Review – The Blue Max

If you just watch the battle scenes in this picture, it’s actually quite entertaining. Indeed, some of the aerial combat footage is downright spectacular, airplane choreography working smoothly with cinematography to produce excellent results. And though I have to admit that I’m a sucker for the whole World War One dogfighting thing, even viewers without an inherent interest should still be able to appreciate the quality of the work. Ah, but then the plot intrudes. George Peppard stars as a young German ace obsessed with achieving 21 kills so he can earn the coveted Blue Max medal. That much might have been okay, but then he gets tangled up with the wife (Ursula Andress) of a general (James Mason), and things go downhill from there. So just keep a finger close to the fast-forward button and hit it whenever no planes are on screen. Mildly amusing