Cast:
John Phillip Law….Baron Manfred von Richthofen
Don Stroud….Roy Brown
Barry Primus….Hermann Goering
Corin Redgrave….Major Lanoe Hawker VC
Hurd Hatfield….Anthony Fokker
Brian Foley….Lothar von Richthofen
MGM Home Video presents Von Richthofen and Brown. Screenplay by John William Corrington and Joyce Hooper Corrington. Running time: 96 minutes. Rated PG-13. Theatrical release: July 28, 1971. DVD released April 24, 2007.
The Movie
Having Roger Corman make a movie about legendary World War I Aces seemed like a recipe for disaster. Corman’s trademarks are his cheapness and quickie production speed. How could he do a quality job on a period piece? Has he ever hired anyone to check the historical accuracy in his films? He’s constructed monsters out of teapots and ping pong balls. What would he use for a Fokker D-VII? You’d expect to see the rubber bands when the planes fly over the camera. But Corman actually spent a little money on aerial action to create an action-filled adventure flick.
During World War I, Baron Manfred von Richthofen shot down 80 planes. He became infamous as the Red Baron after he gave his plane a new paint job. Fictionally, he was Snoopy’s nemesis in Peanuts (and the inspiration for a line of frozen pizza). In reality, the thorn in the Baron’s side was Roy Brown, a Canadian. The film charts the rise of these two men in the skies of France.
Neither were embraced by their squadrons. The Baron was seen as a spoiled brat who landed his gig because of his title. He had very little understanding of the plane and was obsessed with trophies. He butted heads with fellow pilot Hermann Goering. But the Baron became a good student and learned how to be an aerial killing machine. Brown was also treated as an outsider by his British squadron. They joked that being Canadian made him half American. But the Brits came to trust Brown’s instincts in the air which led to the doing better against the Germans.
The casting of John Phillip Law as the Red Baron works. His artistocratic looks serve him well. Instead of over-acting the part, he merely displays a stoic attitude. Stroud’s personality also works as Brown; he maintains an unrefined charisma amongst his posh British pilots. Von Richthofen and Brown is more illustrative than exploratory in depicting these dueling airmen. The script doesn’t have great emotional outpourings from either character. This isn’t Terrence Malick’s The Thin Red Line. They are not poets in the air; they are hunters on the prowl.
Over the years Corman’s legacy has been reduced to the man who launched the careers of Coppola, Scorsese and Demme. But he’s a filmmaker at his core. Decades before Scorsese gave us CGI biplane action in The Aviator, Corman had his crew battling it out for real in the skies. For once Corman didn’t go completely cheap. That’s not to say Corman blew out the budget on his war film. He pulled out all the tricks to deliver the action at a reduced price. The plane crashes are done with models. Nowadays they’d be created on a computer. Corman doesn’t get stingy with the explosions during the attacks on the bases. Von Richthofen and Brown soars beyond expectations with its tale of the earliest of Aces.
The DVD
VIDEO:
The picture is 1.85:1 anamorphic. The transfer is clean. The aerial combat scenes look great. The interior scenes are grainy and dark since they were lit to look natural.
AUDIO:
The soundtrack is Dolby Digital Stereo and Mono. There’s French and Spanish mono dubs. The mix is clear enough that you can tell that quite a few actors are ADR enhanced. The captions are in English and Spanish.
EXTRAS:
None.
