1967's "Those Fantastic Flying Fools" harkens back to Jules Verne's "From the Earth to the Moon," a rare big budget extravaganza from the normally conservative producer Harry Alan Towers, best remembered for reviving Sax Rohmer's Fu Manchu in a 5 picture series starring Christopher Lee. Even with a top cast and solid director at the helm (Don Sharp), it refuses to Blast Off (original shooting title), and fails to even live up to the similar title "Those Magnificent Men in Their Flying Machines." Sharp delivered excellent work for Hammer ("The Kiss of the Vampire," "Rasputin - The Mad Monk") and Lippert ("Witchcraft" with Lon Chaney, "Curse of the Fly"), but working from a Towers script conceived under his usual Peter Welbeck pseudonym presents a series of blackout sketches designed to amuse rather than an actual voyage into space. Burl Ives as Phineas T. Barnum proves there's a sucker born every minute, but here it's the viewer watching every self involved character connive to discern any personal benefit from a fruitless attempt to launch a single occupant aboard a ship to the moon and back. Worst of all for a patient audience, liftoff takes place with less than 5 minutes remaining, defiantly not going out with a bang. Terry-Thomas and Dennis Price can be counted on for lively performances, but it's really an uphill battle for the entire wasted cast.