#5 THE BLUE MAX vs. #11 ACES HIGH

The semi-finals are set:

#5 The Blue Max vs. #11 Aces High

#1 Battle of Britain vs. #15 Angel's Wing

VS.

FIRST QUARTER:  Acting

                “The Blue Max” has a fine cast.  George Peppard does a fine job as Stachel.  He is a jerk, but he has his reasons and some of his actions are justifiable due to his treatment by the snooty upper crust officers.  The supporting cast is strong.  Jeremy Kemp is surprisingly good as Klugerman and Karl Vogler develops Heidermann into the most compelling character.  James Mason is perfectly cast as the Machiavellian general.  The one weak link is Ursula Andress partly because she remains clothed mostly.  Considering why she was cast she actually acquits herself well and her scenes with Peppard have some chemistry to them.  A

                “Aces High” does not have a cast as strong as “The Blue Max”, but it gets some fine performances.  Malcolm McDowell is fine as the squadron leader who uses alcohol and cynicism to get by.  His discomfort with the arrival of a young friend who idolizes him is intriguing.  He gets excellent support from the always dependable Christopher Plummer as the stereotypical father figure that you see in many WWI air combat movies.  Simon Ward as the cowardly Crawford and Peter Firth as the neophyte Croft are merely adequate.  B

FIRST QUARTER SCORE:

The Blue Max                        9

Aces High                               8

SECOND QUARTER:  Pilot Behavior

                “The Blue Max” does not break any new ground in portraying WWI fighter pilots as partying hard in spite of the loss of squadron mates.  The movie twists this by having his mates criticize Stachel’s unconcern for a wingman’s death by having him explain that in the trenches they did not have time to mourn.  It does throw in a dynamic appropriate for the German air force.  Stachel is not accepted partly because not only is he coming up from the infantry, but he is from a middle class family.  The camaraderie (aside from the ostracism of Stachel) is clear.  The competition is not friendly because of the crass greed for kills exemplified by Stachel, so that behavior is a bit overplayed for plot purposes.  B

                “Aces High” has a more standard depiction of WWI fighter pilots.  The squadron is a heterogeneous small unit that manages to cover all the archetypes of WWI air combat.  There is the cynical ace who leads the squadron the help of liquor, the class clown, the pilot who can’t take it any more, the naïve newbie.  This being a British squadron, they have an appropriate amount of stiff upper lips.  Where “The Blue Max” attempts to portray the class consciousness between Stachel and the rest of the officers, “Aces High” targets the gulf between the officers and the enlisted.  B

HALF TIME SCORE:

The Blue Max                        17

Aces High                               16

THIRD QUARTER:  Tactics

                “The Blue Max” pays lip service to wing men, but once the action begins it’s every man for himself.  This is a pretty standard mistake in dogfighting movies.  The attack on the observation balloon realistically shows that the balloon would have a fighter patrol protecting it.  The movie puts too much emphasis on fighters strafing infantry and features two scenes of this activity.  Not that it didn’t happen.  The basic tactic of bouncing the enemy by surprise from above and behind is clearly reenacted.  B

                “Aces High” is strong on tactics.  There is an attempt to show the use of wing men.  The attacks are from close in and originate from behind (although seldom from above).  The tactics by both sides in the observation balloon attack are realistic.  The movie includes a rare reenactment of a photo recon mission.  A

THIRD QUARTER SCORE:

The Blue Max                        25

Aces High                               25

               

FOURTH QUARTER:  Entertainment

                “The Blue Max” was intended as an epic WWI air combat movie.  It is a big budget effort, especially in the number of aircraft assembled.  In fact, the biggest misstep in the film is an attempt to go big with a trench warfare scene that comes off as silly because the movie has the British leaving their trench to meet the German attack in no man’s land (and thus open themselves up to strafing).  It differs from most movies of this subgenre in that it features some sumptuous interiors.  The plot has soap opera elements to it.  Most obviously in its love quadrangle.  The main plot line of an ambitious commoner who rocks the boat with his crass quest for glory is interesting and unusual.  Its resolution is satisfactory and not predictable.   B

                “Aces High” is a much smaller movie than its opponent.  It does not complicate the plot with a romance.  It has no subplots.  It makes a good starter movie for anyone wanting a taste of WWI dogfighting.  It moves smoothly from exposition and character development to a variety of combat missions.  The effects and aircraft are satisfactory for a low budget effort.  It is admirably unpredictable, but the basic arc is not radical.  If you like singing, the movie has six songs!  B

FINAL SCORE:

The Blue Max                        33

Aces High                               33

***  As the tie-breaker, I am going to use the quality and quantity of dogfighting.  “The Blue Max” has over 21 minutes of dogfighting and “Aces High” has only 15.  The depiction of actual dogfighting is superior in “The Blue Max” partly because of its more expansive air force.  It also has better stunt flying.  There is no equivalent in “Aces High” to the tree top chase and the bridge competition.  However, “Aces High” has a better variety of combat missions.  On the other hand, “Aces High” has to be scolded for use of footage from previous films.

