Over the years, there have been a decent number of films about WWI pilots. Some of them are truly exceptional, such as "Wings", "Hells Angels", "The Eagle and the Hawk", "Ace of Aces" and "Fly Boys". Some others, such as "Aces High" are just pedestrian and offer little new and poor production values.
The film is about a group of British fighter pilots stationed in France. During the war, the life expectancy for such men was often just a few weeks and not surprisingly it was a very tense and difficult job. It's also about the futility of it all. All this is to be found in this film...but not a whole lot more.
As for the production values, it all depends on your perspective. The casual viewer who is NOT an airplane nut or retired history teacher (both, like me) won't notice or care that the airplanes used in the movie were mostly post-WWI vintage and many were even from the mid- 1930s. Many won't mind that the planes seem to have almost unlimited ammo (such as in scenes where they are testing their machined guns and firing them about 10 seconds each--using up about half their bullets!). And, some might not even mind that planes change into other planes in mid-flight (such as changing colors or models or having machine gun damage vanish in the following scenes). And, some might not realize that very few German planes of WWI were red--though practically ALL are in the film. But, I do--and this shows some sloppy regard for details. Plus, other films just get all this better.
Also, as I am obviously a major stickler for details, the men were looking at photographs and the showing them on the screen. How could they do this as they were not slides?!
The film is about a group of British fighter pilots stationed in France. During the war, the life expectancy for such men was often just a few weeks and not surprisingly it was a very tense and difficult job. It's also about the futility of it all. All this is to be found in this film...but not a whole lot more.
As for the production values, it all depends on your perspective. The casual viewer who is NOT an airplane nut or retired history teacher (both, like me) won't notice or care that the airplanes used in the movie were mostly post-WWI vintage and many were even from the mid- 1930s. Many won't mind that the planes seem to have almost unlimited ammo (such as in scenes where they are testing their machined guns and firing them about 10 seconds each--using up about half their bullets!). And, some might not even mind that planes change into other planes in mid-flight (such as changing colors or models or having machine gun damage vanish in the following scenes). And, some might not realize that very few German planes of WWI were red--though practically ALL are in the film. But, I do--and this shows some sloppy regard for details. Plus, other films just get all this better.
Also, as I am obviously a major stickler for details, the men were looking at photographs and the showing them on the screen. How could they do this as they were not slides?!