Von Richthofen and Brown

Baron Manfred Von Richthofen (John Phillip Law) was the most feared and celebrated pilot of the German air force in World War I . Manfred Von Richthofen arrives from the Cavalry, at a squadron in the German Airforce under the command of honorable Oswald Boelcke (Peter Masterson). He quickly becomes an aerial ace with several victories . To him and his companions , air combats are events of sporty nature , technical challenge and upright acting, ignoring the terrible extent of war . Manfred must decide if he is a soldier first or part of the ruling class whose father is a notorious Baron (Ferdy Mayne) . But after Manfred realizes he is only used for propaganda means , as the tactics of both sides break more rules and become more destructive . This is an exciting story based on facts about Manfred Von Richthofen, the German air ace during the World War I and his struggle with the enemy aces and some jealous German officers as the ruthless Herrmann Goering (Barry Primus) who subsequently will have a long career as Nazi leader during WWI . The allied squad has similar class divisions : its Major , an aristocrat , laments that men he considers peasants are now fliers , including a tough and Canadian named Roy Brown (Don Stroud) , the squad's main ace . Von Richthofen is wounded during an aerial battle and Brown and his squadron decide to attack Allied airfield , destroying their planes on the ground and killing his brother Lothar (Brian Foley). Then the baron seeks vengeance and attacks on the opposite British airfield . Red Baron and Brown have some strong aerial battles , trivial in the larger scheme yet fateful . Caught between his disgust for the war , and the responsibility for his fighter wing , Von Richthofen sets out to fly again . With the help of a batch of new fighters from Anthony Fokker (Hurd Hatfield), the 'Richthofen Flying Circus' launches a counter attack against English aircrafts . 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.

Spectacular dogfighting , impressive scenario , fine star cast and memorable acting . Acceptable budget extended adventures produced by Jimmi T Murakami and Gene Corman about a maverick pilot and his partners undergoing risked feats on air and bombing on earth . Very good aerial actioner plenty action , tragic drama , fantastic cloudy scenes and breathtaking dogfighting . John Philip Law and Don Stroud show professionalism as crack fighter pilots , two ambitious young men assigned to dangerous missions . Top-notch support cast gives excellent performance as Stephen McHattie , Barry Primus , Ferdy Mayne and Hurd Hartfield as Fokker . Colorful cinematography by Michael Reed and rousing musical score by Hugo Friedhofer .

The motion picture is professionally directed by Roger Corman . After his period realizing poverty-budget horror movies as ¨Swamp woman¨, ¨The beast with a million of eyes¨, ¨Attack of the crab monsters¨, ¨Undead¨, then came the cycle of tales of terror based on Poe as ¨ House of Usher¨, ¨Pit and pendulum¨, ¨The raven¨ , ¨Tales of terror¨, ¨The masque of the red death ¨ , and Corman made his undisputed masterpiece , ¨X¨ , that won the Golden Asteroid in the Trieste Festival of Science Fiction Films in 1963 . Later on , he directed films as ¨Angels of hell¨, ¨The St. Valentine's day massacre¨, ¨The trip¨, ¨Bloody mummy¨, ¨Gas or It became necessary to destroy the world in order to save it¨ and of course ¨Von Richthofen and Brown¨, and finally (1990) ¨Frankestein unbounded¨ . ¨Red Baron¨ rating : 6 , acceptable and passable , definitively wholesome watching , Corman's achievement to have bent the wartime genre with nice results. Good and entertaining fare , it's a fairly watchable and spectacular film and results to be a good treatment of WWI flying aces .