The Blue Max
The Blue Max is a 1966 WW I film directed by John Guillermin and starring George Peppard, James Mason, Ursula Andress, Karl Michael Vogler, and Jeremy Kemp. The film was made in DeLuxe Color and was one of the last movies filmed in CinemaScope. It was filmed entirely in Ireland, and included numerous location scenes shot in Dublin, Wicklow and Cork. The plot is about German fighter pilot Bruno Stachel on the Western Front during World War I. The screenplay was written by David Pursall, Jack Seddon, and Gerald Hanley, based on the novel of the same name by Jack D. Hunter as adapted by Ben Barzman and Basilio Franchina.
In contrast to films that romanticize the flying aces of the Great War, The Blue Max depicts the protagonist Stachel as a man who appears to have no regard for anyone but himself. Set against the realities of modern warfare, the film also explores the decline of chivalry and the advent of total war.
Plot
German Corporal Bruno Stachel leaves the fighting in the trenches of World War I to become a fighter pilot in the German Army Air Service. Of modest origins, Leutnant Stachel needs to prove himself and in spring 1918, he sets his sights on winning Germany's highest medal for valour, the "Blue Max", for which he must shoot down 20 aircraft. Leutnant Willi von Klugermann resents having a commoner as his rival. Their commanding officer, Hauptmann Otto Heidemann, is an aristocrat whose belief in chivalry and the laws and customs of war conflict with Stachel's disregard for them.On his first mission, Stachel shoots down a British S.E.5, but receives no credit because there were no witnesses. Stachel searches the countryside for the wreckage, which gives the impression that he cares more about himself than the death of his wingman. When he attacks an Allied two-man observation aircraft and incapacitates the rear gunner on another sortie, he signals the pilot to fly to Stachel's airfield. The rear gunner revives as they approach and reaches for his machine-gun. Stachel shoots the aircraft down and a disgusted Heidemann believes that Stachel has committed a war crime in his pursuit of personal glory.
The incident brings Stachel to the attention of Willi's uncle, Generaloberst Count von Klugermann who visits the base with his wife Kaeti, who is having a discreet affair with Willi. The Count sees propaganda value in the commoner Stachel. After Stachel is shot down rescuing a red Fokker Dr.I from two British fighters, he's introduced to Manfred von Richthofen, the Red Baron. Richthofen offers Stachel a place in his squadron. Stachel declines, expressing his desire to "prove himself" with Heidemann's squadron. When Stachel is temporarily grounded by a minor injury, General von Klugermann orders him to Berlin to help shore up crumbling public morale. The general invites him to dinner, and Stachel spends the night with Kaeti.
On a mission escorting a reconnaissance aircraft, Stachel's guns jam, but Willi downs three enemy planes. Willi challenges Stachel to a flying contest on their return to base, flying under a railway viaduct. Willi is killed when his plane hits a building and crashes. When Stachel reports his death to Heidemann he impulsively claims Willi's victories, even though he fired only 40 bullets before his guns jammed. Outraged, Heidemann accuses him of lying, but the Air Service backs Stachel.
During a strafing mission covering the retreat of the German Army, Stachel disobeys orders and engages enemy fighters. The rest of the squadron follows him. Later, Heidemann confronts him because half his pilots were killed in the ensuing dogfight in which Stachel shot down enough aircraft to finally qualify for the Blue Max. Heidemann submits a report recommending a court-martial and both men are ordered to Berlin where von Klugermann tells Heidemann that Stachel is to receive the Blue Max because the people need a hero. The general orders Heidemann to withdraw his report. Instead, Heidemann resigns his command. Later that evening, Kaeti visits Stachel and suggests they flee to neutral Switzerland, since defeat is inevitable. Stachel refuses.
The next day, Stachel is awarded the Blue Max by the Crown Prince in a public ceremony. Field Marshal von Lenndorf telephones von Klugermann to order him to stop the ceremony since an investigation has been opened into Stachel's claim. The general realises Kaeti is responsible for leaking information. When Heidemann reports that the new monoplane that he has just test-flown is a "death trap" with weak struts, von Klugermann tells Stachel, "Let's see some real flying". Stachel's aerobatics cause the aircraft to break up and crash.
Cast
Cast notes:The casting of George Peppard in the mainly international ensemble cast was considered a "safe" choice, as he was establishing a reputation for leading roles in action films. Although youthful looking, at 37 years of age, he was much older than the Stachel depicted in the novel. Peppard wanted to create an "authentic" performance and learned to fly, earned a private pilot's license and did some of his own flying in the film, although stunt pilot Derek Piggott was at the controls for the under-the-bridge scene.
Novel
's debut novel was published in 1964. The New York Times called it "entertaining".The novel was optioned by 20th Century Fox, which in October 1964 assigned Ben Barzman and Basilio Franchina to write the script. In December, Fox announced that it would make the film the following summer.
