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

Hoping to push Britain to the forefront of aviation, a London publisher organizes an international air race across the English Channel, but must contend with two entrants vying for his daughter, as well as national rivalries and cheating.

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	...	Count 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 / Ancient Greek Flyer / Medieval Flyer / Winged Bicycle Rider / Winged Car Rider / Jet Pack Tester / Ornithopter Pilot / Passenger in 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 infancy of aviation in 1910, 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 subplots as the flyers jockey for position and the affections of various women.

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Plot Keywords:

english channel | vintage aircraft | london england | kent england | calais france | 

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Taglines:

20th Century-Fox Presents The Motion Picture That Sets Comedy Ahead 100 Years!

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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:

Black and White (prologue) Color

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

Michael Trubshawe's character is addressed by Robert Morley as "Niven". Michael Trubshawe and David Niven were very close friends from when they served in the military garrison at Malta together, and David Niven would call uncredited characters in his films "Trubshawe" - so this was Trubshawe's way of returning the compliment.

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Goofs

When the Japanese kite fliers land, you can see the wires suspending them.

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Quotes

[first lines]
The Neanderthal Man: [watches a gull flying over a beach]
Narrator: Ever since man started to think, he's wanted to fly. But flying was strictly for the birds.
The Neanderthal Man: [flapping his arms enthusiastically, he leaps from a sandy bluff and falls onto the beach below]
Narrator: And continued to be so for thousands of years.
[in ancient Greece, a man wearing makeshift wings is forced at swordpoint off a temple roof]
Narrator: Man, eternally optimistic, kept trying.
[...]

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Crazy Credits

Closing credits: Those Magnificent Men - and Women - were ...

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Connections

Referenced in Karel Zeman: Adventurer in Film (2015)

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Soundtracks

The Blue Danube
(uncredited)
Written by Johann Strauss

User Reviews

More Beautiful than Funny

By today's standards, "Those Magnificent Men in Their Flying Machines, or How I Flew from London to Paris in 25 hours 11 minutes" is a slow (sometimes sluggish) comedy of the "It's a Mad Mad Mad Mad World" school of thought that bigger is funnier (it generally isn't). Part of the problem is that the producer, working over director Ken Annakin's shoulder, wanted the love triangle between James Fox, Stuart Whitman and Sarah Miles accentuated. This was partly good thinking, because one cannot laugh solidly for more than an hour. Any comedy will pall after that period, and the story carries us through until after the intermission.

The glimpses of slapstick we see are well done, but few and far between. They include a runaway airplane/motorcycle and a duel fought from balloons (which does have a good pay-off).

The comedy might've been sharpened, but the draw to the theatres was probably to see the reproductions of antique airplanes. The movie does provide some of the best blue screen work before George Lucas, and one always believes the stars are actually flying. For this reason, the movie cries out to be seen in letterbox, as it is on DVD, but the grandeur of the photography and good effects is diminished on the small screen.

Still, the impressive international cast is game. The competitors in the air race all represent nationalities, and they are "types", so they are easily identifiable. The cast's obvious enthusiasm for the project raises the viewer's own spirits. And there are very bright spots. Gert Frobe ("Goldfinger"), the leader of the German contingent, manages some laughs by an amazing "one man band" effect (and yes, it's really him). Jean-Pierre Cassel has a running gag that doesn't really work, but which features the beautiful Irina Demick ("The Longest Day") so it's always worth watching. Jeremy Lloyd provides some bright humor as the silly naval officer who wants to take the first dog in flight. Tiny bits by Terry-Thomas, Eric Sykes, Benny Hill and Robert Morley are amusing. Tony Hancock, as the inventor with a leg in a cast, steals every scene he's in and his pay-off nearly steals the whole movie.

On the down side, Stuart Whitman is an astounding and ineffective addition to the cast as the American competitor. It turns out (from the DVD commentary), Ken Annakin first wanted Dick van Dyke, but van Dyke's agent never showed him the script and they had to cast it -- but why not find someone who has some comic timing? As it turns out (from later in the commentary), Whitman nearly wrecked the movie in other ways.

But the flying scenes of the reproduction airplanes make this movie imminently watchable. One grows weary of the interminable crashes early in the film, and the race isn't very exciting, but just watching them fly (and realizing with a shiver that human beings actually went up in the air in those things) make the movie fun. If you don't need high-speed, high-octane, full-throttle comedy but have time for a leisurely picture that's well acted and beautifully shot, this isn't a bad way to spend two hours and a half.