Film

Von Richthofen and Brown

A 1971 swing between trenches and cockpits that follows the Red Baron and his RAF nemesis Roy Brown across the final years of the First World War. It's earnest, kinetic, and caught between spectacle and intimacy—the aerial sequences come alive while the ground-level drama strains. Made in the long shadow of *The Blue Max*, it's for anyone who wants their war films with swagger and Fokker biplanes.

TMDb rating3.1

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The Blue Max1966

The template *Von Richthofen* follows: a young pilot's rise through skill and ruthlessness in the Great War, with stunning dogfight sequences and genuine moral complexity beneath the action.

But George Peppard's protagonist is morally compromised in ways that make him harder to root for than a traditional hero should be.

The Blue Max poster

Flyboys2006

American pilots in the Lafayette Escadrille during WWI, with glorious aerial choreography and the same blend of youthful idealism and wartime brutality that animates *Von Richthofen*.

But Sentimental in places, and the romantic subplot can feel like it wandered in from a different film entirely.

Flyboys poster

Wings1966

Soviet epic that captures the scale and beauty of aerial combat in the First World War, with practical flying sequences that feel visceral and earned.

But Pacing is deliberate; it's a slow meditation on courage rather than a race to the next stunt.

Wings poster

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A Matter of Life and Death1946

Both films place a dying pilot at their centre and treat combat not as narrative but as backdrop to something larger—mortality, legacy, the mathematics of duty.

A shot-down RAF pilot hovers between life and death in a film that fuses romance, philosophy, and breathtaking colour cinematography. It's a love letter to flight and sacrifice that floats on another plane entirely.

But Surreal and abstract where *Von Richthofen* is concrete. Some will find it precious; others will feel adrift.

A Matter of Life and Death poster
More like this (8)

Battle of Britain1969

Sweeping WWII dogfight drama with an enormous ensemble cast and meticulous aerial sequences. If you love *Von Richthofen*'s ambition, this goes even bigger.

But Fractured narrative across dozens of characters means you never quite land on anyone's story long enough to care.

Battle of Britain poster

Gallipoli1981

Peter Weir's masterpiece about Australian soldiers in WWI—intimate, tragic, and alive to the waste of young lives. The friendship at its center makes the ending devastating.

But Not an action film; its power comes from quiet moments and the ticking clock toward tragedy.

Gallipoli poster

King and Country1964

A court-martial drama set in the trenches that understands the machinery of military discipline. Tense, moral, and entirely without bombast.

But Black and white, spare, almost austere. If you're here for flying circuses, this will feel like a very different war.

King and Country poster

The Killing Fields1984

A different war, but the same DNA: a personal story carved out of historical atrocity, with performances that anchor the enormous violence around them.

But It is genuinely difficult to watch. The title isn't metaphorical.

The Killing Fields poster

Lawrence of Arabia1962

An epic about a charismatic, flawed man at war—sweeping, visually gorgeous, and interested in ambition and myth-making as much as combat itself.

But At over three hours, it requires patience and a full evening. The pacing won't appeal to anyone after propulsive action.

Lawrence of Arabia poster

The Dawn Patrol1930

An early talkie about WWI pilots that established the template *Von Richthofen* still follows. Fascinating as both a historical document and a precursor.

But Extremely dated in every register—acting, effects, dialogue—which makes it more archive than entertainment.

The Dawn Patrol poster

All Quiet on the Western Front1930

Where *Von Richthofen* mythologizes the Red Baron, this systematically dismantles the mythology of war itself. They are essays arguing opposite sides of the same question: what does it mean to die well?

The German perspective on the trenches, devastating and unglamorous. The war as a machine that grinds men without regard for their rank or courage. Ranked among the finest war films ever made.

But Relentlessly bleak. There are no heroes here, no flying circus romance—only the slow erasure of youth.

All Quiet on the Western Front poster

The Red Shoes1948

Both films are fascinated by the moment of death and what it reveals. The Red Baron and the ballerina are both artists of their craft, and both films treat their final acts as performances—inevitable, beautiful, and tinged with the erotic charge of watching someone do what they were born to do.

A Powell and Pressburger ballet fantasy about art, obsession, and the impossible choice between love and vocation. Ravishing colour, and a final sequence that echoes *Von Richthofen*'s climax in ways that will haunt you.

But Surreal, theatrical, utterly indifferent to realism. If you want a documentary about aviation, this will feel like a fever dream.

The Red Shoes poster

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Recommended by

The Blue Max, The Last Escape, Mosquito Squadron