Compared to film
The film differs from the book on which it is based both in the plot and the portrayal of the characters. Some of the differences are:Bruno Stachel: The movie portrays Stachel initially as an idealistic, humble and naïve man who evolves into someone willing to do whatever it takes to get his way. He is also depicted as being insecure about his lower-class background and desires to prove himself an equal aviator and man to the aristocrats by earning the Blue Max. The vain attempt by Stachel to confirm his first kill occurs only in the film. There is also no confrontation with Heidemann, who takes a swift dislike to Stachel over claiming aircraft that Willi had shot down.
Stachel was played by the 37-year-old George Peppard, in stark contrast to the 19-year-old character of the novel. From the beginning of the novel, Stachel is a deeply troubled alcoholic with a penchant for lying. Obsessed with earning the last of the new Fokker D.VIIs, he kills Willi to obtain it. In the novel, Heidemann exhibits an immediate favouritism toward the newcomer and credits Stachel with his first victories, and Kettering, the squadron adjutant, refuses to comply until Heidemann orders him to do so.
At the end of the novel, Heidemann reveals that he has been secretly boosting Stachel's achievements as part of an experiment in publicity management. Stachel earns his Blue Max not from 20 victories but by destroying three aircraft and capturing one after Heidemann's guns jam. He is also honoured for saving the life of a French girl who falls into a river. Stachel does not die in the book and in fact meets the future commander-in-chief of the Luftwaffe, Hauptmann Hermann Göring. Stachel marries Kaeti von Klugermann after the death of Graf von Klugermann, as is noted at the beginning of The Blood Order, the second book in Jack Hunter's Stachel series.
Hauptmann Heidemann: Heidemann's deep longing to be with his wife and her growing depression over his absence are more subtle in the movie than in the book. In the novel, Heidemann does not accuse Stachel of brutality in the shooting down of the British aircraft over their airfield. He regards Stachel as the best pilot in the Jasta after himself and has already planned to assign Stachel one of the new Fokker D.VIIs. In the novel, Heidemann, not General von Klugermann, is the one who recognises the propaganda value of building Stachel up into a hero and uses that as a means to get himself reassigned to Berlin to be near his wife.
Willi von Klugermann: Willi is described as a "fat aristocrat" in the book who has only one victory more than Stachel. In the film, Willi is leaner and more arrogant and competitive and earns a Blue Max shortly after Stachel's arrival. In the book, Willi regards Stachel as a close friend, and his affair with Kaeti is revealed only after his death when Stachel reads his journal. Unlike the movie, they are never rivals for her affection. In the novel, Willi is murdered by Stachel to obtain the last of the five new Fokker D VIIs allotted to the squadron. In the movie, Willi is accidentally killed in an aerial competition with Stachel over who is the better pilot.
General von Klugermann: In the movie, the count is a career General-Oberst in the German Army. In the novel, his title is Graf, and he is a famous surgeon who has researched alcoholism and other addictions. Unlike the film, the Graf and the Gräfin do not have an open marriage. In the film, General von Klugermann recognises the social turmoil erupting in Germany and presents Stachel as a lower-class hero. Doctor von Klugermann, an aristocrat, recognises the unfair nature of Germany's class system and disapproves of it but makes no effort at change.
Käti von Klugermann: Käti's character in the book and film are similar. The Gräfin comes from the lower classes but relishes her status and wealth. Both characters deftly use sexuality to get what they want. In the book, while she is drunk, Stachel extorts money from Käti with his knowledge of her affair with Willi. Later, she blackmails Stachel to marry her by threatening to reveal his murder of Willi and two British pilots. In the film, she proposes for Stachel to run away with her to Switzerland, which he refuses. For that slight, she exposes Stachel's lies. Her husband, the General, then sends Stachel to his death in an unstable aircraft to preserve the honour of the officer corps.
Elfi Heidemann: In both the novel and the film, Elfi is a nurse stationed in Berlin. In the book, Elfi is an alcoholic who overcomes her addiction with the assistance of Doctor von Klugermann. Stachel recognises Elfi as his kindred spirit, and after Heidemann's death, seeks to form a relationship with her. Käti literally stops him at Elfi's door, which forces Stachel to marry her instead. Stachel ruefully accepts his fate to return to Käti and alcoholism.
Corporal Rupp: Rupp has only a minor role in the movie. In the novel, he is an Unteroffizier and thoroughly distasteful character, and Stachel describes him as "a pig of a man". He earns extra money by smuggling cheap booze to Stachel and by using one of the squadron's reconnaissance cameras to take pornographic pictures for Kettering's extensive collection of erotica. In the end, it is Rupp who provides Kaeti with evidence that implicates Stachel in Willi's murder.
Conclusion: In the movie, Heidemann flies the monoplane first and determines that it is a "death trap" because the struts are too weak for the wing loading. General von Klugermann then sends Stachel to his death to shield the German Officer Corps from the shame of Stachel's false claim of two victories. In the novel, it is Stachel who tries out the new monoplane, finds the defect and then allows Heidemann to fly the aircraft. Before Heidemann takes off, Stachel tries to stop him to save his life, but Heidemann continues and dies. Hunter's novel ends with Stachel meeting a young Hermann Göring, who has assumed command of the vaunted "Flying Circus" after the death of its commander, Manfred von Richthofen.