Biggles: Adventures in Time (1986)

Daring British WWI fighter pilot James "Biggles" Bigglesworth and 1980s low-level business executive Jim Ferguson discover that they can time travel to each other's eras. They try to stop the Germans from changing the outcome of WWI.

Director:

John Hough

Writers:

W.E. Johns (characters) (as Capt. W.E. Johns), John Groves (screenplay)

Stars:

Neil Dickson, Alex Hyde-White, Fiona Hutchison

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Neil Dickson	...	James 'Biggles' Bigglesworth
Alex Hyde-White	...	Jim Ferguson
Fiona Hutchison	...	Debbie Stephens
Peter Cushing	...	Air Commodore Colonel William Raymond
Marcus Gilbert	...	Eric Von Stalhein
William Hootkins	...	Chuck Dinsmore
Alan Polonsky	...	Bill Kizitski
Francesca Gonshaw	...	Marie
Michael Siberry	...	Algy
James Saxon	...	Bertie
Daniel Flynn	...	Ginger
Roy Boyd	...	German N.C.O
Samantha Bradshaw	...	Hotel Girl
Andrea Browne	...	Lady Buyer
David Butler	...	British Officer

Storyline

One minute the New Yorker advertising expert Jim Ferguson is at a business party -- the next he finds himself way back in 1917 in a plane fight during World War I. Mr. Raymond explains to him that he has a time-twin, to whom he's relocated in space and time whenever one of them is in trouble. So he has to help his twin, biplane pilot Biggles, in his attempt to destroy a German super weapon, that could win their war. Of course it's hard for Jim to explain his sudden disappearances to his fiance, Debbie.

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Plot Keywords:

time travel | world war one | historical event | aviation | american in the uk | 

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Taglines:

Meet Jim Ferguson. He lived a daring double-life with one foot in the 20th century and the other in World War I.

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Genres:

Adventure | Family | Sci-Fi | War

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Certificate:

PG

Details

Country:

UK USA

Language:

English German French

Release Date:

29 January 1988 (USA)

Also Known As:

Biggles: Adventures in Time

Filming Locations:

Old Warden Aerodrome, Biggleswade, Bedfordshire, England, UK

Box Office

Gross USA:

$112,132

Company Credits

Production Co:

Compact Yellowbill, Tambarle

Technical Specs

Runtime:

88 min (DVD)

Sound Mix:

Dolby

Color:

Color (Technicolor)

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

A late 1930's Boeing Stearman and a modified late 1940s Belgian Stampe SV-4 were used to stand in for the WW1 aircraft flown and craft from the Shuttleworth collection added authenticity to the ground sequences.

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Goofs

The weapons are Bergmann type smg's which are correct for the era.

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Quotes

[Now in 1986, Biggles has climbed behind the controls of a police helicopter]
Jim Ferguson: You can't fly this. You don't know how.
Biggles: If you can fly a Sopwith Camel, you can fly anything.

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Crazy Credits

In the end of the credits it says: Filmed on location in New York - London - and the Western Front 1917.

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Connections

Featured in They Call Me Biggles (2016)

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Soundtracks

KNOCKING AT YOUR BACK DOOR
Performed by Deep Purple
Music and Lyrics by Ritchie Blackmore, Roger Glover and Ian Gillan
Published by Blackmore Music/Rugged Music
administrated by Thames Talent Publishing/
Pussy Music administarted by Chappel Music
Courtesy of Polydor Records Inc.(New York)
from the album "Perfect Strangers"

User Reviews

Enjoyable and entertaining Sci-Fi movie about time travels with plenty of adventures and noisy action

Attractive and fun movie about time travels with frantic action, thrills , humor and spectacular scenes. A bold idea decently adapted in its execution but with a lousy musical score . It deals with a young businessman: Alex Hyde-White from present-day NYC is suddenly transferred into 1917 WWI .There he takes the identity of a spy and befriends a 1917 WWI flying ace : the husky Neal Dickson who has a genteel streak that conceals the viciousness required in war . The posh executive lnexplicably finds himself aboard a fighter plane over Europe.

This is an amusing film with emotion, breathtaking scenes, dogfighting , wooden but likeable interpretation and a lot of twists and turns . The much-loved WWI heroics of Biggles , the pilot from Captain WE Johns series of books are updated to 1986 Manhattan via a time travel gimmick, being prior adapted in a long TV series .Time-travel fantasy in which an ingenious executive is transported to Europe WWI and suffering several adventures , risks and dangers. The time-travelling American young is played by the sympathetic Alex Hyde White as a naive executive and his buddy is Neal Dickson as Biggles who is the best thing in a passable film that hardly plays fair with buffs of the original . Support cast is frankly well such as Fiona Hutchinson, Marcus Gilbert , William Hootkins and special mention for the great Peter Cushing in his last acting , playing an important secret agent whose headquarter is in the Tower Bridge .The big drawback is the horrible soundtrack by Stanislas composed by synthesizer , it ruins the film. It packs a colorful and evocative cinematography .

The motion pictures was professionally directed by John Hough including some flaws and gaps. Hough is a fine craftsman who has a long, uneven and eclectic career directing all kinds of genres . As he made terror movies: Hell's gate, Howling 4, American Gothic, Incubus , Legend of Hell house, Twins of evil ; Adventures: Treasure island, Escape to Witch Mountain, Return from Witch Mountain, Black arrow , The watcher in the woods, Dirty Mary crazy Larry ; Romantic drama: Duel of hearts , The lady and the highwayman, The dying truth ; Western : Triumphs of a man called Horse; Suspense: Eye witness and WWII : Brass target.