clanciai
This is one of the great stylish films of the 60s, extremely carefully made, every scene is perfect in itself, the actors as well, and Jerry Goldsmith's music adds to it. To all this comes a very interesting story about ambition and honour and how easily honour gets lost in ambition. You could thereby positiviely say, that this film and story conveys a universal message and lesson.George Peppard makes his most unsympathetic role ever, it's quite comparable with Steve McQueen's in "The War Lover" (1959, see my review,) but he is clearly not ashamed of it but actually carries through his dirtiest tricks with a vengeance. Jeremy Kemp is the better pilot and man but is true to his honour as a pilot by taking on and suffering Peppard's challenges. Ursula Andress is the femme fatale but maintains her honour in spite of all. You must understand her demeanour being married to the old general James Mason, who makes the most impressing role. On his shoulders lies the fate of Germany, he feels it thoroughly and acts accordingly. His performance, minor to begin with but gradually looming over the others, is one of his most awesome, and it's strange that this film is not mentioned among his 25 best. On the whole it's an almost solemn tribute to imperial Germany as a swan song underscoring chivalry and idealism, especially as it faces its Harmageddon. James Mason tries to save it, Ursula Andress is the only realist in the situation, the others fight to maintain it, and Peppard is the Siegfried of it, doomed by his own human failure. It's an amazing film, I saw it as a young man 47 years ago, but it was more impressing now, bringing the first world war and its tragedy better to life than any other film, except perhaps Renoir's "La grande illusion". And not the least amazing thing of all is the fact, that it was all filmed in Ireland.
edwagreen
Very good film showcasing German pilots during World War 1. George Peppard is as arrogant as ever as he aims for winning the coveted metal by shooting down 20 enemy planes in the closing days of the war. The film is a particularly good one as it shows how the Peppard character becomes part of the German propaganda war-effort. It tragically shows that when he is of no use for them, he can die tragically as a martyr for propaganda purposes. Having achieved greatness as Field Marshall Romel in "The Desert Fox," James Mason is great here as well again as a German commander who is ruthless and if he can live for the next 15 years, a possible favorite of the coming Nazi regime.We see the beginnings of discontent in the Fatherland as Germany is about to lose the war.Ursula Andress is wonderful here as Mason's much younger wife and Peppard's lover. Her unwittingly stupid move condemned the Peppard character.
Dark Jedi
World War I flight combat movies are fairly rare which poses a bit of a problem for us since my son is all into aviation and his favorite period is World War I. This year my wife stumbled onto this movie while looking for Christmas presents.I have watched this movie a long time ago but I did not remember much about it except that I did not like the ending. Well I am older now and can appreciate more aspects of a movie than I could then but I have to say that I still find the ending somewhat depressing. Actually, the hole movie is rather depressing I would say.Having said that, as a movie it is a very well done piece of cinematic art. The story, as depressing as it might be, holds together. The acting is good. The flight scenes are very good even by today's standards. Actually if you consider that the movie was done almost 50 years ago they are quite fantastic.It is a shame that the story is so depressing. It is still a must watch movie if you are into war and historical flight movies though.
Shosanna Dreyfus
How much you like this film will probably depend on how much WWI flying sequences and dogfights appeal to you, but I enjoyed it very much (although probably not as much as my friend Bridget von Hammersmark did since it's about her fellow Germans after all). The flying sequences are thrilling and I liked George Peppard very much in a role that is at times heroic and sympathetic and at other times shows ruthlessness, callousness or underhandedness. I liked the rivalry between Bruno Stachel (Peppard) and Willi von Klugermann (Jeremy Kemp) and also the theme of class and bourgeois politics that runs throughout the film. I liked scenes where Stachel has different viewpoints to the higher ups in the German military, because of his humbler beginnings and his more direct experience of life in the trenches. I also find it interesting in the aspect of how a supposed hero gets treated by his "superiors" when he is in danger of becoming a liability and embarrassment (I was reminded of some of the plots regarding Jack Bauer in 24 here). Ursual Andress reminded me a little of Bridget von Hammersmark here, but alas I found her character and chemistry with Peppard fairly dull, although at least she does contribute something to the story in the end (but mostly she's just an additional prize for the two pilots to compete over). Some more standard war movies probably wouldn't interest me very much, but this is one of the ones that had an extra element of excitement, ambiguity and character/human interest for me. I very much love the flying sequences and some good characterization and themes keep things on the ground moving too.
AD
