The attached news release has just appeared on the Great War forum (http://www.1914-1918.invisionzone.com, thank you ‘Paul Hederer’). Thought it would be of interest here too.
Quick Bod, got to get our ‘Fokker Fodder’ flying to make a bit of money next year!
‘Red Baron’ to fly again
29 September 2004
MUNICH – “The Red Baron” will fly again in a new film version of the life and times of German flying “ace of aces” Manfred von Richthofen, credited with shooting down 80 enemy planes in World War One.
Filming for the movie, which will star young German actor Matthias Schweighoefer in the title role is set to get underway early next year in the Stuttgart area, according to Munich-based production company Orange Pictures.
Orange has teamed up with Miramax Entertainment to bring von Richthofen to the big screen in a production which will also star Klaus Maria Brandauer and Laetitia Casta as the romantic interest.
Estimated to cost EUR 25 million, the high-budget project is to be shot on location in Ludwigsburg, Germany with the town’s Ludwigsburg Castle, quaint marketplace and its Baroque Crown Prince Palace making it ideal for the historical picture set in the war years from 1914 to 1918.
According to the magazine Filmecho:Filmwoche, “The Red Baron” has been in the cards for five years, with research for the screenplay carried out and prepared in Los Angeles.
Niki Muellerschoen, who is director and also wrote the screenplay, based the script on historical facts, focussing on the horrors of the war rather than emphasizing von Richthofen’s derring- do.
Likewise, the movie will stress that the non-political aristocrat von Richthofen was actually exploited by the German media for propaganda purposes, which contributed to making him an international legend.
Originally to have been filmed in the US, Roland Pelegrino, who co-produced the film, said the film could be made much cheaper in Germany.
According to Muellerschoen’s research, Richthofen shot down 75 enemy planes instead of the 80 usually cited. However, the first two planes he shot down, both French Nieuports, crashed behind enemy lines and could not be officially credited to Richthofen, though later on his kills were taken at his word.
Born in Breslau, Germany, on 2 May 1892, the son of a Prussian aristocrat, Major Albrecht von Richthofen, he began his military career as a cavalry officer. But after the war broke out, eager to become a pilot, he joined the Fliegertruppe (air service) as an observer in 1915.
After completing a training course, he was was assigned to an air combat unit, flying an Albatros D.II biplane. Most of his time in the air was with the double-winged craft or its successor, the Albatros D.III.
But it was his Dr. I triplane with which he is usually identified, since he had it painted blood-red from cowl to tail, so as to forestall any “friendly fire” from German gunners on the ground.
After Richthofen scored his 16th victory in the air, making him the top living German ace, he received the coveted “Blue Max” order (Orden Pour le Merit).
In April, 1917, Richthofen shot down four enemy planes in one day, his personal best.
Later in 1917, after shooting down his 41st plane, the German high command grounded him. But he was soon allowed to return to the front after making propaganda tours and being received by Kaiser Wilhelm.
He was shot down and killed at the age of 25 in the skies over Vaux sur Somme, France, 21 April 1918.
By: adrian_gray - 15th October 2005 at 15:43
That’s the chap, BM! I was taught History by his son Bob, and I know a few old pupils who wouldn’t mind hearing what he was doing nowadays. As you aren’t family, though, probably the wrong chap to ask
Adrian
(gets coat…)
By: The Blue Max - 14th October 2005 at 21:48
Obvious garbage – there is no way that that dog can be called short!
Adrian
(Blue Max, you ain’t plugging Delta Papa as your rellie are you?)
Delta Papa?
only Delta Papa i know would be Derrek Piggot, a good friend of my late father’s!
By: DazDaMan - 14th October 2005 at 21:10
Oh man I remember seeing Bad Taste years ago and being amazed by how bad it was, so bad it was brilliant!
Not seen Dawn Patrol but I love The Thing!(based on a JW Campbell story called Who Goes Where)
Yeah, and looky at what happened to Peter Jackson! :rolleyes:
By: Eric Mc - 14th October 2005 at 20:55
Maybe it was just a tall dog?
By: Larry66 - 14th October 2005 at 20:17
Oh man I remember seeing Bad Taste years ago and being amazed by how bad it was, so bad it was brilliant!
Not seen Dawn Patrol but I love The Thing!(based on a JW Campbell story called Who Goes Where)
By: DazDaMan - 14th October 2005 at 18:13
Oh I can, 2001 A Space Odyssey!
