1) No, you don't need a data base to send the email.
2) a blank page means that a php error is occurring but error reporting is turned off.
to turn error reporting on, add the following code at line 1:
<?php
error_reporting(E_ALL);
ini_set('display_errors','on');
?>
once we know what the error is, we will be able to troubleshoot the cause.
3) to add a redirect, edit the Universal Email server behavior (go to Window -> Server Behaviors, double click the Universal Email server behavior) and set a go to page.