The Blue Max
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
| The Blue Max | |
|---|---|
 Original movie poster |
|
| Directed by | John Guillermin |
| Produced by | Christian Ferry |
| Written by | David Pursall Jack Seddon Gerald Hanley |
| Starring | George Peppard Ursula Andress James Mason Jeremy Kemp |
| Music by | Jerry Goldsmith |
| Distributed by | Twentieth Century Fox Film Corp. |
| Release date(s) | 21 June 1966 |
| Allmovie profile | |
| IMDb profile | |
The Blue Max is a 1966 British film about a German fighter pilot on the Western Front during World War I. It was directed by John Guillermin and starred George Peppard, James Mason, Ursula Andress, Karl Michael Vogler and Jeremy Kemp. The screenplay was written by David Pursall, Jack Seddon, and Gerald Hanley, based on the novel of the same name by Jack D. Hunter.
Contents |
[edit] Plot
Bruno Stachel (George Peppard) is a corporal in the German infantry who, in spring 1918, leaves the fighting in the trenches to become a fighter pilot in the German Air Service. He sets his sights on winning the highest decoration, the Pour le Mérite, nicknamed the "Blue Max", for which he must shoot down 20 aircraft.
Coming from humble origins, Leutnant Stachel is driven to prove himself better than the aristocratic pilots in his new fighter squadron, especially Willi von Klugermann (Jeremy Kemp). Their commanding officer, Hauptmann Otto Heidemann (Karl Michael Vogler) is an upper-class officer whose notions of chivalry conflict with Stachel's ruthless determination.
On his first mission, Stachel shoots down a British S.E.5, but does not receive credit for his "kill" because there were no witnesses. He searches the French countryside for hours in a pouring rain looking for the wreckage, giving the other pilots the impression that he cares more about it than the death of the man he flew with.
Soon afterwards, he attacks an Allied two-man observation aircraft, incapacitating the rear gunner. Then, instead of downing the helpless victim, he signals the pilot to surrender and fly to his base. However, as they near the airfield, the wounded man revives and reaches for his machine gun, unseen by the admiring observers on the ground. Stachel is forced to shoot the aircraft down, but Heidemann believes Stachel simply murdered the crew in order to gain a "confirmed" kill.
The incident brings Stachel to the attention of General Count von Klugermann (James Mason), Willi's uncle. When the general comes to the base to award his nephew the Blue Max, he meets Stachel. As a member of the masses, "as common as dirt", the pilot has great potential for propaganda purposes. That night, the general's wife, Kaeti (Ursula Andress), mistakenly enters Stachel's room. She is carrying on a discreet affair with her nephew by marriage, with her husband's knowledge.
Soon afterwards, Stachel is shot down going to the aid of a red Fokker Dr.I attacked by two British fighters. He survives the crash landing. When he returns to the airfield, he is stunned when he is introduced to the man he saved: Manfred von Richthofen, the Red Baron. Grateful, von Richtofen offers Stachel a place in his squadron. He regretfully declines.
With Stachel temporarily grounded owing to a minor injury, General von Klugermann orders him to Berlin to help shore up crumbling public morale. While there, von Klugermann invites Stachel to dinner so that Kaeti can sleep with her latest hero.
When Stachel returns to duty, he and Willi von Klugermann volunteer to escort a reconnaissance aircraft. British fighters attack. Stachel's guns jam, but Willi downs two of the enemy on his first pass, then a third on Stachel's tail, and the rest disengage. As the two are returning to their base, Willi challenges Stachel. Spotting a bridge, Willi dives under the wide middle span, but Stachel tops him by flying under a much narrower side one. Seething, Willi clears the smaller span, but clips the top of a nearby brick tower and crashes. When Stachel reports his death, Heidemann assumes that the two verified victories were Willi's. Insulted, Stachel impulsively claims the kills, even though it is discovered that he had only fired 40 bullets. Outraged, Heidemann reports Stachel's lie to his superiors, but is told that Stachel's victories will be confirmed.
Later, during a strafing mission covering the retreat of the German army, Stachel disobeys Heidemann's order not to engage enemy fighters; one by one, the rest of the squadron follow him. Afterwards, Heidemann has Stachel arrested, furious that nearly half the pilots were killed in the ensuing dogfight. Stachel, however, cares only that he has shot down enough aircraft, even without Willi's kills, to qualify for the Blue Max. The two men are ordered to Berlin. There, General von Klugermann tells Heidemann privately that Stachel is to receive the Blue Max. Heidemann resigns his command in disgust when the general orders him to withdraw his report; he accepts a desk job.
