Blue Max, The

Flight Journal, Feb 2004 by Farmer, James

The Blue Max Available on DVD from www.dvdplanet.com; $11.24.

I have been waiting for this one to come out on DVD for a long time, and the wait has been well worth it! A cautionary note: there is a decidedly limited number of socalled "Special Features" offered here, so if you're looking for anything more than a bare-bones collection of "Blue Max" multilingual film trailers and a couple of optional soundtracks and subtitles, you're in for a disappointment. Beyond that, however, this feature jumps off the screen with all the freshness and crispness of the original widescreen (letterbox) image and sound that I remember from its 1966 opening, and the cynical, raw story itself holds up well with the advancing years.

I recall when Jack Hunter, the author of "The Blue Max," told me years ago how the producers had apologized for not being able to tell his original story because it was too deep, too cerebral. But I think that Hunter's hard-edged view of war, the class-driven tensions and the stark ruthlessness of his central character, fictional WW I German ace Bruno Stachel (George Peppard), come alive on the screen. It was a military psyche that Hunter had come to know intimately when he served as a U.S. Army undercover agent during WW II in Germany.

Where does one begin to praise the strengths of this film? What about the wonderful momentary silence at the German airfield on the arrival of replacement pilot Stachel? It's a classic introductory sequence that's very much reminiscent of the opening moments of another Fox classic: "Twelve O'clock High." Or how about that wonderful opening takeoff sequence with Stachel at the controls of his Pfalz replica? The camera and audience join in the takeoff roll and climb-out as Jerry Goldsmith's spine-tingling score soars. A priceless piece of filmmaking!

Yes, detractors will speak of the inappropriate Maltese crosses on the aircraft in the film's 1918 setting, those strange machinegun triggering devices and all the Tiger Moths that the director used to flesh out the rear of the massed aerial formations. But has Ireland ever looked more beautiful on the big screen, standing in, as it does, for France? And those magnificent replica Dr.I triplanes, Fokker D.VIIs, Pfalz and SE-Ss look nothing less than breath-taking on the wide screen!

Like a fine wine, "The Blue Max" has only improved with age.