Those Magnificent Men in their Flying Machines or How I Flew from London to Paris in 25 Hours and 11 Minutes is a 1965 British epic period comedy film that satirises the early years of aviation. Directed and co-written by Ken Annakin, the film stars an international ensemble cast, including Stuart Whitman, Sarah Miles, James Fox, Alberto Sordi, Robert Morley, Gert Fröbe, Jean-Pierre Cassel, Eric Sykes and Terry-Thomas.
Set in 1910, the film follows a fictitious air race from London to Paris, with a £10,000 () prize, intended to prove that Britain is "number one in the air". The film's flying scenes featured dozens of period-accurate, life-sized working aeroplanes. It was shot in 65 mm Todd-AO by cinematographer Christopher Challis, and features a film score composed by Ron Goodwin.
Released in the United Kingdom by 20th Century-Fox on 16 June 1965, the film was both a widespread critical and commercial success. It was nominated for three BAFTA Awards, winning for Best British Costume Design – Colour, as well as an Academy Award nomination for Best Original Screenplay. The film also received three Golden Globe Award nominations, including for Best Motion Picture – Musical or Comedy.
Plot A brief narration outlines man's first attempts to fly since the Stone Age, seen with footage from the silent film era, and man being represented by a "test pilot" encountering periodic misfortune in his attempts.
In 1910, British newspaper magnate Lord Rawnsley forbids his would-be aviatrix daughter, ardent suffragette Patricia, to fly. Richard Mays, a young officer in the Coldstream Guards and Patricia's fiancé, conceives the idea of an air race from London to Paris to advance the cause of British aviation and his career. With Patricia's support, he persuades Lord Rawnsley to sponsor the race as a publicity stunt for his newspaper.
Rawnsley announces the event to the press, and invitations are sent to leading aviators all over the world. Dozens of participants arrive at the airfield at the Brookley Motor Racing Track, where the fliers make practice runs in the days before the race. A wildly disparate international assembly of aviators begins rubbing shoulders with each other: Prussian officer Colonel Manfred von Holstein, who becomes the victim of Frenchman Pierre Dubois' various pranks; the impetuous Italian Count Emilio Ponticelli; the unscrupulous British baronet Sir Percy Ware-Armitage, aided by his bullied servant, Courtney; Japanese naval officer Yamamoto; and the rugged American cowboy Orvil Newton.
As the teams test their aircraft in the days before the race, Newton and Patricia meet and become romantically interested in each other. Mays becomes jealous, sparking a fierce rivalry between Newton and Mays for Patricia's hand. At a celebration in Dover, Patricia convinces Newton to take her flying, and they race back to the airfield, followed by Mays and her father, who are intent on stopping them. Not long after taking off, one of the struts on the plane breaks, and Patricia has to fly while Newton repairs it with his belt. When Newton lands, Rawnsley throws him out of the race. Patricia apologises to Newton, and Rawnsley gives in after she threatens to start an international incident. Meanwhile, insulted by the French team's mockery, Holstein challenges Dubois to a duel. Dubois agrees and opts for gas balloons and blunderbusses. Both balloons and their pilots end up in the filthy waters of the adjacent sewage farm.
At the party the night before the race, Sir Percy sabotages Yamamoto's and Newton's planes, and Rumpelstrosse, the German pilot, is incapacitated by a laxative meant for Yamamoto. After the competitors take off the next day, with Holstein standing in for Rumpelstrosse, Sir Percy's sabotage and technical mishaps hamper the fliers until most of them safely arrive at Dover, their checkpoint before the final flight across the English Channel.
Sir Percy cheats by having his aircraft taken across by boat at night, but is delayed by excited locals when he arrives. The other contestants fly across the Channel in the morning, but most of them, including Holstein, fall into the sea. Sir Percy gets his comeuppance when he becomes disoriented by the smoke from a locomotive between Calais and Paris, causing him to jam his landing gear between two of the train cars. As he runs along the top trying to get the driver's attention, the train passes through a tunnel, wrecking his aircraft.
Coming into Paris, Ponticelli's plane catches fire, and Newton detours to rescue him as Mays is landing, winning for Britain. Mays recognises Newton's heroism and shares the glory and the prize with him. The only other successful aviator is Dubois, completing his race for France. Patricia finally chooses Newton, but their kiss is interrupted by a strange noise; everyone looks up to see a flyover by six English Electric Lightning jet fighters, as the period leaps forward to the "present" (1965).
Outlined are the still-persisting hazards of modern flying despite today's advanced technology, as a night-time civilian flight across the English Channel is cancelled owing to heavy fog. One of the delayed passengers gets the idea of learning to fly under his power, perpetuating man's pioneering spirit.
