The Red Baron

[dr greg]

dread the baron

Well it finally made it to our outback video store....and wasn't worth the wait, what a load of old tripe, poor CGI, dud eurogabble english, stilted script anyway, a very poor effort....I still say there hasn't been a decent WW1 ace film since the Blue Max, and that wasn't much chop....

 

[Atterbury Dodd]

Sorry to hear that as I am a little bit of a Von Richthofen fan. I will probably try to find and view it anyway.

 

[Talbot]

Well it finally made it to our outback video store....and wasn't worth the wait, what a load of old tripe, poor CGI, dud eurogabble english, stilted script anyway, a very poor effort....I still say there hasn't been a decent WW1 ace film since the Blue Max, and that wasn't much chop....

Goshawk Squadron by Derek Robinson. There's a film I'd like to see.

 

[DanielJones]

Bummer! Was hoping that it would at least be a decent go of it. Well I suppose it will show up on AMC in the near future, we'll have to maybe check it out then.

Cheers!

Dan

 

[Edward]

Horses for courses, I guess. I liked it. [huh]

What I found interesting was the fact they took pains to include a composite, ficitonalised character that represented all the Jewish pilots (and by extension, member of the military in general) that fought for Germany in WW1. While no doubt that in itself was historical, there was of course the unspoken disowning of the very different experience of German Jews a couple of decades later.

I liked seeing a film from the perspective not only of Axis personnel, but from the perspective of..... eh, I was going to say 'the ma on the ground', but that doesn't quite apply here, does it? .... as opposed to the normal Hollywood pattern of "these are the good guys and these are the bad guys, we're to good guys because we won" stuff...

In this time of chivalry Manfren von Richtofen flew over the 24th’s airdrome and dropped a note telling his mates of Hawker’s demise. On April 21, 1918 the favor was returned when an RAF pilot of the 309th Squadron flew over the home of Jagdstaffel 11 dropping another note saying Richtofen was dead. It is said Roy Brown in a Sopwith Camel had bested the red Fokker triplane of the Red Baron with a single burst. Modern scientific research proves that a machine gunner on the ground probably did the deed.

It's this sort of stroy that really intrigues me. In the film, Richthoffen is portrayed in an early scene flying low over enemy territory with his squad to drop a wreath on the grave of an RAF pilot, during the funeral. The wreath bears the legend "our enemy and our friend". At the end of the film, when allied personnel bury Von Richthoffen with full military honours, he is honoured with a wreath bearing the same legend. Is this note-dropping the historical inspiration for this part of the story, or did they really drop wreaths?