Von Richthofen and Brown

Von Richthofen and Brown
Theatrical release poster
Directed by	Roger Corman
Produced by	Gene Corman
Written by	John William Corrington Joyce Hooper Corrington
Starring	John Phillip Law Don Stroud
Music by	Hugo Friedhofer
Cinematography	Michael Reed
Edited by	Alan Collins
Production company	The Corman Company
Distributed by	United Artists
Release dates	July 28, 1971 (US)
Running time	97 minutes
Country	United States
Language	English
Budget	under $1 million[1]
Box office	108,851 admissions (France)[2]

Von Richthofen and Brown, also known as The Red Baron, is a 1971 war film directed by Roger Corman, and starring John Phillip Law and Don Stroud as the title characters. Although names of real people are used, the story by Joyce Hooper Corrington and John William Corrington makes no claim to be historically accurate, and in fact is largely fictional.^[3]

Plot

Manfred von Richthofen (John Phillip Law) is a German cavalry officer newly assigned to an air squadron under the command of Oswald Boelcke (Peter Masterson). Richthofen quickly becomes an ace; his career is presented as a series of scenes intercut with those of another pilot across the lines, a Canadian named Roy Brown (Don Stroud), who arrives at a British squadron commanded by Victoria Cross holder Lanoe Hawker (Corin Redgrave).

The two pilots are very different; Brown ruffles the feathers of his squadron mates by refusing to drink a toast to Richthofen, while the Baron awards himself silver trophies in honour of his kills, and clashes with fellow pilot Hermann Göring (Barry Primus) when Boelcke is killed after a mid-air collision and Richthofen assumes command of the squadron. Richthofen becomes outwardly energized by the war. Outraged by an order to camouflage his squadron's aircraft, he paints them in bright conspicuous colours, claiming that gentlemen should not hide from their enemies.

The toll on both squadrons is highlighted when Richthofen is wounded during an aerial battle and Lanoe Hawker is killed. The war becomes personal for both when Brown and his squadron attack Richthofen's airfield, destroying their aircraft on the ground. Revenge comes when Richthofen, with the help of a batch of new fighters from Anthony Fokker (Hurd Hatfield) launches a counterattack on the British airfield. Back at their aerodrome, Richthofen rants at Göring for leaving the formation and strafing medical personnel. He says: "You're an assassin!" Göring defends himself by saying: "I make war to win." Richthofen tells him: "Get out of my sight!", threatening that if Göring does something similar again, he will personally go to the Kaiser to make sure Goring is shot.

Richthofen's passion for the war fades, becoming dismayed and depressed that his squadron is losing so many pilots. He even starts to realize that Germany might lose the war. Caught between his disgust for the war, and the responsibility for his fighter wing, he refuses a job offer from the government deciding to help fight alongside his men, knowing it will probably lead to his death in combat. Brown proves very uncooperative. He says it feels like he has shot down at least 100 German aircraft. He has a rather defeatist attitude and often says that they are all going to die before the war comes to an end.

On April 21, 1918, Richthofen and Brown engage in an aerial duel during which Richthofen receives a fatal wound. He is able to land his aircraft, but soon dies. The Allied pilots congratulate Brown on downing Richthofen. The pilot who will take over from Richthofen is Göring.

Cast

John Phillip Law as Manfred von Richthofen Don Stroud as Roy Brown Barry Primus as Hermann Göring Corin Redgrave as Lanoe Hawker Karen Huston as Ilse Hurd Hatfield as Anthony Fokker

Stephen McHattie as Werner Voss Brian Foley as Lothar von Richthofen Robert La Tourneaux as Ernst Udet Peter Masterson as Oswald Boelcke David Weston as Murphy Tom Adams as Owen

Production

Miles-built S.E.5 replica flown by Charles Boddington, five seconds before fatal crash on 15 September 1970

Camera crew (1970): Peter Peckowski and Peter Allwork in cockpit, Jimmy Murakami, Shay Corcoran and Lynn Garrison

Roger Corman had been interested in making a film about Manfred von Richthofen for a number of years. Corman felt that the Baron was the last true knight, an aristocratic warrior with a code of honor. Corman wanted to show how the Baron's way of thinking was archaic compared to the wholesale slaughter of World War I. Corman also wanted to contrast the Baron with the man who had been credited with shooting him down, Canadian RAF pilot Roy Brown. (Most historians now believe that the Red Baron was shot down by ground fire.)^[3] In 1965 it was announced he had commissioned a script called The Red Baron from Robert Towne.^[4] Although the story of the two foes who meet in a fateful last flight, was essentially a historical subject, Corman's intention was to treat the subject as an allegory of the modern war machine in conflict with antiquated old world notions of chivalry.^[5]

Corman was able to work with a much larger budget than he enjoyed with his earlier features.^[6] Ex-RCAF pilot Lynn Garrison supplied the aircraft, crews and facilities, and personally coordinated the flying sequences; Garrison had purchased the collection of hangars, aircraft, vehicles and support equipment accumulated for filming 20th Century’s top-grossing film, The Blue Max, after the production wrapped in 1965.^{[Note 1]} The collection included replica Pfalz D.IIIs, Royal Aircraft Factory S.E.5s, Fokker D.VIIs, Fokker Dr.Is. A number of de Havilland DH.82A Tiger Moths and Stampe SV.4Cs had also been converted to represent other aircraft, for a total of 12 aircraft available for aerial scenes.^[8][9]

Corman used an Aérospatiale Alouette II helicopter, along with a Helio Courier, for aerial photography, supported by a number of specialized camera mounts Garrison developed for use on individual aircraft. This allowed footage of actors, such as John Philip Law and Don Stroud "flying" the aircraft. Garrison trained Law and Stroud to the point where they could take off, land a Stampe, and fly basic sequences themselves from the rear seat, filmed with a rear-facing camera. Stunt pilots were used for the more complicated sequences, one such being famed New Age author Richard Bach. Bach wrote about his experiences in a short story entitled "I Shot Down the Red Baron, and So What", which is reproduced in his short story collection A Gift of Wings.^[10]

Corman used a filming schedule that included so-called "Blue Days, Grey Days and Don’t Give a Damn Days" so that the aircraft were used no matter what the weather presented.

