1965's Those Magnificent Men in their Flying Machines is one of those BIG sixties movies with a long running time including an intermission and lots of widescreen mayhem.
It's a comedy adventure about the international participants in an air race from London to Paris in 25 hours. Stuart Whitman is a cowboy from Phoenix (really, you cant make this up) James Fox is an English aviator in love with Sarah Miles, who has eyes for Whitman. Gert Frobe (Goldfinger) is an inept German pilot and Terry Thomas, a staple in these sixties comedies is Sir Percy, who tries to cheat his way to victory. It's a 138 minute film that feels like 3 hours with the race not even starting until the final 45 minutes! For my money, Blake Edwards did this concept a whole lot better with his 1965 film "The Great Race". Other than Benny Hill and Red Skelton, who liven the proceedings with their brief appearances, this is a pretty slow race. Ronald Searle's animated titles are fun in the opening and closing credits. Some of the airplanes are great and the flying sequences and stunts are well done but not enough to liven up this lackluster adventure that crashes with a C-.
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