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Allow me to say, I’ve anxiously awaited the release of this DVD in U.S. format as I’m an extreme military history enthusiast, especially in the fields of WWI and WWII aviation and armor. I’ve watched clips of this movie and the trailers for it on youtube for well over a year and expected it to have the fluffy love story others have complained about, but, that is just one of the movie’s many problems. Once again, movie makers have proven they have NO IDEA who the audience is for HISTORICALLY THEMED MOVIES! I’m starting to get really amazed at how consistently movie makers miss the mark – and waste magnificent opportunities to make a great movie in the process.
First off, everything was here for them to make the end-all fantastic movie about the life of Manfred Von Richtofen. They built 23 Albatros and Fokker airplanes for this film for pity’s sake! Then, all of the flying, apparently, is done using green screen and CG technology – there is no “real” flying in the movie. Watch the extra features, they show how this was done – I was stunned.
On the plus side, this movie is far better than “Flyboys” which was just horrible. On the downside, I have no idea who this movie’s about, because it darn sure isn’t about Manfred Von Richthofen. The only things they got right here are that he was German and he had a red airplane – other than that, they made everything else up from scratch. His friendship with Werner Voss is touched upon, but only because they use Voss (shamefully) to push along the pointless and fictional love story between Richthofen and a nurse who seems to be everywhere. The actual careers of the pilots themselves is entirely glossed over. Voss’s phenomenal last flight isn’t shown and if you don’t pay attention, you won’t even realize when Richtofen finds out he’s been killed. Likewise, Von Richtofen’s last flight isn’t shown at all. There’s actually very little flying in this movie – almost all the flight scenes are up on youtube.
If you’re going to make a movie about Manfred Von Richtofen, it should’ve started when Oswald Boelke picked him out to join Jasta 2, and show him learning from the master to forge his skills. This movie starts months after Boelke’s death just before MvR is awarded his Blue Max – a downright pointless place to start I thought. Believe it or not, in this movie, MvR and Captain Roy Brown ARE CLOSE FRIENDS! WHAT?!!! In fact, Manfred shoots Brown down in early 1917, Brown escapes from a POW camp, they meet again later after having both been shot down, share drinks and notes on the SAME nurse, then they just pal around! WHAT A CROCK! You really have to struggle to write history this badly. Then, all the German troops in the trenches look like they just got back from the dry cleaners.
The only reason I give this movie any props at all is because the actors did great with the terrible script they were given – the acting is quite good. The aerial scenes are spectacular and look quite real, even though there aren’t enough of them. And, they got the uniform details right, even though they went a little too floppy on the caps.
Perhaps someday, someone will do a GOOD movie on this legendary figure and do so without having to insert 80% fictional fluff and filler. Richtofen, Voss, and Roy Brown deserved a much better telling of their story than this.
Rating: 3 / 5
The planes are beautiful, if historically inappropriate.
The dialogue is slopping and frequently childish or even silly.
But it’s the editing that is really to blame here.
Someone said the movie was originally longer but edited down for the American audience. Whoever did it should be flogged.
As one example, there is a scene where the Baron and friends have been bounced by a larger force of fighters, coming right out of the sun and on their tails. The baron is being chased by someone supposedly a very dangerous enemy pilot, and suddenly, we see the baron shooting down a two-seater and no sign of the enemy fighters. No explanation– just bad editing. That the 2 seater supposedly carries Roy Brown and that the form a friendship and have several conversations together is just bad fairy tale. But the editing makes this truly wretched.
I disagree with another reviewer about a competing movie. While “Flyboys” had some really silly stuff (like the entire German air force was made up of red fokker triplanes and the fight scenes generally felt like a video game), there was actually a STORY that a person could watch and enjoy. Yes, some historical gaffes and some silliness, but you could follow the story, get involved with the characters, and have a sense of beginning, middle, and end.
You get none of that in Red Baron.
I did not think anyone could make a movie worse than “Von Richthofen and Brown,” but they did.
If it wasn’t for the beautiful planes, I’d give it zero stars. As it was, they are fabulous and most of them based on real paint schemes.
