Those Magnificent Men in Their Flying Machines

Twilight Time

Those Magnificent Men in their Flying Machines Or How I Flew from London to Paris in 25 Hours 11 Minutes (1965) is an epic comedy set in the early days of aviation about a cross-Channel London-to-Paris air race sponsored by press magnate Lord Rawnsley (Robert Morley). Among the competitors for the £10 000 purse are an English aristo (James Fox) spurred on by his flight-mad fiancee (Sarah Miles); an American cowpoke (Stuart Whitman); a pair of absurdly militaristic Germans (Gert Frobe Karl Michael Vogler); a French lover extraordinaire (Jean-Pierre Cassel); an operatic Italian (Alberto Sordi); and a moustache-twirling British villain of comically evil proportions (Terry-Thomas). Lovingly directed by aviation buff Ken Annakin (The Longest Day) with a superbly catchy score from Ron Goodwin (available here as an isolated track).