Von Richthofen and Brown

Infobox Film
name = Von Richthofen and Brown


image_size = 200px
caption = Movie Poster
director = Roger Corman
producer = Gene Corman
writer = John William Corrington
Joyce Hooper Corrington
starring = John Phillip Law
Don Stroud
Barry Primus
music = Hugo Friedhofer
cinematography = Michael Reed
editing = Alan Collins
released = flagicon|US July 28, 1971
flagicon|Finland September 10
runtime = 97 min.
country = USA
language = English
amg_id = 1:115745
imdb_id = 0067658

Von Richthofen and Brown, also known as The Red Baron is a 1971 film directed by Roger Corman. It starred John Phillip Law and Don Stroud as the titular characters.

Plot Summary

Manfred von Richthofen (John Phillip Law) arrives from the Cavalry, at a squadron in the German airforce under the command of Oswald Boelcke. He quickly becomes an ace. Meanwhile, a Canadian pilot named Roy Brown arrives at a British squadron, where the top scoring pilot is Victoria Cross winner, Major Lanoe Hawker. Brown ruffles the feathers of his squadron mates by refusing to drink a toast to von Richthofen. Von Richthofen and fellow squadron pilot, Hermann Goering clash when squadron commander Boelcke is killed after a mid air collision. von Richthofen is given command of the squadron. Outraged when he is ordered to have his aircraft camouflaged, von Richthofen has the squadron's aircraft painted in bright conspicuous colours, claiming that gentlemen should not hide from their enemies. Later, von Richthofen is wounded during an aerial battle; meanwhile Lanoe Hawker is killed. Brown and his squadron decide to attack von Richthofen's airfield, destroying their aircraft on the ground. However, von Richthofen, with the help of a batch of new fighters from Anthony Fokker, the 'Richthofen Flying Circus' launches a counter attack on the British airfield. Brown later kills von Richthofen during an aerial combat, and Hermann Goering takes over command of the 'Flying Circus'.

Production

Ex-RCAF fighter pilot Lynn Garrison supplied the aircraft, crews and facilities for Von Richthofen & Brown. He personally coordinated the flying sequences for Corman’s film. Garrison had purchased the collection of hangars, aircraft, vehicles and support equipment accumulated for filming 20th Century’s The Blue Max, top grossing film in 1965. The collection included replica Pfalz D-111s, SE-5s, Fokker D-V11s, Fokker Dr.1s, plus Tiger Moths, and SV4C Stampes.

Corman used an Alouette 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. In actual fact, Lynn Garrison trained Law and Stroud to the point where they could take off, land the Stampe, and fly basic sequences themselves, from the rear seat, filmed with a rear-facing camera.

Ever efficient, Corman used a schedule that included Blue Days, Grey Days and Don’t Give a Damn Days…so that the aircraft were used no matter what the weather presented. He was ready for anything, unlike most directors.

Garrison and Stroud were involved in a spectacular low-level sequence across Lake Weston, in the 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 lake inverted. Garrison and Stroud were rescued from the waters. Stroud was uninjured while Garrison required 60 stitches to close a head wound. This was the last scheduled flight on the shooting schedule.

On September 15, 1970, day before Garrison’s accident, Charles Boddington, veteran of The Blue Max and Darling Lili, was killed when his SE-5 spun in during a low-level maneuver over the airfield.

Factual Errors

The film contains many factual errors:
* Von Richthofen is shown flying a Fokker D.VII before flying the Fokker Dr.I, when in fact the Dr.1 came out earlier than the D.VII
* Hermann Goering was not in the 'Flying Circus', until he took over command of the squadron several months after von Richthofen's death.
* Lanoe Hawker and Roy Brown were never in the same squadron. Furthermore Hawker died in November 1916 and Brown did not begin flying combat missions until March 1917.
* Roy Brown and his squadron were flying Sopwith Camels, and not S.E.5s on the day of Manfred von Richthofen's death
*Brown may not have actually killed von Richthofen.

Cast

*John Phillip Law - Manfred von Richthofen
*Don Stroud - Roy Brown
*Barry Primus - Hermann Goering
*Corin Redgrave - Lanoe Hawker
*Karen Huston - Ilse
*Hurd Hatfield - Anthony Fokker
*Stephen McHattie - Werner Voss
*Brian Foley - Lothar von Richthofen
*Robert La Tourneaux - Ernst Udet
*Peter Masterson - Oswald Boelcke

References

External links

*imdb title|id=0067658|title=Von Richthofen and Brown