I'm a fan of World War One-movies and I've got several of them in my private DVD collection. "The Blue Max" isn't in it yet, but if I ever find it on a DVD, I won't hesitate for one moment to buy it. I want to have it, not only because it deals with WWI in general and because it is a good movie, but also because it gives an idea of how the war in the air was fought and how these pilots acted and saw themselves...
This movie tells the story of Bruno Stachel, an ordinary infantry soldier who has been turned into a fighter pilot. His colleagues aren't happy with him, not only because he isn't an aristocrat like they are, but also because he's extremely ambitious. He will do anything to win him his country's most honored medal, the Blue Max. But to win it, he'll have to shoot down 20 enemy aircrafts, which will all have to be confirmed by his comrades, without getting killed himself. And while being hated by his fellow pilots, he's seen as the people's hero and perfect propaganda material by the general and as the ideal lust object by the general's wife...
"The Blue Max" shows very well how the pilots during WWI were almost always noblemen (I guess the most famous one of them all was Manfred Freiherr von Richthofen, better known as the Red Barron), who considered the concept of an honorable death at the hands of a "worthy" opponent still as one of the most important things during their fights. Even at the end of the war in 1918, while on the ground troops had been anonymously slaughtered by the thousands with machine guns and gas, they still considered chivalry as one of the highest goods.
Next to the historically correct situation of the story, I also admire the rest of the movie. I know, if you aren't interested in WWI, than this might not be the most spectacular movie you've ever seen, but even than the movie has plenty of good and interesting things to offer. The story on itself is nice, the acting is very good and the airplanes are magnificent to watch, on the ground as well as in the air. This is one of those movies that has stood the hands of time, but that is known by only a small audience, which is really a shame. Personally I'm a big fan of this movie and that's why I reward it with an 8/10. My advice: don't call "Top Gun" the ultimate fighter pilot movie before you've seen this one.
