Those Magnificent Men in Their Flying Machines

or HOW I FLEW FROM LONDON TO PARIS IN 25 HOURS AND 11 MINUTES
1964 - Dir.: Ken Annakin (UK/USA)

Shown at The FeckenOdeon on 27th December, 2014
Unless you had parents who took you to big city centre cinemas back in the 1960s you’re unlikely to have seen this film presented in the way its makers intended. For some reason 20th Century Fox decided to throw buckets of money at what to all intents and purposes is an extended Ealing Comedy. If the Rank Organisation had owned the rights it would probably have been made in black and white and had the story (and costly cast) pruned to the bone. As it was, Fox shot it in the horrifyingly expensive 70mm Todd AO format in Technicolor, hired every British comedy actor capable of drawing breath and commissioned vast sets, accurate replica aircraft and a sweeping orchestral score. The result is a very British comedy with international spectacle. The version we’re showing tonight is a restoration of the original roadshow version - complete with intermission, overtures, etc. This is the first showing in Todd AO in the UK for many years. We apologise if you can’t quite see the bottom of the picture - our screen has to expand to its very widest and deepest to accommodate the extra large picture
This is a good humoured romp that takes great joy in over the top characterisations. These days we may find the racial stereotyping uncomfortable but it’s a least even handed - everybody of every colour, race and background is equally lampooned. As Robert Morley’s newspaper tycoon says “The trouble with these international affairs is that they attract foreigners”.
Although director Ken Annakin is best known for large scale American financed movies (The Longest Day, Monte Carlo or Bust, Genghis Kahn) he was born in Yorkshire, worked as salesman and journalist before breaking into films with a short for J Arthur Rank. He directed a string of very British low budget features (Here Come The Huggetts, You know What Sailors Are, Three Men in a Boat) before heading to the wider screens of California. It could be said that this film brings together the two strands of his career. He died at the age of 94 in Beverly Hills in 2009.
THE FLYING MACHINES
The 1910-era aircraft used in the film were replicas built using the authentic materials of the originals, but with slightly more powerful engines (supplied by VW and Rolls-Royce). About 20 planes were built at a cost of about £5,000 each. Two of the replicas (the 1910 Bristol Boxkite and the 1911 Roe IV Triplane) built for the film still fly across the English countryside as both are preserved in the "Shuttleworth Collection" based at Old Warden, Bedfordshire. There are two real vintage aircraft to be seen in this film: a 1910 Deperdussin Monoplane and a 1912 Blackburn 'Type D' Monoplane.