Those Magnificent Men in Their Flying Machines or How I Flew from London to Paris in 25 hours 11 minutes (1965)

Sabotage efforts damage an international air race.

Director:

Ken Annakin

Writers:

Jack Davies, Ken Annakin

Stars:

Stuart Whitman, Sarah Miles, James Fox

Nominated for 1 Oscar. Another 1 win & 7 nominations.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Stuart Whitman	...	Orvil Newton
Sarah Miles	...	Patricia Rawnsley
James Fox	...	Richard Mays
Alberto Sordi	...	Count Emilio Ponticelli
Robert Morley	...	Lord Rawnsley
Gert Fröbe	...	Colonel Manfred Von Holstein (as Gert Frobe)
Jean-Pierre Cassel	...	Pierre Dubois
Irina Demick	...	Brigitte / Ingrid / Marlene / Françoise / Yvette / Betty
Eric Sykes	...	Courtney
Red Skelton	...	The Neanderthal Man / Passenger on Airport
Terry-Thomas	...	Sir Percy Ware-Armitage
Benny Hill	...	Fire Chief Perkins
Yûjirô Ishihara	...	Yamamoto (as Yujiro Ishihara)
Flora Robson	...	Mother Superior
Karl Michael Vogler	...	Captain Rumpelstrosse

Storyline

In the early days of the 20th century, a British Newspaper offers a prize for the winner of a cross channel air race which brings flyers from all over the world. There are many sub-plots as the flyers jockey for position and the affections of various women.

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Plot Keywords:

london england | competition | air race | prize | english channel | 

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Taglines:

or How I Flew from London to Paris in 25 hours 11 minutes

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Genres:

Adventure | Comedy | Family

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Certificate:

G

Details

Country:

UK

Language:

English French German Italian Japanese

Release Date:

16 June 1965 (USA)

Also Known As:

Those Magnificent Men in Their Flying Machines

Filming Locations:

Fulmer Hall, Fulmer, Slough, England, UK

Box Office

Budget:

$5,600,000 (estimated)

Gross USA:

$31,111,111

Company Credits

Production Co:

Twentieth Century-Fox Productions

Technical Specs

Runtime:

138 min

Sound Mix:

4-Track Stereo (35 mm prints) 70 mm 6-Track (Westrex Recording System) (70 mm prints)

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

In keeping with the movie's international appeal, the producers announced Fernandel for a role but the deal was never finalised.

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Goofs

The Germans are introduced with the song "Deutschland, Deutschland über alles" ("Einigkeit und Recht und Freiheit") which became the national anthem in 1922. In 1910, the imperial anthem "Heil dir im Siegerkranz" had the same melody as Britain's "God Save the King" and America's "My Country Tis of Thee." However, "Deutschland" was already a well-known song, and in any case it is heard by the audience, not the characters. This distinctly German song is a deliberate choice for the scene, as playing the "God Save" melody for Germans would be extremely confusing to a modern audience.

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Quotes

Sir Percy Ware-Armitage: And I've arranged for the Frenchman to be detained by a lovely young lady.
Courtney: Ho, ho, guvnor, I'll bet she's a bit of all right.
Sir Percy Ware-Armitage: You should know, Courtney, she's your daughter.
Courtney: But guvnor, she's an innocent young girl!
Sir Percy Ware-Armitage: Not IS, Courtney, WAS!

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Crazy Credits

For the major roles, caricatures of the main cast drawn by Ronald Searle are seen on screen with the name of performer and the character, after which each screen of credits has a drawing by Searle, based on the theme of the film.

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Connections

Followed by Those Daring Young Men in Their Jaunty Jalopies (1969)

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Soundtracks

Deutschlandlied
(uncredited)
Music by Franz Joseph Haydn
Heard in the scene of the Germans receiving the news of the competition

User Reviews

It Was The Machines That Were Magnificent

This was a fairly long but interesting story of an early 20th century airplane race taking place between London and Paris. The actual race only takes place for the last 45 minutes, and that's fun to watch. The terrain also is nice to view.

Before that, you get profiles of the competitors of the race. You really get the typical stereotypes of movies: the French men woo all the women; the Germans are make to look too militaristic and stupid; the English are portrayed as very stiff upper-lipped and the Italians are all too emotional, etc.

Stuart Whitman and James Fox both battle for Sarah Miles' affections and Terry Thomas has some funny lines as a villain.

I loved the airplanes in this film - really cool "flying machines," as they are labeled here. They came in all sizes and shapes. In the very beginning of the movie, they show actual footage of early flight failures and they are familiar but still fascinating. Interspiced in the actual footage are closeups of Red Skelton playing the part of some of those unsuccessful fliers. Since he had no lines, Skelton reminded me of some of the great silent film comedians.