The Thing (John Carpenter’s version)
The Dawn Patrol
Bad Taste
😉
By: italian harvard - 14th October 2005 at 17:23
I always had a mixed feeling about the Red Baron… The impression that I got after reading the Richtofen’s bio by Peter Kilduff is that he was surely in love, but just with himself: his need to emerge from his “humble” origins, his desire to excel as a pilot and above all as an absolute hunter.. readin his notes is like reading a hunter’s diary!
Even the brave choice to fly a recognizable red triplane makes u realise how much superior he considered himself(Now some of u might point out that he decided to paint his plane in such a gaudy way because of his homo ego, but hey..) 😀
He was surely a character, or the right man at the right time if you want, and I think that his obsessive research for success and perfection left little or no room for girls.. he eventually didnt enjoy his popularity as well, nor the official dinners and parties, unless any baron or high politician would recognize and celebrate his skills.. The pnly thing that he seemed to enjoy a lot was hunting, which doesnt surprise me at all…
Alex
By: Rlangham - 14th October 2005 at 17:15
I thought the pilot was in love with an Italian prostitute? I remember a scene with them both in bed and him talking about being the best fish killer in the USAAF or something
By: RPSmith - 14th October 2005 at 17:14
Love interest definitely, i can’t think of one movie at all without a love part in it!
Catch 22?
Roger Smith.
By: The Bump - 14th October 2005 at 16:57
Perhaps he was in the closet??
Another line from that great Bladder ep……”And……Uhm, the little fellow,if you get lonely in the night, I’m in the old Chateau….theres no pressure”
I’ll have to dig out my ‘Red Air Fighter’ and Peter Kilduff book, when I read them before it did….much as I ‘m ashamed to admit it….occur to me that he may have been a left footer.
Having said that, If I was in the middle of a war where the aircraft had all the structural integrity of a house of cards and the performance of Vanessa Feltz on ice skates, women would have been the last thing on my mind (especially if the women had looked like Ms Feltz)
In WWII, aircraft design had moved on enough to allow the pilots the luxury of not having their nerves as shredded as their WWI counterparts so they were able to notice the fine popsie standing near the fireplace in the White Hart at close of play.
By: Rlangham - 14th October 2005 at 16:54
Blimey! Mind you, would it be too surprising if he was gay? That kind of thing wasn’t exactly popular ‘back in the day’!
Well it seems to be the trend nowadays for historians to claim famous people from history were gay – Monty, Hitler, Richtofen (think Churchill as well)
By: Larry66 - 14th October 2005 at 16:50
Love interest definitely, i can’t think of one movie at all without a love part in it!
Oh I can, 2001 A Space Odyssey!
By: adrian_gray - 14th October 2005 at 15:20
“Richthofen mistreated his dog Moritz because he had a complex about being short”
Obvious garbage – there is no way that that dog can be called short!
Adrian
(Blue Max, you ain’t plugging Delta Papa as your rellie are you?)
By: Mark12 - 14th October 2005 at 14:41
“Svinehund”
By: GASML - 14th October 2005 at 13:46
Here is a pic of the very short Richthofen mistreating his dog by speaking to it in German.
The Cad!
By: Melvyn Hiscock - 14th October 2005 at 13:38
Some of the stuff printed about Richthofen is really awful. I had to review a book once and it stated that “Richthofen mistreated his dog Moritz because he had a complex about being short”
Well, apart from the fact I have never seen any mention that his did mistreat Moritz and there are plenty of references that it is not true, it would make Tom Cruise ideal for the part as he is alleged to be vertically challenged!
Here is a pic of the very short Richthofen mistreating his dog by speaking to it in German.
By: DazDaMan - 14th October 2005 at 13:10
Thankfully.
By: DazDaMan - 14th October 2005 at 12:54
I wonder if the dilemma over whether the RFC pilot (captain Wood was it?) or ground fire from Aussie soliders shot down TRB will be resolved by the revelation that it was actually Tom Cruise/President Bush falling through a hole in time in his F14?
By: XN923 - 14th October 2005 at 12:48
I wonder if the dilemma over whether the RFC pilot (captain Wood was it?) or ground fire from Aussie soliders shot down TRB will be resolved by the revelation that it was actually Tom Cruise/President Bush falling through a hole in time in his F14?
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October 13, 2005 at 3:01 pm