Search - The Blue Max on DVD

MPAA Rating: NR Content Advisory: Violence, Brief Nudity, Adult Situations, Questionable for Children Movie Release: 1966 DVD Release: 05/20/2003 Format: DVD - Enhanced Wide Screen Letterbox for 16x9 TV - Closed Captioned Edition: Dual Layered Audio Tracks: English, French, Spanish Subtitles: English, Spanish SwapaDVD Credits: 1 Number of Discs: 1 Run Time: 2 hrs 30 mins Studio: 20th Century Fox Members Wishing: 11 Genres: Drama, War, War Drama

Based on a novel by Jack D. Hunter, The Blue Max is a World War I aviation drama, told from the German point of view. Low-born infantryman George Peppard becomes a pilot, almost deliberately stepping on the sensibilities of his aristocratic comrades in the process. A national hero, Peppard wins the Blue Max, the highest award that can be bestowed upon an aviator. His fame is exploited by general James Mason, who tolerates Peppard's affair with Mason's wife Ursula Andress. The canny Mason knows that, eventually, Peppard will be expendable, and a "heroic" death can be arranged. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

George Peppard - Bruno Stachel
James Mason - Count von Klugermann
Ursula Andress - Countess Kaeti von Klugermann
Jeremy Kemp - Willi von Klugermann
Karl Michael Vogler - Heidemann

John Guillerman's The Blue Max (1966) appeared on laserdisc twice, once from Japan in a dual audio version (the Japanese get actors who sound like the actors in whose place they're dubbing, and the results are interesting) and then in a letterboxed American release that looked pretty good. Both are supplanted and then some by the FoxVideo DVD edition, which features a gorgeous new digital transfer, showing exquisite visual detail either in the air or on the ground and glittering clarity on the audio, from the strains of Jerry Goldsmith's soaring music score to the impact of every explosion and crash. As part of the Fox War Classics collection, the disc is low priced and comes without any insert or other frills, apart from trailers in English, Spanish, and Portuguese and a selection trailers from five of the other films in the May 2003 Fox War Classics release cycle (SInk The Bismarck, Heaven Knows, Mr. Allison, The Enemy Below, 13 Rue Madeleine, and The Desert Fox). Audio tracks in Spanish (mono) and French (mono) are also accessible, along with English captions and Spanish subtitles. The layer transition in the 156 minute movie is seamless, and the 44 chapters are up to the task of breaking the plot up for the viewer, principally based on the combat episodes in the script. The three-layer menu is straightforward in its design and very easy to maneuver around. ~ Bruce Eder, All Movie Guide