Rating: 2 / 5
Simply stated: If an entertaining aviation flick–without the customary fleshy sex scenes and gratuitous four-letter expletives (yawn, yawn)–is what you’re looking for, then look no further. If it’s historical enlightenment that you seek, then look elsewhere. My one gripe is that the only subtitles are in French.
Rating: 5 / 5
I have had a fascination with World War I since I was a young boy. My grandfather fought in the “war to end all wars.” My father bought me a copy of Floyd Gibbons’ “The Red Knight of Germany” when I was 8 years old and I have read it several time since. I have read as many books on World War I aviation as I could afford and possess several film doumentaries about the war. I have seen and own “Wings,” “Hell’s Angels,” “The Dawn Patrol,” “The Blue Max,” “Richthofen and Brown,” and “Flyboys,” among others. When I found out there was a film called “The Red Baron,” I immediately pre-ordered it. I was excited to see how a German film would portray him. I am not a film-goer who is overawed by CGI. I look for a good story and, if possible, minimal effects to enhance real time action. I was quite disapointed in “The Red Baron.”
First of all, it was done in Englsh. I thought, at least, that they would work a bilingual film on us. Second, I was downheartned by the story choices made by the filmmaker. I understand dramatic license, so I was willing to overlook the contrived multiple personal meetings between Richthofen and Capt. Roy Brown. I was even willing to suspend my disbelief and accept that he had an affair with his nurse. It was good to see Werner Voss in his sweater tinkering round in the repair shop. I know that Richthofen wore a turtleneck sweater on the flightline. I just wish his characterization had a little more formality to it. It even had Richthofen greet the Chief of the German Air Service, General Von Hoeppner, casually attired (tsk,tsk). What I can’t forgive is the gratuitous passing over of the final showdown in the air. Whichever way the filmmaker chose to end it, either being shot down by Brown or by anti-aircraft fire from the ground, I just wanted to see what they would do. Unfortunately, they chose to ignore it and leave an anti-climactic feeling suffocating their audience. Last, I wish that the CGI wizards would spend more time researching and watching real planes work in the sky. There are times in “The Red Baron” where I would rather watch real planes or good model work than sit through the CGI offerings. In the film’s favor, I will say that it was wonderful to see an Albatros fighter in the sky, even if it was CGI. Audiences are used to Fokker Triplanes and D-VIIs. We have even seen the Pfalz D III in the air. Finally, we get to see the Albatros. My thanks to the filmmakers for that.
For those with an interest in the subject and the time period, this is a film to see, but don’t expect too much.
Rating: 3 / 5
At age 20 I knew more about Von Richthofen’s entire life than the director and his crew seems to show — though it was their task (& stated goal) to create THE movie about his life. Non! For the life of me, I can’t fathom who makes decisions in the creating of historic dramas.. the director? the producers? the studio? WHO? Because just about everything they could get wrong, they did. Do the actors not do any research? If so, why don’t the actors have the guts to ask to director and producer, “Hey, why don’t we stick to history? Roy Brown didn’t know the Baron, nor were they drinking buddies, why are we fabricating whole fiction and destroying true history? This is bound to infuriate fans of history, the audience for these types of dramas.” It wasn’t as bad as FLYBOYS, but then again, nothing has been that bad. I was so hoping it would be DAS BOOT of the air, perhaps with the same director. Watching the extras on the disk, it always drives me crazy when they talk about how much research they did, and how much CGI magic went into creating the most realistic everything, ever, etc.. But then the movie MASACREs the true story of the Red Baron. How can you brag about being realistic, when you masacre the story? I kept asking myself as I watched this, “Why?” Why leave out out his most famous battle – his last? Are people too afraid to take up the issue of who shot down the Red Baron? The History Channel took it up, and did a marvelous job. The movie has some very realistic-looking scenes. At moments, it really captures the era; I loved the howitzer scenes at the front which reminded me of my days on the Ft. Lewis artillery range, and for that I give it 3 stars. As for the “true” story of the Red Baron, as advertised in the disk extras, it was a fail, trying to be too much like FLY BOYS… love story & the futility of war, all that. Stick to the facts please — Von Richthofen’s story was enough — his book — Der Rote Kampfleiger — should hv been the basis of the story, not the first draft script from FLYBOYS. Crimony, another missed opportunity for historic excellence.