Cast
Stuart Whitman as Orvil Newton Sarah Miles as Patricia Rawnsley James Fox as Richard Mays Alberto Sordi as Count Emilio Ponticelli Robert Morley as Lord Rawnsley Gert Fröbe as Colonel Manfred von Holstein Jean-Pierre Cassel as Pierre Dubois Irina Demick as Brigitte, Ingrid, Marlene, Françoise, Yvette, Betty Red Skelton as Neanderthal Man, Roman Birdman, Middle Ages Inventor, Victorian-era Pilot, Rocket Pack Inventor, Modern Airline Passenger Terry-Thomas as Sir Percy Ware-Armitage Eric Sykes as Courtney Benny Hill as Fire Chief Perkins Yūjirō Ishihara as Yamamoto (voice dubbed by James Villiers) Flora Robson as Mother Superior Karl Michael Vogler as Captain Rumpelstrosse Sam Wanamaker as George Gruber Tony Hancock as Harry Popperwell Eric Barker as French Postman Maurice Denham as Trawler Skipper Fred Emney as Colonel Cicely Courtneidge as Muriel the Colonel's wife Gordon Jackson as MacDougal Davy Kaye as Jean John Le Mesurier as French Painter Jeremy Lloyd as Lieutenant Parsons Zena Marshall as Countess Sophia Ponticelli Millicent Martin as Air Hostess Eric Pohlmann as Italian Mayor Marjorie Rhodes as Waitress Norman Rossington as Assistant Fire Chief Willie Rushton as Tremayne Gascoyne Graham Stark as Fireman Jimmy Thompson as Photographer Michael Trubshawe as Niven Ronnie Stevens as Reporter Ferdy Mayne as French Official Vernon Dobtcheff as French Team Member James Robertson Justice as Narrator
Production
Origins Director Ken Annakin had been interested in aviation from his early years, when pioneering aviator Sir Alan Cobham took him up in a flight in a biplane. Later in the Second World War, Annakin had served in the RAF when he had begun his career in film documentaries. In 1963, with co-writer Jack Davies, Annakin had been working on an adventure film about transatlantic flights when the producer's bankruptcy aborted the production. Fresh from his role as director of the British exterior segments in The Longest Day (1962), Annakin suggested an event from early aviation to Darryl F. Zanuck, his producer on The Longest Day."Conversations with Ken Annakin". Those Magnificent Men in their Flying Machines DVD, 2003.
Zanuck financed an epic faithful to the era, with a £100,000 stake, deciding on the name, Those Magnificent Men in their Flying Machines after Elmo Williams, managing director of 20th Century Fox in Europe, told him his wife Lorraine Williams had written an opening for a song that Annakin complained would "seal the fate of the movie":Those magnificent men in their flying machines,They go up, Tiddley up, up,They go down, Tiddley down, down. After being put to music by Ron Goodwin, the "Those Magnificent Men in their Flying Machines" song was released as a single in 1965 on the Stateside label (SS 422), together with an accompanying soundtrack album (SL 10136).
An international cast plays the array of contestants, with the film opening with a brief, comic prologue on the history of flight, narrated by James Robertson Justice and featuring American comedian Red Skelton.Lee (1974), p. 490. In a series of silent blackout vignettes that incorporate stock footage of unsuccessful attempts at early aircraft, Skelton depicted a recurring character whose adventures span the centuries. The early aviation history sequence that begins the film is followed by a whimsical animated opening credit sequence drawn by caricaturist Ronald Searle, accompanied by the title song.
Those Magnificent Men in their Flying Machines ... concludes with an epilogue in a fogbound 1960s London airport when cancellation of flights to Paris is announced. The narrator remarks that today a jet makes the trip in seven minutes, but "it can take longer". One frustrated passenger (Skelton, again) starts wing-flapping motions with his arms, and the scene morphs into the animation from the title sequence for the closing credits. This was Skelton's final feature-film appearance; he was in Europe filming the 1964–65 season of his television series, The Red Skelton Show.
One of the features of the film was British and international character actors who enlivened the foibles of each contestant's nationality. The entertainment comes from the dialogue and characterisations and the aerial stunts, with heroism and gentlemanly conduct. British comedy actors of the day, Benny Hill, Eric Sykes, Terry-Thomas, and Tony Hancock, among others, provided madcap misadventures.Novick (2002), p. 75. While Terry-Thomas had a substantial leading role as "bounder" Sir Percy Ware-Armitage, Hill, Sykes, and Hancock played lesser cameos.McCann (2009), p. 190. Although Hancock had broken his leg off-set, two days into filming, Annakin wrote his infirmity into the story, and his leg bound in a cast figured in a number of scenes.
In a recurring gag suggested by Zanuck, Irina Demick plays a series of flirts who are all pursued by the French pilot Pierre Dubois (Jean-Pierre Cassel). First, she is Brigitte (French), then Ingrid (Swedish), Marlene (German), Françoise (Bulgarian), Yvette (French), and finally, Betty (British).
Another aspect was the fluid writing and directing with Annakin and Davies feeding off each other. They had worked together on Very Important Person (1961), The Fast Lady (1962), and Crooks Anonymous (1962). Annakin and Davies continued to develop the script with zany interpretations. When Colonel Manfred von Holstein, the German character played by Gert Fröbe, contemplates piloting his country's entry, he climbs into the cockpit and retrieves a manual. Annakin and Davies devised a quip on the spot, having him read out: "No. 1. Sit down."Munn (1983), p. 161. Although a comedy, elements of Annakin's documentary background were evident with authentic sets, props, and costumes. More than 2,000 extras out in authentic costumes were in the climactic race launch, which was combined with entrants in the London to Brighton Veteran Car Run being invited on set as part of their 1964 annual run, an unexpected coup in gaining numerous period vehicles to dress the set.