                I actually personally prefer “Aces High” as a war movie, but considering the parameters of this tournament “The Blue Max” has a stronger claim to a spot in the finals.              

#10 VON RICHTHOFEN AND BROWN vs. #11 ACES HIGH

VS.

FIRST QUARTER:  Dialogue

                “Who’s next?  We’re all next.”  “I’m just a technician, I change things.  Put a plane in front of me with a man in it – I’ll change him into a wreck and a corpse.”  Gag!  The dialogue in “Von Richthofen and Brown” is pious and stilted.  It is B-movieish.  D

                The dialogue in “Aces High” is above average.  This is partly due to it being based on a play.  The dialogue is stereotyped like the characters.  The cynical veteran speaks cynically.  The naïve newbie speaks naively.  The cowardly craven whines.  None of it is cringe-inducing, however.  It is effective.  B

FIRST QUARTER SCORE:

Aces High                                               8

Von Richthofen and Brown               6

SECOND QUARTER:  Effects

                VR&B has some fine acrobatics and flight cinematography.  The images tend to be a bit repetitive with guns firing, pilot’s faces, and smoke coming out of crippled planes.  The sound effects don’t keep pace with the visuals.  Director Corman used a helicopter and small plane to get the shots along with cameras placed on the war planes.  The main actors were able to do rudimentary flying  and the facial shots were done with them in the rear seat instead of in front of a screen.  B

                Neither film uses CGI.  The sound and visual effects in “Aces High” are very good.  There’s an excellent stunt scene where the main character stands up to change his machine gun drum.  The flak is realistic, if too accurate (like every other air combat movie).  A

HALF TIME SCORE:

Aces High                                               17

Von Richthofen and Brown               14

THIRD QUARTER:  Aircraft

                Corman bought the “Blue Max” air fleet.  This included replicas of Pfalz D.IIIs, S.E. 5s, Fokker D.VIIs, and Fokker Dr.Is.  Tiger Moths and Stampe SV4Cs were converted to look like WWI era war planes.  The movie uses a total of twelve flyable aircraft.  The quantity is awesome.  A+

                “Aces High” uses three air-worthy Stampes to portray the S.E.5s.   To play the German planes, they used a Tiger Moth and a Finnish Viima II painted red for the Germans.  C

THIRD QUARTER SCORE:

Aces High                                            24

Von Richthofen and Brown               24

FOURTH QUARTER:  Dogfighting

                There is certainly a lot of combat in VR&B.  Ex-RCAF pilot Lynn Garrison coordinated the dogfighting sequences.  Stunt pilots were used for the quality acrobatics.  What the planes do is real, not CGI.  Unfortunately, the final duel is a fizzle with the Red Baron doing a ridiculous inside turn which puts the vastly inferior Brown on his tail.  B

                “Aces High” deserves credit for showing a variety of air combat.  Besides the usual dueling, there is a photo recon mission.  There is a mission to take out an observation balloon that features the observer parachuting.  A

FINAL SCORE:

Aces High                                     33

Von Richthofen and Brown       32

POST-MATCH ANALYSIS:

                These are two underrated movies who have taken a beating from mainstream critics.  VR&B is superior in dogfighting, but AH is better overall.  It does not have the cheesy plot and dialogue.  It also tries to make a statement about the tragedy of the war.  I am glad that VR&B made it this far.  I admire Corman for making the movie.  Not because it is an accurate telling of Von Richthofen’s death.  It isn’t.  But effort was put into the depiction of combat and Corman did not make it as though it was aimed at drive-in movie screens.

#6 Tuskegee Airmen vs. #11 Aces High

VS.

THE MATCH-UP:  “The Tuskegee Airmen” was an HBO production about the all-black 99^th Pursuit Squadron that trained at Tuskegee Institute, then served in North Africa and Italy in WWII.  It is a small unit dynamics movie that focuses on several fictional members of the unit from training through combat missions.  The movie highlights the racism that the unit faced and the battle with a racist Senator.  Another theme is the gaining of respect from the white bomber crews the unit is eventually allowed to escort.

