I cannot stand churlish, amateur critics, and we have some here attempting to review this wonderful film, The Blue Max.The protagonist of the film, Bruno Stachel, is indeed a sympathetic character. The film starts with him in a mud hole in a World War 1 No Man's Land surrounded by the dead, including newly killed comrades. Then he hears something in the heavens and looks up ... with wonder and a birth of hope ... to Jerry Goldsmith's beautiful music ... to see an aerial dogfight.Stachel is lower class in monarchist, class-conscious Imperial Germany. He reappears as a new, barely trained pilot and is ridiculed upon his arrival by his aristocratic squadron mates for his father being a hotel clerk ... but Stachel is not at all intimidated. His squadron commander sees something special - specially lethal? - in him, as does the reigning squadron ace Willi Vogelmann.Stachel readily takes to the aerial hunt, although seems indifferent to the death of the experienced pilot who accompanies him on his first mission, which is successful. Seeing talent, Vogelmann decides to mentor this young cobra.As others have noted, the flying and dogfighting scenes are incredible. I read at the time that a Deutsche Luftstreitkräfte - German World War 1 flying service - veteran aloft in the camera plane got so excited he seemed to think it was real.At a reception after Vogelmann's award of The Blue Max - Pour le Merite - medal ... Germany's highest ... by Willi's uncle *General* Vogelmann ... Stachel sees the general's very young trophy wife ... dazzlingly and very Germanly played by Ursula Andress, no less ... who doubles as Willi's mistress with aristocratic hedonism.I might interject that I know someone whose mother came from German-Switzerland like Ursula and had exactly Ursula's beauty ... as well as many children, happily.Stachel thus sets himself a twin goal: to get The Blue Max like Willi has and to get/steal the favors - lust - of the general's wife from Willi.(Trying to post a quotation on IMDb is an exercise in frustrating impossibility!)The real, crucial quote of the film is after Stachel shoots down - in full view of everyone on his base - a plane whose pilot has surrendered but whose badly wounded rear gunner revives and starts aiming his machine gun at Stachel ... which those on the ground cannot see.Once landed, Stachel is angrily confronted by the base commander and fellow pilots for what they think is cold-blooded murder. Feeling falsely and cruelly charged, Stachel "turns," going back to the crashed British plane, cutting out its serial number from the fuselage fabric, throwing that at his commander's feet, and saying "Confirmed! It's a cruel world, Herr Hauptmann. You said so yourself!" And Stachel then stalks off past his apoplectic commander, and things get more savage after that. Although!, after Stachel returns from a leave in Berlin, he seems to kindly reassure his commander that his wife is well ... that Stachel hasn't seduced *her* too! Thus, unlike a couple others in the film, he is *not* a monster and indeed has a later qualm of conscience that leads to his undoing.Each of the actors was well-chosen for their parts. Fair-haired George Peppard played Stachel masterfully. James Mason showed how ruthless and evil an elite can be. Ursula vividly and passionately portrays a hot, beautiful, and selfish young countess, utterly shattered at the end by the consequence of what she has done.And in contrast to the book by its title, the end of the film was indeed climactic finality.I cannot praise this film enough. Everyone should see it.

The Blue Max is one of my all time favorites.! It is historically and militarily not accurate, and George Peppard, at 37 is almost 20 years too old for the role of a World War I pilot. But it is a great adventure movie filled with the daring exploits of early pilots in the Great War. It shows the code of chivalry at the time and the honor of the military forces at the time. It has a great story and characters and lots of great air footage. I first saw this film on TV when I was about ten years old and was mesmerized by it, and still am. Would recommend this to anyone who is a fan of war films. There are few films on this period of history and most history buffs would find this to be quite fascinating. Thank you!

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.

This is the best WWI Airplane film I've ever seen, and not only that, it's also great covering other aspects in WWI The flying and fighting scenes are spectacular, but also, remarkably, the script is very good. It almost looks like it was written today, with adult situations and dialogue, and not just those cheesy Hollywood lines, one's used to mainstream movies from those days. I'll try to see more of John Guillermin work, as I think this one was superbly directed I can't understand how this isn't more known even among film historians. It's easy to find great dramatic movies from the past, but also hard to find something that's both good and highly entertaining. Recommend to anyone who likes airplane movies, WWI movies or just a very good movie