I think I can safely say that there has never been, before or since, another film quite like Revenge of the Red Baron. This Roger Corman production defies categorization, failing as comedy, fantasy, or horror. Mickey Rooney plays a borderline senile WWI vet whose fixation with the titular air ace somehow causes the German pilot to return to 'life'. Not as a full grown man, not as a zombie, but as a doll flying a 1/8 scale Fokker triwing. True to the Corman ethic, the doll also happens to be one of the cheapest contraptions you'll ever see: its head can open its mouth and blink and it can (barely) move one hand. It also speaks with a ridiculous comedy German accent and is lumbered with some painfully unfunny puns. Cliff de Young plays Rooney's Type A son, Laraine Newman is his wife, and young Tobey Maguire does his best as the delinquent grandson who is the only one who understands what's going on. Keep a bucket handy in case your jaw drops off.
Review of Revenge of the Red Baron