“Aces High” is set at a RAF air base in France during WWI.  The squadron leader is war-worn and alcohol fueled.  He has to deal with difficult missions, loss of veteran pilots, and shepherding of green replacements.  His cynicism is challenged by the arrival of his fiancé's brother who idolizes him.  There are a variety of missions that are depicted.

 

FIRST QUARTER:  Dogfighting Quantity

                Tuskegee Airmen  =  8 minutes

                Aces High  =  15 minutes

FIRST QUARTER SCORE:

Tuskegee Airmen        6

Aces High                       9

SECOND QUARTER:  Plot

                “Tuskegee Airmen” starts with training under a cartoonishly racist flight instructor. Once that hurdle is cleared, they run into a cartoonishly racist Senator who wants to shut down the “experiment” of colored flyers.  Col. Benjamin Davis has to defend the record of the unit.  This hurdle cleared, the Tuskegee Airmen then have to deal with the cartoonishly racist white bomber crews.  They do this by doggedly staying with their charges.  As you can infer, the plot is simplistic and predictable.  It connects the dots in its historical tutorial of the famous unit and does it in a TV movie sort of way.  Other than the over the top characters, the plot is suitable for the subject and the budget.  B

                “Aces High” is based on the play “Journey’s End”.  The film moves the setting to an air base instead of the trenches.  The plot is pretty standard for WWI, especially if you have seen a lot of WWI movies.  The cynicism is thick, but warranted.  It follows the usual template for a WWI squadron.  The drinking, the singing (the movie has a lot of singalongs), the seeming lack of mourning, the inhuman higher ups.  The movie aims at a lot of targets and I’m not talking about the air combat.  It is also a typical “who will survive?” movie.   B

HALF TIME SCORE:

Aces High                               17

Tuskegee Airmen                                14

THIRD QUARTER:  Realism and Accuracy

                There is no question the Tuskegee Airmen were faced with racism and although Southern racism was seldom subtle, this movie bludgeons you with it.  The flight instructor and Senator characters were Hollywood creations that defy reality.  The unit was never in any danger of being disbanded.  This arc allows Davis to make some of the arguments he undoubtedly made under different circumstances than a Congressional hearing.  The bigger problem is with the unrealistic combat.  The run-ins with the same bomber crew are hard to swallow.  Kudos for the attack on the destroyer which actually occurred.  C

                “Aces High” is not based on a true story, but it gets the pilot life and attitudes right.  You could see all of the main characters existing in a typical squadron in the latter stages of the war.  It is realistic, for instance, for one pilot to be suffering from “neuralgia”.  The combat missions are realistic.  You get a good tutorial on shooting down an observation balloon and doing a photo recon mission.  A

THIRD QUARTER SCORE:

Aces High                              26

Tuskegee Airmen                 21

FOURTH QUARTER:  Cliches

                “Tuskegee Airmen” leads with a main character seeing a biplane and dreaming of being a pilot.  The crew chief is gruff and considers the planes to belong to him.  One of the pilots breaks formation to rush in and get himself killed.  The main character loses his best buddy.  The movie actually has a refreshing lack of clichés.  B

                “Aces High” spends just a week with a fighter squadron, but manages to get in several classic WWI air combat clichés.  The pilots party hard, especially when they are hosting a downed enemy pilot.  Pilots drive into town in a motorcycle with side-car.  The squadron commander’s best friend dies.  A character dies in a head-on crash.  It does include the uniquely WWI air combat cliché of having the men seemingly uncaring about the deaths of mates.  Only the insane guy questions the feting of a German who had killed one of their members.  C

FINAL SCORE:

Aces High                              34

Tuskegee Airmen                 28

POST-MATCH ANALYSIS:

                “Tuskegee Airmen” is a noteworthy addition to the air combat subgenre and brings to light a fighter unit that was not particularly well known at the time it was made.  It and its sister “Red Tails” have done wonders for recognition of the 99^th Pursuit Squadron.  Unfortunately, TA is not a very good dogfighting movie.  Part is due to the low budget and the rest is due to the movie spending most of its time getting the group to combat and not much on the combat itself.  “Aces High” is an underrated air combat film.  It adds some excellent aerial combat to a solid plot based on a famous play.  It deserved to move on.

DUELING MOVIES: The Blue Max vs. Aces High

VS.

   

       “The Blue Max” (1966) and “Aces High” (1976) are two movies about WWI air combat. Both are British and filled with dogfights. They both delve into squadron dynamics and the stresses of combat.


