Blue Max, The

The film's title refers to a medal given by the German High Command, a reward that upstart Peppard, who rose from the ranks, covets. It's traditional for critics to say, when writing on most films about flying, that they're interesting as long as they remain in the air, but become boring on the ground. Sadly, this critical cliché applies to this two-and-a-half hour aerial epic seen from the German side of the First World War. The dogfights in the biplanes are excitingly filmed, but the acting, apart from Mason's Count Von Klugermann, an aristocratic member of the corps, is decidedly one-dimensional.