Later that evening, the countess visits Stachel and suggests that they run away to Switzerland since Germany's defeat is inevitable. She storms out when he refuses to be one of her "lapdogs".
The next day, Stachel is awarded the Blue Max by the Crown Prince in a well-publicized ceremony. However, a field marshal telephones von Klugermann to inform him of an impending investigation into Stachel. The general asks how the field marshal found out about Stachel's lie. While listening on the phone, he turns his gaze to his wife. Desperate to avoid a scandal, von Klugermann sees a way out when Heidemann reports that the new monoplane he has just test-flown is a "death trap", with fatally-weak struts. He orders Stachel to take the aircraft up and to "show us some real flying." During strenuous aerobatics, Stachel's aircraft breaks up, plunges to the ground and bursts into flames. Von Klugermann stamps and signs Stachel's personnel file and has it sent to the field marshal, stating, "It is the personal file of a German officer and a hero."
[edit] Cast
- George Peppard as Leutnant Bruno Stachel
- James Mason as General Count von Klugermann
- Ursula Andress as Countess Kaeti von Klugermann
- Jeremy Kemp as Leutnant Willi von Klugermann
- Karl Michael Vogler as Hauptmann Otto Heidemann
- Anton Diffring as Holbach
- Harry Towb as Kettering
- Peter Woodthorpe as Rupp
- Derek Newark as Ziegel
- Darren Nesbitt as Fabian
- Loni von Friedl as Elfi Heidemann
[edit] Film versus novel
The film differs from the book on which it is based both in the plot and the portrayal of the characters. Some of the differences are:
Stachel: The movie portrays Stachel initially as a genuinely idealistic, thoughtful, humble, naive man. He evolves into someone more cynical, jaded, dishonest, and driven to succeed as a victim of circumstances, prejudices, and his own false perceptions. From the beginning of the novel, Stachel is deeply troubled. He is obsessed with obtaining the coveted new Fokker D.VII over his Jasta (squadron) rivals, denies his alcoholism, and has a penchant for lying. He is usually drunk in combat. The movie version of Stachel occasionally drinks, and feels remorse over having claimed von Klugermann's last two air kills.
Stachel was played by a 39-year-old George Peppard, in stark contrast to the 19-year-old of the novel. In the movie, Stachel's primary source of insecurity is his lower class background, forced to admit that his father works in a small hotel with only five bedrooms. As a result, he has a chip on his shoulder when it comes to dealing with the other pilots, who are members of the aristocracy. In the novel, most of the officers are from the upper middle class, Stachel's father owns several small hotels in a rural resort area, and only Willi von Klugerman is an aristocrat. Thus, in the novel, Stachel's social status does not contribute to his intense feelings of insecurity, loneliness, and self-loathing.
The book does not depict a vain attempt by Stachel to confirm his first kill. There is also no confrontation between Stachel and Heidemann over Stachel's claims to the aircraft Willi had shot down. Indeed, it is Kettering, the squadron adjutant, who refuses to go along until Heidemann orders him to do so. In the movie, Heidemann takes a dislike to Stachel, whereas the novel version exhibits an immediate, unexplained favoritism towards the newcomer. At the end of the novel, Heidemann reveals that he has been secretly boosting Stachel's achievements as part of an experiment in publicity management.
In the novel, Stachel earns his Blue Max not from 20 victories, but by destroying three aircraft and capturing one after Heidemann's guns jam. (Stachel is so drunk, he cannot even recall the engagement.) He is also credited with saving a French girl who falls into a river. Stachel does not die in the book, and in fact meets the future commander-in-chief of the Luftwaffe, then-Hauptmann Hermann Göring. Stachel marries Katie von Klugermann after the death of Graf von Klugermann, as noted at the beginning of The Blood Order, the second book in Jack Hunter's Stachel series.
