The man who brought us "It Conquered the World" and "Invasion of the Saucer Men" later endeavored to make a World War I epic about real life German pilot Manfred von Richthofen and his famous battlles with Roy Brown. John Philip Law and Don Stroud step into the roles of the legendary pilots, but the script does not allow them to really slip into the characters, just basically take on their names and their place in the cockpit as a series of cinematic battles takes place. When you get to see those very colorful moments in the film, it is mesmerizing and exciting, but the problem is there really isn't a story, just a bunch of scenes the various battles together.
Another issue with this film is that the German characters are either one of two kinds. Your typical beautiful light haired Aryan poster boy, or the rather severe acting older character, barking orders like a bulldog. This makes the film rather tedious so when it attempts to have serious scenes that try to show these characters in a different light, the film fails because the angelic faces are obviously meant to represent what they will turn into thanks to the presence of the Barking bulldogs of the older characters, giving an indication of what they surviving soldiers will be like in the next war. I'm sure this film looked glorious on a big screen, but it is so one-dimensional in many ways that when it comes out of the sky, it crashed lands into tedium and a very dull and disappointing movie results.
Another issue with this film is that the German characters are either one of two kinds. Your typical beautiful light haired Aryan poster boy, or the rather severe acting older character, barking orders like a bulldog. This makes the film rather tedious so when it attempts to have serious scenes that try to show these characters in a different light, the film fails because the angelic faces are obviously meant to represent what they will turn into thanks to the presence of the Barking bulldogs of the older characters, giving an indication of what they surviving soldiers will be like in the next war. I'm sure this film looked glorious on a big screen, but it is so one-dimensional in many ways that when it comes out of the sky, it crashed lands into tedium and a very dull and disappointing movie results.