"Those Magnificent Men" probably looked on story boards like merely a colorful, often humorous and very enactable satire of an era, of its nations and of the early days of manned flight. Its plot line involved an international air race, from England to Paris, for whose prizes competitors in home-made aircraft from all over the world would journey to compete. The racers included Stuart Whitman aided by his brother Sam Wanamaker (Wilbur and Orville) from the U.S., James Fox of England, Albert Sordi from Italy, Gert Frobe and his team from Germany, Jean-Pierre Cassell and his ebullient hard-drinking group from France, plus a Scotsman and his dog, the villainous Sir Percy and his henchman, Terry-Thomas and Eric Sykes, a Japanese entrant and many others. Others in the large cast of the ensuing film also included Robert Morely as the wealthy patrician organizer of the race, a rather weak Sarah Miles as his daughter, beautiful Irina Demick who keeps turning up in every locale (in a new persona) and many more. But what the film's makers forgot was that the bravery and beauty of these canvas-winged and wooden primitive aircraft taking off and actually achieving flight would upstage even the often-hilarious comedy of the well-written proceedings. Using Red Skelton as "every man who has ever dreamed of flight", the producers prepared for the race, staged the race, and awarded the prizes--the climax being the arrival of the racers and what happened near the finish line, plus a justly happy ending. The film was written by Ken Annakin with Jack Davies, and Annakin directed it very competently also. Ron Goodwin's music and title song are well-remembered treats too. Others in the large, attractive cast include narrator James Robertson Justice, Gordon Jackson, Zena Marshall, Karl Michael Vogler, Yujiro Ishihara, Benny Hill, Flora Robson and Jeremy Lloyd. The film's pace is beautifully varied and consistently-maintained; the action includes acts of sabotage by the villains, practice flights gone wrong, low-comedy, a duel between the dour Frobe and devil-may-care Cassell conducted in hot air balloons, national humor at the expense of all concerned and incidents before and during the race. This is a very well-acted film; but the fine technical achievements and subordinate arts here had to take a back seat to the flight of the many wonderful "early birds", who outshone even the amusing national types who flew them. A much-imitated and superior comedy classic of its sort.

I saw this film in a Queens movie theater in 1965 and always enjoyed it, both for it's humor, it's wonderful use of 1910 aircraft, and it's underlying reality in the nationalistic tensions of the day.

James Fox has been romancing Sarah Miles. He is a British Naval officer who has been one of the early experts on heavier than air flight. Miles is a suffragette type, the daughter of Press lord Robert Morley. Fox not only wants to marry Miles, but he wants to push for more government interest in aviation. Miles arranges for him to have lunch with her and her father, and Fox hits a nerve saying that while England rules the seas with it's great fleets, it does not rule the air. In his best blimpish manner, Morley looks straight ahead and says, "England should rule the air". He decides to set up a 10,000 pound prize for the first successful air flight between the world's two leading cities: London to Paris.

Actually no such flight race occurred in 1910, but it could easily have. Morley's Lord Rawnsley is modeled a little on the real life Lord Northcliffe, owner of the Times of London and also a booster of British supremacy. He frequently offered prizes for "firsts" (as did his American counterpart, William Randolph Hearst - whose 1910 prize for the first coast-to-coast flight spurred on Cal P. Roger's series of flights in the Viz Fin Flyer from the Atlantic to the Pacific). In 1909 a Northcliffe prize for the first plane to fly the English Channel was won by Louis Bleriot of France - an event that plays a small role in the Joan Fontaine melodrama IVY.

Soon the competitors show up. America is represented by Stuart Whitman (and his partner Sam Wanamaker). Fox is annoyed, after awhile, by Whitman's romancing Miles - and allowing her a plane ride (something her father had forbidden Fox to give her). Jean Pierre Cassels represents France. His time is spent preparing for the race and romancing a variety of young woman in France and England (all played by Irina Dimmick) who resemble each other and confuse him. Soon he is also involved with avenging the loss of Alsace Lorraine. The Kaiser has sent Gert Frobe and Karl Michael Vogler to win for the Fatherland. Cassels does everything he can think of to humiliate the Hun, and succeeds admirably. Alberto Sordi appears as an Italian nobleman (who is loyal to his wife - they have many children), who spends money on new aircraft. He is constantly buying experimental aircraft from a mad inventor (Tony Hancock). In one case his new plane is destroyed when it flies into the path of a pair of duelists aiming at each other. Japan is represented by Yujiro Ishihara (his name is Yamamoto, which suggests far ahead coming events). And Fox is not the only English contestant. Gordon Jackson is another, but worse is Terry-Thomas.

Usually playing the comic "bounder" part, Terry-Thomas had his best bounder in this film and it's sequel MONTE CARLO OR BUST, which deals with the first Monte Carlo Rally in 1923. Here he plays Sir Percy Ware-Armitage, a manufacturer of dubious reputation, but great wealth, who is interested in the glory of winning the prize (not so much for his county but for himself). In the sequel he was Ware-Armitage's son Cuthbert, who was equally a bounder but interested in automobile development. Ware-Armitage constantly forces his valet - all purpose servant (Erik Sykes) to do his bidding by blackmail in sabotaging all the other competitors.

We watch all these characters collide with each other and other secondary characters (such as Benny Hill, as the head of the fire department that is taking care of disasters on the aviation field the race is to start from). And we are aware of the limitations of each pilot, and their aircraft, until they take off on their flight. Who will win, and why? I won't go into it, but the results are comical and the film seems to hint at the set up for 1919. It is a comical gem, even using Red Skelton at the start as a historical wing flapper who keeps meeting disasters from the stone age to the Wright Brothers, but still is considering his options in the age of supersonic jets.

In 1910, the Brit, Lord Rawnsley (Robert Morley), announces that there will be a race from London to Paris. So, amateur pilots from various nations arrive in order to try to claim the prize--flying the very slow and flimsy planes of the day. Much of the film simply consists of the things leading up to the race itself--and the race doesn't even begin until 97 minutes into the movie! The film is meant to be a comedy. Some of it is quite funny (such as Gert Fröbe making march music as he walks about trying to be a VERY German officer) and much of it is very broad (the chase scene with the runaway plane). During all this, Terry-Thomas plays a Dick Dartardly or Professor Fate sort of jerk--cheating and sabotaging his way towards the prize. For me, the best thing about the film are the wonderful old planes they recreated for the film--and with such slow planes, the mid-air sequences were exciting to watch. But as for the humor and plot, they were only mildly diverting.

My advice is to skip this film and watch a similar but MUCH better film that came out only about two weeks after this film. "The Great Race" was simply funnier and the plot worked much better--whereas "Those Magnificent Men in Their Flying Machines" was very uneven and episodic. Not bad--but not great either.

By the way, if you do watch it, look for the scene where Terry-Thomas' plan is stuck on a train. If you look behind him, you'll see a VERY modern power plant--and it appears to be a nuclear one...in 1910 France!!