Heidemann: Heidemann's deep longing to be with his wife and her growing depression over his absence are more subtle in the movie than the book. In the novel, Heidemann does not accuse Stachel of treachery in the shooting down of the British aircraft over their airfield. He regards Stachel as the best pilot in the Jasta after himself, and has already planned to assign Stachel one of the new Fokker D.VII's. Heidemann is the one, in the book, who recognizes the propaganda value of building Stachel up into a hero and uses this as a means to get himself reassigned to Berlin, to be near his wife. Furthermore, it is he rather than Stachel who is killed test-flying the new aircraft after Stachel recognizes its instability.
Willi von Klugermann: Willi is more arrogant, patronizing, and competitive in the film, and a far more accomplished aviator. In the movie, Willi earns a Blue Max shortly after Stachel's arrival, while in the book, he has only one victory more than Stachel at the time of his death - and four of those victories were for unprotected bombers nearly out of fuel. In the book, Willi's affair with Kaeti is revealed only after his death when Stachel reads his journal. Stachel and Willi are not rivals for her affections. Willi is described as a "fat aristocrat" in the book, in contrast to the slim Kemp who plays him in the film. In the novel, Willi is murdered by Stachel so that Stachel can get the last of the five new Fokker D VII's allotted to the squadron. Heideman indicates that they would be allocated based on 'merit,' which Stachel mistakenly assumes to mean that von Klubermann will get the last one, given his six kills to Stachel's five. In the movie, von Klugermann is killed in an aerial accident.
General von Klugermann: In the movie, the count is a career officer in the German army and holds the rank of generaloberst (colonel-general, then the second highest rank in the German army, ranking just below field marshal). In the novel, his title is Graf and he is a famous surgeon who, among other things, has researched alcoholism and other addictions. At a dinner with his wife, Willi and Stachel, the Graf's monologue strikes the mark regarding Stachel's alcoholism and Kaeti's sexual addiction, although neither notices - a symptom of their denial. Unlike the film, the Graf and Graefin do not have an open marriage. General von Klugermann, an aristocrat, recognizes the unfair nature of Germany's class system – something he disapproves of, but makes no effort to change.
Käti von Klugermann: Käti's character in the book and film are similar, except the novel version is slightly overweight and not particularly attractive, in sharp contrast to actress Ursula Andress. The Gräfin, coming from the lower classes, relishes her status and wealth, and deftly employs her sexuality to get what she wants. And what she wants is Stachel - a brutish reminder of her roots, refreshingly different from the upper class "twits" of the nobility. While drunk, Stachel extorts money from Kaeti wit his knowledge of her affair with Willi. Later, she returns the favor by threatening to reveal his murder of Willi and two British pilots if he does not marry her.
Elfi Heidemann: Elfi is a recovering alcoholic, like Stachel. In fact, she is the drunken nurse that Stachel and the von Klugermann's observe at dinner, prompting a discussion of alcoholism. Elfi overcomes her addiction with the counseling of Doctor von Klugermann. Elfi is, as the hauptmann described, very much like Stachel. Both are candid realists who do not hesitate to expose "The Great Fraud" – the pretense of honor and good manners maintained by the nobility. Stachel recognizes Elfi as a kindred spirit, and after Heidemann's death, it appears he is on his way to finding happiness with her when he is intercepted by Käti. Stachel turn aways literally at Elfi's doorstep, ruefully accepting his fate with Käti in "The Great Fraud" and returning to his alcoholism.
Corporal Rupp: Rupp has only a minor role in the movie. In the novel, he is a major and thoroughly distasteful character, whom Stachel describes as "a pig of a man." He earns extra money by smuggling cheap booze to Stachel, and using one of the squadron's reconnaissance cameras to take pornographic pictures for Kettering's extensive collection of erotica. In the end, it is Rupp who provides Käti with evidence that implicates Stachel in Willi's murder.
Ending: Perhaps the most stark contrast between the novel and the movie is the ending, climaxing in one of the major characters being killed in an experimental aircraft. In the movie, Heidemann flies the monoplane first and determines that it is a "death trap" because the struts are too weak for the wing loading. General von Klugermann then sends Stachel to his death. In the novel, it is Stachel who tries out a new biplane, finds the defect, and then allows Heidemann to fly the aircraft without informing him of the problem, resulting in Heidemann's death. Stachel then returns to Berlin to court his widow. Hunter's novel ends with his main character meeting a young Herman Goering, who has assumed command of the vaunted "Flying Circus" after the death of its commander, Manfred von Richtofen.[1]
[edit] Production
[edit] Stunt flying
The majority of the aircraft used in the film were converted Tiger Moths and Stampe SV.4s. Two Pfalz D.IIIs were produced (by two separate companies) for the film, alone with three Fokker D.VIIs and two Fokker Dr.I triplanes. Other German machines were represented by repainted Tiger Moths and Stampes. The British aircraft were similarly mocked-up trainers. The 'lozenge' German camouflage was not universal to all units at the time the story takes place (Spring 1918), but, in the film, aircraft of all German units are shown in this scheme.
