Film Review - The Blue Max

Based on Jack D. Hunter's tale of wartime spin and military corruption, The Blue Max is an odd beast mixing contemporary anti-war sentiment and cynicism with old-fashioned aerial thrills. The obsession with medals - in this case the titular German award - is an interesting foreshadowing of Sam Peckinpah's Cross of Iron, while on paper there's lots of potential to the had by the character and situation of Stachel, a self-interested climber who immediately meets his match in the exploitative political machinations of Count von Klugerman.


While James Mason naturally brings his usual beguiling but sinister charm to the latter role the casting of George Peppard as Stachel robs the film of a lot of potential drive and intrigue. Peppard was never more than an adequate foil in Hollywood terms, and his wooden performance here means we never get any real idea what Stachel is up to. Ursula Andress provides eye candy as von Klugerman's wife who falls into bed with Stachel, while there are the usual array of capable character actors padding out the cast.

The script however is overlong and flabby, with Peppard's flat showing meaning numerous scenes drag or simply fail to come across as cleverly as intended. Where the film really excels, however, are the aerial sequences - Hunter and no doubt several other history nerds freaked out about the inaccuracies (partly that the production didn't scratch rebuild genuine World War I aircraft), but the acrobatics and dogfighting are excellent, really capturing the danger and recklessness - notably an excellent scene in which Stachel and rival Willi von Klugerman (the Count's son, played by Jeremy Kemp) try to out-do each other with a series of stunts. It conveys more about Stachel than any scene on the ground.

Overall the film is overlong and stodgy, with many points hammered home when perhaps ambiguity would have been a better approach. Nevertheless the aerial scenes are worth a look.