The Red Baron goes on release in Germany next week, Thursday April 10, 2008.

This feature film is about the legendary German fighter pilot Manfred von Richthofen.


It's not often German war heroes are celebrated in movies, especially not German-made movies. Apparently this is the first one in sixty years.

Although the film was shot and produced in Germany, with German actors, the original soundtrack is in English. It's been dubbed into German for local cinemas.

See the preview on YouTube: The Red Baron (trailer), read the Wikipedia article: The Red Baron (film), and see the official site: The Red Baron.

Looks pretty awesome.

Click to view attachment

It is an interesting story and I think the Germans can make a much more realistic version of war films about Germans than Hollywood can. So I will be interested to go and see it. Still, like the Howard Hughes film not so long ago, I think these actors can never portray fully the true character of these real people.

I don't think we have people around today who would happily go flying in planes made of very light weight wood and then engage in combat like these guys used to.

If we looked at space travel the same way as they did flying what we be sending up?

I saw this about 3 months ago..

Do not waste your money...

The Popcorn was better made than the special effects.

You saw flyboys. Different movie. Crappy "Arcade" style dogfight scenes.

This movie had its world premiere yesterday.

Get your facts right.

I veiwed this as Part of a "MarkVorschung" veiwing.

It is a pile of shite with has a poor story line...

Lena Headley (or something like that) plays a mean Sarah Connor in that Terminator t.v. show.

Most air war movies have a poor story line (with few notable exceptions), so this does not come as a surprise. If, however, the SFX are crap as well, then there are not many reasons left why to see the movie. It looked not too bad on Youtube though. But thanks for the warning!!

And with Til Schweiger it will be hard to bear anyway! (BTW The real Leutnant Voss was 18 or 19 when he got killed. Schweiger is over 40).

Good or bad, I'll definitely go see the movie. My grandfather flew in Baron von Richthofen's squadron, and I have the medal and a photo.

Ok, ok.


I went to school (Görres Gymn. in Düsseldorf) with two great grandsons of Lothar von Richthofen (brother of Manfred).
The Richthofens are quite a big family. And by far not as striving 'elitist' as other nobility.
And i personally know other cases. We had 'Leopold von Bismarck' 2 classes below.
Such a noble well known name can be a help, but often alot of pressure and creating prejudice.

I'm curious. What was it about the effects you didn't like?

I'll admit there are some weak shots in there, but overall I think the effects are really good. Given the budget, time and number of shots this movie surpasses some films with much higher budgets.

Also, critiquing a test screening is a little unfair. It's still going through changes and the test screening used to gage audience reaction, so what you saw three months ago maybe quite different from what is released next week ( although the effects shots will remain the same).

The movie is not that bad, not great, not the best story telling (a little disjointed, which I'm hoping is fixed in the latest cut). I'm looking forward to seeing it on general release.

You can see more effects shots at www.pixomondo.com

actually the youtube link is the same as on their website, the webisite however, is a higher res version.

The trailer looks bad. I lost all hope when he manages to throw a wreath out of his plane and straight into an open grave. Can anyone recommend a decent WWI film?

The whole plane thing in WW1 did have them throwing bombs out of the planes onto enemy lines below...

How do we know he couldn't hit a grave with a wreath

A lovely true story had a british flight throw oranges at the holidaying german pilots who were with their ladies...if I find the time I'll see if can buffer my failing memory of this incident with some re-research.

So is the theme tune the "Snoopy vs The Red Baron" from the Royal Guardsmen ?

All Quiet on the Western Front (original black and white 1930s)

For air war movies about WWI you should see The Great Waldo Pepper with Robert Redford. Actually taking place after WWI, it shows some nice dogfighting scenes done by real planes and even has a decent story line dealing with the glory of the WWI Aces. Bonus: young Susan Sarandon

That's the first thing I thought of when I heard there'd be a film.

From memory...

After the turn of the century, in the clear blue skies over Germany,
came a roaring and a thunder man has never heard
like the screaming sounds of a great war bird.

Ten, 20, 30, 40, 50 or more,
that bloody Red Baron was rolling up the score.
Eighty men died tryin' to end that spree
of the bloody Red Baron of Germany.

There was Germany at the beginning of the song - never could understand it back then...

The Blue Max. Filmed at Weston aerodrome, between Celbridge and Leixlip.

Richthofen and Brown c.a. 1973. Good film with vintage aircraft. Prolly can get it on DVD.