Rating: 3 / 5
Allow me to say, I’ve anxiously awaited the release of this DVD in U.S. format as I’m an extreme military history enthusiast, especially in the fields of WWI and WWII aviation and armor. I’ve watched clips of this movie and the trailers for it on youtube for well over a year and expected it to have the fluffy love story others have complained about, but, that is just one of the movie’s many problems. Once again, movie makers have proven they have NO IDEA who the audience is for HISTORICALLY THEMED MOVIES! I’m starting to get really amazed at how consistently movie makers miss the mark – and waste magnificent opportunities to make a great movie in the process.
First off, everything was here for them to make the end-all fantastic movie about the life of Manfred Von Richtofen. They built 23 Albatros and Fokker airplanes for this film for pity’s sake! Then, all of the flying, apparently, is done using green screen and CG technology – there is no “real” flying in the movie. Watch the extra features, they show how this was done – I was stunned.
On the plus side, this movie is far better than “Flyboys” which was just horrible. On the downside, I have no idea who this movie’s about, because it darn sure isn’t about Manfred Von Richthofen. The only things they got right here are that he was German and he had a red airplane – other than that, they made everything else up from scratch. His friendship with Werner Voss is touched upon, but only because they use Voss (shamefully) to push along the pointless and fictional love story between Richthofen and a nurse who seems to be everywhere. The actual careers of the pilots themselves is entirely glossed over. Voss’s phenomenal last flight isn’t shown and if you don’t pay attention, you won’t even realize when Richtofen finds out he’s been killed. Likewise, Von Richtofen’s last flight isn’t shown at all. There’s actually very little flying in this movie – almost all the flight scenes are up on youtube.
If you’re going to make a movie about Manfred Von Richtofen, it should’ve started when Oswald Boelke picked him out to join Jasta 2, and show him learning from the master to forge his skills. This movie starts months after Boelke’s death just before MvR is awarded his Blue Max – a downright pointless place to start I thought. Believe it or not, in this movie, MvR and Captain Roy Brown ARE CLOSE FRIENDS! WHAT?!!! In fact, Manfred shoots Brown down in early 1917, Brown escapes from a POW camp, they meet again later after having both been shot down, share drinks and notes on the SAME nurse, then they just pal around! WHAT A CROCK! You really have to struggle to write history this badly. Then, all the German troops in the trenches look like they just got back from the dry cleaners.
The only reason I give this movie any props at all is because the actors did great with the terrible script they were given – the acting is quite good. The aerial scenes are spectacular and look quite real, even though there aren’t enough of them. And, they got the uniform details right, even though they went a little too floppy on the caps.
Perhaps someday, someone will do a GOOD movie on this legendary figure and do so without having to insert 80% fictional fluff and filler. Richtofen, Voss, and Roy Brown deserved a much better telling of their story than this.
Rating: 3 / 5
The planes are beautiful, if historically inappropriate.
The dialogue is slopping and frequently childish or even silly.
But it’s the editing that is really to blame here.
Someone said the movie was originally longer but edited down for the American audience. Whoever did it should be flogged.
As one example, there is a scene where the Baron and friends have been bounced by a larger force of fighters, coming right out of the sun and on their tails. The baron is being chased by someone supposedly a very dangerous enemy pilot, and suddenly, we see the baron shooting down a two-seater and no sign of the enemy fighters. No explanation– just bad editing. That the 2 seater supposedly carries Roy Brown and that the form a friendship and have several conversations together is just bad fairy tale. But the editing makes this truly wretched.
I disagree with another reviewer about a competing movie. While “Flyboys” had some really silly stuff (like the entire German air force was made up of red fokker triplanes and the fight scenes generally felt like a video game), there was actually a STORY that a person could watch and enjoy. Yes, some historical gaffes and some silliness, but you could follow the story, get involved with the characters, and have a sense of beginning, middle, and end.
You get none of that in Red Baron.
I did not think anyone could make a movie worse than “Von Richthofen and Brown,” but they did.
If it wasn’t for the beautiful planes, I’d give it zero stars. As it was, they are fabulous and most of them based on real paint schemes.