The Fokker Dr.I triplanes are purpose-built replicas.[citation needed] The Tiger Moth silhouette was more appropriate to British aircraft of the period, such as the S.E.5a (one of which Stachel shoots down during his first mission, only to be crushed when his claim is not confirmed by army observation) and presents a good general impression of actual contemporary aircraft.
The "death-trap" monoplane at the end of the film may have been inspired by the Fokker E.V, which was a late-war monoplane design which did indeed rapidly gather a reputation for poor construction of the wing-to-fuselage join, resulting in several crashes before being modified and re-designated the Fokker D.VIII.
The depictions of aerial combat in the film are particularly realistic, though most of the flying scenes have green fields as backdrops, whereas, by 1918, the Western Front was more mud than greenery. The aircraft ground scenes were shot at Weston airfield near Dublin (which should not to be confused with RAF Weston-on-the-Green, England).
Several stunt pilots helped recreate the live dog-fight scenes, but Derek Piggott was the only pilot willing to fly the stunt at the climax of the film in which two bitter rivals challenge each other to fly beneath the spans of a bridge. Taking the role of both German pilots and with multiple takes from contrasting camera angles, he ended up flying 15 times under the wide span of a bridge in Fermoy, County Cork, Ireland and 17 times under the narrower span. The two Fokker Dr.I triplane replicas had about four feet of clearance on each side when passing through the narrower span. He was able to fly through the arch reliably by aligning two scaffolding poles, one in the river and one on the far bank.
The director had placed a flock of sheep next to the bridge so that they would scatter as the plane approached in order to show that the stunt was real and not simulated with models. However, by later takes, the sheep had become accustomed to the planes, and had to be scared by the shepherd instead. In the printed take, the sheep continued to graze, creating a continuity error which can be seen in the finished film.
An uncredited pilot was later to recount his experiences in some of his later books – Richard Bach.
[edit] Locations
The scenes where the Germans come into the French village were filmed on Calary Bog in County Wicklow in Ireland. For many weeks, the building of the village attracted the locals to watch it coming up. Then it was bombed and made to look destroyed. It was a local tourist attraction for a long time after the film had wrapped.
The Berlin scenes were shot in Dublin. Christchurch Cathedral and the Irish parliament building are easily recognisable in the background of many scenes and Trinity College served as the army headquarters where von Klugermann's office is located.
[edit] Music
The music was composed and conducted by Jerry Goldsmith. Five tracks of music from the film ("Overture", "First Flight", "The Bridge", "The Attack" and "Finale") were recorded on March 11, 1987, at Walthamstow Assembly Hall, London, and are incorporated as Tracks 1-5 into the CD, "Goldsmith Conducts Goldsmith", played by the Philharmonia Orchestra and subsequently released by Silva Screen Records in 2002 (FILMCD336), though it had been originally released in 1989 by the Decca Record Co. Ltd./Filmtrax plc. (Details from CD inlay card.)
[edit] Reception
Although seen as a quasi-historical account, critics decried its intrusive theme tying a wartime backdrop into the "modern lesson of the evils of the military-industrial complex."[2] Although the flying scenes were considered the film's redemption, aviation observers cringed at Peppard's wooden, hackneyed characterization of a combat pilot.[3]
[edit] References
[edit] Notes
[edit] Bibliography
- Farmer, James A. "Hollywood's World War One Aviation Films." Air Classics, Volume 24, no. 12, December 1988.
- Harwick, Jack and Schnepf, Ed. "A Viewer's Guide to Aviation Movies". The Making of the Great Aviation Films, General Aviation Series, Volume 2, 1989.
- Mayo, Mike. VideoHound's War Movies: Classic Conflict on Film. Detroit: Visible Ink Press, 1999. ISBN 1-57859-089-2.
[edit] External links
|
||||||||