     “The Blue Max” (from the novel by the same name) is the story of Bruno Stachel’s quest for the Pour le Merite (nicknamed the Blue Max) which was awarded to any pilot who reached 20 victories. Stachel (George Peppard) starts out as modest and ashamed of his lower class origins, but quickly becomes a glory hound intent on upstaging the other upper class officers. When his first kill is unconfirmed, he spends hours in a rainstorm hunting for the wreckage thus establishing a reputation among his comrades and the enmity of his commanding officer Heidemann (Karl Voger). On his second mission, Stachel decides to mend his ways by forcing an observation plane down at the aerodrome. Unfortunately for our chastened hero, the gunner attempts to fire at him prompting Stachel to shoot the plane down in full view of his head-shaking comrades. This is the tipping point for Bruno and from here on, it’s all about the Blue Max.

     Stachel develops a rivalry with the squadron’s ace of aces, von Klugerman (Jeremy Kemp). They compete for kills and for the affections of Klugerman’s aunt by marriage and slut by choice, Kaeti (Ursula Andress). Kaeti happens to be married to the clueless General Count Von Klugerman (James Mason). The general is intent on building Stachel into a propaganda poster boy. He does not care that some of his victories are disputed.

     At one point, Stachel rescues the Red Baron. The love triangle loses a leg when Klugerman takes a dare from Stachel about flying under a bridge. He defeats the bridge, but not a tree. Stachel returns to base with the bad news and the good news that he has acquired two more kills (actually shot down by Klugerman). Heidemann knows he’s lying and the last straw is when Stachel disobeys orders and leads the squadron in a strafing run that results in losing half the pilots. Heidemann resigns in protest when the General refuses to give up his poster boy.

     Stachel finally gets the Blue Max, but the General finds about his affair with his wife when Kaeti apparently rats him out because he refuses to elope with her. The general orders Stachel to test-fly a new prototype that is obviously a death trap. The general encourages him to do lots of aerobatics.

      “Aces High” is based on the play “Journey’s End” by R.C. Sherriff. The main character is a hardened, alcoholic veteran named Gresham (Malcolm McDowell). He is perturbed when his classmate and boyfriend of his sister arrives all sparkly and enthusiastic. Croft (Peter Firth) is introduced to the fatherly, aristocratic “Uncle” Sinclair (Christopher Plummer) and the bitterly cynical coward Crawford (Simon Ward). Crawford is suffering from “neuralgia” and refuses to fly.

      The movie covers one action packed week. Croft’s learning curve is steep. On his first mission, he is saved by Gresham after being bounced from behind. Croft gets lost and makes a shaky landing to ask for directions. That night they party with a captured German pilot. Later, Croft and Uncle go on a dangerous reconnaissance mission. Uncle is killed. Another mission is against enemy balloons which results in a huge dogfight. Croft gets his first kill and soon after dies in a midair collision. Only Gresham returns alive. Three fresh young Fokker fodder arrive as replacements.

      Both movies have their strengths. Each has some excellent aerial combat which is fairly realistic. They use real planes – either other planes masquerading or replicas. The stunt work is well done. There is no CGI. “The Blue Max” gets the edge here partly because Peppard did some of his own flying and because it includes the flying under the bridge scene done by stunt pilot Derek Piggott in numerous takes. Some of the footage from “The Blue Max” was used in “Aces High”. “Aces” does have more quantity of air combat, however.

      The themes differ. “Max” concentrates on how the quest for glory corrupts and how the military-industrial complex misuses soldiers. “Aces” concentrates on how the stress of combat effects pilots. It also traces the evolution of pilots from green to veteran, if they survive long enough.

     The acting is much better in “Max” than “Aces”. “Max” is more of an actors’ movie because several of the characters are despicable – Stachel, Kaeti, and the General. The coupling of Bruno and Kaeti is one of two narcissists. Von Klugerman is your stock WWI politician/general. In “Aces” the stereotypes abound, McDowell as the jaded commander, Plummer as the stiff upper –lipped executive, Ward as the naïve rookie, and Crawford embarrasses himself as the cuckoo coward.

      Both are fairly realistic on life in the air force of WWI. “Max” concentrates on the selfish win-at-all-costs mentality of many of the aces, including Richtofen. “Aces” deals more with the camaraderie. There is an “eat, drink, and be merry” atmosphere between missions. There is lots of singing by the piano and a trip to a French night club where the women are easy (more stereotyping).

      “Aces High” and “The Blue Max” are must sees for air combat buffs, but are not in the front rank of war movies. “Max” is the better of the two with its advantages of plot, acting, and production values. Also, Ursula Andress gets naked. However, “Aces” probably does a better job depicting what WWI air combat was like.

“The Blue Max” - 7/10


“Aces High” - 5/10