On 15 September 1970, Charles Boddington, a veteran of both The Blue Max and Darling Lili, was killed when his S.E.5 spun in during a low-level manoeuvre over the airfield. The next day, during the last scheduled flight on the shooting schedule, Garrison and Stroud were involved in a low-level sequence across Lake Weston in a Stampe, when a jackdaw struck Garrison in the face, knocking him unconscious. The aircraft then ran through five powerlines, snap rolled and plunged into the River Liffey inverted. Garrison and Stroud were rescued from the water. Stroud was uninjured, but Garrison required 60 stitches to close a head wound. Both incidents occurring in such a short period resulted in Irish authorities grounding the production. Corman lobbied for restoration of flying and a few days later, was successful.^[11]

Some of the interior shots in Von Richthofen and Brown were filmed at Powerscourt House, a noted stately home in County Wicklow Ireland. Powerscourt had been designed by Richard Cassels, a German architect, and the entrance hall had a Germanic motif, lending a visual connection to a German location.^{[Note 2]}

Corman felt the pressure of directing a big-budget feature were such that he wanted to take a sabbatical.^[13] Although heavily involved as a producer during the interim, he did not direct another film until Frankenstein Unbound (1990).^[14]

Reception

Von Richthofen and Brown received mixed to negative reviews from both viewers and critics, although Roger Greenspun, in his review for The New York Times saw Corman's work as "... an extraordinarily impressive movie by a filmmaker whose career has not always been marked by success, or even noble failure."^[15] Critics also connected Corman's anti-war views with the central characters of the film, seeing the antagonists as representing the modern relentless killing machine versus old world chivalry.^[7]

As an aviation epic, reviewer Leonard Maltin noted, "Aerial work is excellent, it's the ground work which crashes."^[16]

See also

• List of American films of 1971

References

Explanatory notes

1. Alun Evans in Brassey's Guide to War Films, compared and contrasted the two features, noting that both aerial films were spectacular, albeit flawed.^[7]
2. Powerscourt House was also used for scenes in Stanley Kubrick's Barry Lyndon a few years later. The house was destroyed in an accidental fire in 1974, so the films shot there serve as a record for the lost interiors and valuable artifacts, including some left there by Oliver Cromwell.^[12]

Citations

1. Corman and Jerome 1990, p. 169.
2. Box office information for Roger Corman films in France at Box Office Story
3. Corman 1978, p. 224.
4. "Movie Call Sheet: Spiegel to Film 'Swimmer'." Los Angeles Times, D13, March 19, 1965.
5. Hyams 1984, p. 188.
6. Smith, Richard Harland. "Articles: 'Von Richthofen and Brown'(1971)." Turner Classic Movies. Retrieved: July 6, 2014.
7. Evans 2000, p. 195.
8. Hardwick and Schnepf 1989, pp. 52, 54.
9. "Celluloid Over the Western Front." Air Progress, October 1979, p. 53.
10. Bach 1989, p. 5.
11. "Notes: 'Von Richthofen and Brown' (1971)" Turner Classic Movies. Retrieved: 7 July 2014.
12. "Powerscourt Estate." All Ireland Travel. Retrieved: July 6, 2014.
13. Corman 2012, pp. 150, 159.
14. Corman 1978, p. 234.
15. Greenspun, Roger. "Movie Review: 'Von Richthofen and Brown' (1970)". The New York Times, July 29, 1971.
16. Maltin 2009, p. 1149.

Bibliography

• Bach, Richard. A Gift of Wings. New York: Dell, 1989. ISBN 978-0-44020-432-9.
• Corman, Roger. How I Made A Hundred Movies In Hollywood And Never Lost A Dime. New York: da Capo Press, 1978. ISBN 978-0-30680-874-6.
• Corman, Roger. Roger Corman: Interviews. Jackson, Mississippi: University Press of Mississippi, 2012. ISBN 978-1-61703-165-6.
• Corman, Roger and Jim Jerome. How I Made a Hundred Movies in Hollywood and Never Lost a Dime. London: Muller, 1990. ISBN 978-009174-679-7.
• Evans, Alun. Brassey's Guide to War Films. Dulles, Virginia: Potomac Books, 2000. ISBN 1-57488-263-5.
• Hardwick, Jack and Ed Schnepf. "A Viewer's Guide to Aviation Movies". The Making of the Great Aviation Films, General Aviation Series, Volume 2, 1989.
• Hyams, Jay. War Movies. New York: W.H. Smith Publishers, Inc., 1984. ISBN 978-0-8317-9304-3.
• Maltin, Leonard. Leonard Maltin's Movie Guide 2009. New York: New American Library, 2009 (originally published as TV Movies, then Leonard Maltin’s Movie & Video Guide), First edition 1969, published annually since 1988. ISBN 978-0-451-22468-2.

External links

• Von Richthofen and Brown at the TCM Movie Database
• Von Richthofen and Brown at the Internet Movie Database
• Von Richthofen and Brown at AllMovie