Von Richthofen and Brown

Miles-built S.E.5 replica flown by Charles Boddington, five seconds before fatal crash on 15 September 1970

Camera crew (1970): Peter Peckowski and Peter Allwork in cockpit, Jimmy Murakami, Shay Corcoran and Lynn Garrison

Irish Air Corps pilots filming Von Richthofen and Brown, 1970. Lynn Garrison is second from right, front row.

Lynn Garrison, Don Stroud crash September 16, 1970 SV4.C Stampe

Roger Corman had been interested in making a film about Manfred von Richthofen for a number of years. He felt that the Baron was the last true knight, an aristocratic warrior with a code of honor, and wanted to show how the Baron's way of thinking was archaic compared to the wholesale slaughter of World War I. Another thing he wanted to do was to contrast the Baron with the man who had been credited with shooting him down, Canadian RAF pilot Roy Brown, although it is now considered all but certain by historians, doctors, and ballistics experts that Richthofen was actually killed by an AA machine gunner firing from the ground.[4]

In 1965 it was announced he had commissioned a script called The Red Baron from Robert Towne.[5] He pitched the project to 20th Century Fox along with the St Valentine's Day Massacre; Fox decided to make the latter, as they already had The Blue Max.

Years later Corman signed a deal with United Artists who liked the idea of a film about the Red Baron but did not want the film to be too German, so Corman agreed to make it about Roy Brown and other characters from both areas of the battle front that could be added to the script.[6]

Although the story of the two foes who meet in a fateful last flight, was essentially a historical subject, Corman's intention was to treat the subject as an allegory of the modern war machine in conflict with antiquated old world notions of chivalry.[7]

Work on the film went ahead, with Corman able to work with a much larger budget than he enjoyed with his earlier features.[8] Ex-RCAF pilot Lynn Garrison supplied the aircraft, crews and facilities, and personally coordinated the flying sequences; Garrison had purchased the collection of hangars, aircraft, vehicles and support equipment accumulated for filming 20th Century's top-grossing film, The Blue Max, after the production wrapped in 1965.[Note 1] The collection included replica Pfalz D.IIIs, Royal Aircraft Factory S.E.5s, Fokker D.VIIs, Fokker Dr.Is. A number of de Havilland DH.82A Tiger Moths and Stampe SV.4Cs had also been converted to represent other aircraft, for a total of 12 aircraft available for aerial scenes.[10][11] As with "The Blue Max," flying sequences were based at Weston Airport in Ireland. Richard Bach, author of Jonathan Livingstone Seagull, was one of the film's stunt pilots, and wrote about some of his experiences at Weston during its production.[12]

United Artists who were financing the picture turned down Bruce Dern who was Corman's original choice for Roy Brown. Don Stroud - whom Corman had selected to play Richthofen - was given the role instead and John Phillip Law was cast as the Baron. United Artists also insisted on re-dubbing the actors' voices with fake German accents in post-production.[13]

For the aerial sequences, Corman used an Aérospatiale Alouette II helicopter, along with a Helio Courier, for the photography, supported by a number of specialized camera mounts Garrison developed for use on individual aircraft. This allowed footage of actors, such as John Philip Law and Don Stroud "flying" the aircraft. Garrison trained Law and Stroud to the point where they could take off, land a Stampe, and fly basic sequences themselves from the rear seat, filmed with a rear-facing camera. Stunt pilots such as Bach were used for the more complicated sequences.

Corman used a filming schedule that included so-called "Blue Days, Grey Days and Don’t Give a Damn Days" so that the aircraft were used no matter what the weather presented.

On 15 September 1970, Charles Boddington, a veteran of both The Blue Max and Darling Lili, was killed when his S.E.5 spun in during a low-level manoeuvre over the airfield. The next day, during the last scheduled flight on the shooting schedule, Garrison and Stroud were involved in a low-level sequence across Lake Weston in a Stampe, when a jackdaw struck Garrison in the face, knocking him unconscious. The aircraft then ran through five powerlines, snap rolled and plunged into the River Liffey inverted. Garrison and Stroud were rescued from the water. Stroud was uninjured, but Garrison required 60 stitches to close a head wound. Both incidents occurring in such a short period resulted in Irish authorities grounding the production. Corman lobbied for restoration of flying and a few days later, was successful.[14]

Some of the interior shots in Von Richthofen and Brown were filmed at Powerscourt House, a noted stately home in County Wicklow Ireland. Powerscourt had been designed by Richard Cassels, a German architect, and the entrance hall had a Germanic motif, lending a visual connection to a German location.[Note 2] Some external shots were filmed outside the Irish parliament building, Leinster House.[16]

A sex scene between Law and Karen Huston was edited out after it caused a preview audience to laugh.[17][18]

Corman found the movie exhausting. He later said "by that time I had directed somewhere between fifty and sixty films in, I think, twelve or thirteen years... I was so tired, I remember each day as I drove out from Dublin, and I'd come to a fork in the road. One way was the airport where we were shooting and the other was to Galway Bay. Each day I came to that fork in the road I thought I would just like to drive to Galway Bay. I barely completed the film, so I said to myself, I will complete this film, but I'm going to take a year off, the traditional sabbatical rest."[19]

Although heavily involved as a producer during the interim, he did not direct another film until Frankenstein Unbound (1990).[20]