Rating: 2 / 5
Simply stated: If an entertaining aviation flick–without the customary fleshy sex scenes and gratuitous four-letter expletives (yawn, yawn)–is what you’re looking for, then look no further. If it’s historical enlightenment that you seek, then look elsewhere. My one gripe is that the only subtitles are in French.
Rating: 5 / 5
I have had a fascination with World War I since I was a young boy. My grandfather fought in the “war to end all wars.” My father bought me a copy of Floyd Gibbons’ “The Red Knight of Germany” when I was 8 years old and I have read it several time since. I have read as many books on World War I aviation as I could afford and possess several film doumentaries about the war. I have seen and own “Wings,” “Hell’s Angels,” “The Dawn Patrol,” “The Blue Max,” “Richthofen and Brown,” and “Flyboys,” among others. When I found out there was a film called “The Red Baron,” I immediately pre-ordered it. I was excited to see how a German film would portray him. I am not a film-goer who is overawed by CGI. I look for a good story and, if possible, minimal effects to enhance real time action. I was quite disapointed in “The Red Baron.”
First of all, it was done in Englsh. I thought, at least, that they would work a bilingual film on us. Second, I was downheartned by the story choices made by the filmmaker. I understand dramatic license, so I was willing to overlook the contrived multiple personal meetings between Richthofen and Capt. Roy Brown. I was even willing to suspend my disbelief and accept that he had an affair with his nurse. It was good to see Werner Voss in his sweater tinkering round in the repair shop. I know that Richthofen wore a turtleneck sweater on the flightline. I just wish his characterization had a little more formality to it. It even had Richthofen greet the Chief of the German Air Service, General Von Hoeppner, casually attired (tsk,tsk). What I can’t forgive is the gratuitous passing over of the final showdown in the air. Whichever way the filmmaker chose to end it, either being shot down by Brown or by anti-aircraft fire from the ground, I just wanted to see what they would do. Unfortunately, they chose to ignore it and leave an anti-climactic feeling suffocating their audience. Last, I wish that the CGI wizards would spend more time researching and watching real planes work in the sky. There are times in “The Red Baron” where I would rather watch real planes or good model work than sit through the CGI offerings. In the film’s favor, I will say that it was wonderful to see an Albatros fighter in the sky, even if it was CGI. Audiences are used to Fokker Triplanes and D-VIIs. We have even seen the Pfalz D III in the air. Finally, we get to see the Albatros. My thanks to the filmmakers for that.
For those with an interest in the subject and the time period, this is a film to see, but don’t expect too much.
Rating: 3 / 5
At age 20 I knew more about Von Richthofen’s entire life than the director and his crew seems to show — though it was their task (& stated goal) to create THE movie about his life. Non! For the life of me, I can’t fathom who makes decisions in the creating of historic dramas.. the director? the producers? the studio? WHO? Because just about everything they could get wrong, they did. Do the actors not do any research? If so, why don’t the actors have the guts to ask to director and producer, “Hey, why don’t we stick to history? Roy Brown didn’t know the Baron, nor were they drinking buddies, why are we fabricating whole fiction and destroying true history? This is bound to infuriate fans of history, the audience for these types of dramas.” It wasn’t as bad as FLYBOYS, but then again, nothing has been that bad. I was so hoping it would be DAS BOOT of the air, perhaps with the same director. Watching the extras on the disk, it always drives me crazy when they talk about how much research they did, and how much CGI magic went into creating the most realistic everything, ever, etc.. But then the movie MASACREs the true story of the Red Baron. How can you brag about being realistic, when you masacre the story? I kept asking myself as I watched this, “Why?” Why leave out out his most famous battle – his last? Are people too afraid to take up the issue of who shot down the Red Baron? The History Channel took it up, and did a marvelous job. The movie has some very realistic-looking scenes. At moments, it really captures the era; I loved the howitzer scenes at the front which reminded me of my days on the Ft. Lewis artillery range, and for that I give it 3 stars. As for the “true” story of the Red Baron, as advertised in the disk extras, it was a fail, trying to be too much like FLY BOYS… love story & the futility of war, all that. Stick to the facts please — Von Richthofen’s story was enough — his book — Der Rote Kampfleiger — should hv been the basis of the story, not the first draft script from FLYBOYS. Crimony, another missed opportunity for historic excellence.
Rating: 3 / 5