Those Magnificent Men in Their Flying Machines.

Review #2492: Those Magnificent Men in their Flying Machines or How I Flew from London to Paris in 25 Hours and 11 Minutes.

Cast: 

Stuart Whitman (Orvil Newton), Sarah Miles (Patricia Rawnsley), James Fox (Richard Mays), Alberto Sordi (Count Emilio Ponticelli), Robert Morley (Lord Rawnsley), Gert Fröbe (Colonel Manfred von Holstein), Jean-Pierre Cassel (Pierre Dubois), Irina Demick (Brigitte, Ingrid, Marlene, Françoise, Yvette, Betty), Red Skelton (Neanderthal Man, Roman Birdman, Middle Ages Inventor, Victorian-era Pilot, Rocket Pack Inventor, Modern Airline Passenger), Terry-Thomas (Sir Percy Ware-Armitage), Eric Sykes (Courtney), Benny Hill (Fire Chief Perkins), Yūjirō Ishihara (Yamamoto; voice dubbed by James Villiers), Flora Robson (Mother Superior), Karl Michael Vogler (Captain Rumpelstrosse), Sam Wanamaker (George Gruber), and Tony Hancock (Harry Popperwell)

Directed by Ken Annakin.

Review:

Sure, let's talk about another vehicle-heavy movie from 1965. The impetus for making the film came from Ken Annakin's interest in aviation from a young age, as he apparently was taken up by Sir Alan Cobham in a biplane once. Born in Beverly, East Riding of Yorkshire in England, he decided to forgo being an income tax inspector (like his dad wanted) to travel around the world doing a variety of jobs, whether that was stage manager of a travelling roadshow or working as a firefighter in the outbreak of World War II. He was a member of the Royal Air Force as a flight mechanic before an injury during the Blitz saw him join their Film Unit to work as a camera operator. He worked for directors such as Carol Reed on documentaries for several years. After the war ended, he made some documentaries with Sydney Box before being assigned to his first feature with Holiday Camp (1947), which started his career off handily well. He made a variety of features on a regular basis, whether that involved stuff such as segments for the W. Somerset Maugham anthology movies Quartet (1948) and Trio (1950), a handful of movies for Disney such as The Story of Robin Hood and His Merrie Men (1952) or his personal favorite film, Across the Bridge (1957) or exteriors for epics such as The Longest Day (1962). As was the case with Longest Day, Those Magnificent Men in Their Flying Machines was a 20th Century Fox production. Released in June of 1965, the movie was a general success. Annakin wrote the film with Jack Davies, and they received the film's only Academy Award nomination for its screenplay (the first and only time either man was up said award). A follow-up of sorts to Flying Machines came with Monte Carlo or Bust (1969) for Paramount, which shares a few cast members from this film*. all the way to his seventies with The New Adventures of Pippi Longstocking (1988) and did work on a Genghis Khan film that never got off the ground in the 1990s. He died in 2009 at the age of 94.

One thing is for sure: it is handily better than that other epic of the year that involved a big cast and intriguing visuals trying to be funny with The Great Race (right down to the ending being less of a copout). Of course, this is the kind of movie I suppose you really would like better in seeing planes go up rather than the overall humor of the movie, which is only a few notches higher than "hit or miss" for a movie set in 1910 that aims to be a farce involving the quirks of early flight for British currency (hey 10,000 of their "pounds" in 1910 is equal to about 100 times that nowadays) and actual period-accurate life-sized working aero planes. They are surely a sight to see, and the general view one gets from the film when it comes to the flying is actually quite nice to look at. It might seem bloated at around 138 minutes, which doesn't account for the intermission (that lasts around six minutes) or the introduction to the film involving the history of flying+credits (also six minutes). But its a movie with slapstick and shenanigans when studios wanted to give people something to really go to the theater to see rather than staying home for TV, so there it goes. There isn't one really great performance in the film, but there are a few handy little moments from the folks, such as a folksy Whitman (chosen because Dick Van Dyke never got the offer from his agent) providing a few chuckles as one might do in American spirit or the blustery confidence that arises from Frobe and the obvious cad nature from Terry-Thomas. Morley dominates the British stuffy spirit probably a bit more than Fox, but I think you get what they are going for. You get a sense that the drive to fly was a noble one for those who really had the drive to do so while also realizing that one has to be a bit of a nut to really go out there and fly across any sort of environment for any sort of time (I can count the amount of times I've been on a plane on exactly one hand, and none in the last 14 years)*. Of course, dwelling on the race itself isn't really the point when you've got people engaging in a duel with balloons to go with everyone getting in their stereotypes (when you've got the British involved, that almost goes without saying), complete with one scene having a plane get fixed by a bunch of nuns all in the name of making sure a Catholic wins. The title song is, well, a charmer too. As a whole, it is clear that this was a worthwhile passion project for Annakin and company to show a few interesting visuals with planes and the countryside that makes for a leisurely good time for those in the spirit of what ends up in the air. It just might fly right for you too.

Overall, I give it 8 out of 10 stars.

*Specifically, Terry-Thomas, Gert Fröbe and Eric Sykes returned for the movie, which in America was known as "Those Daring Young Men in Their Jaunty Jalopies". Annakin and Davies wrote the film together. Incidentally, the theme from Flying Machines apparently was played during the funeral of Terry-Thomas in 1990.

*Even recognizing the history of flight can be full of nuts. Annakin wanted a Wright Flyer in the film and therefore got a Bristol that happened to have a common layout with the plane. The Smithsonian Institution actually had a long running dispute with the Wright brothers about putting the original Flyer (there were three Flyers) on display because they wanted to honor one of their former secretaries that had his own tests with flying in Samuel Pierpont Langely's Aerodrome before the Flyer finally was put in the Smithsonian in 1948, 45 years after the historic flight on December 17, 1903. Incidentally, that plane flew a total of four times in its lifetime, with the longest flight being over 800 feet in just under a minute. 

Murder on the Orient Express (1974).

Review #1446: Murder on the Orient Express.

Cast: 
Albert Finney (Hercule Poirot), Lauren Bacall (Mrs. Hubbard), Martin Balsam (Bianchi), Ingrid Bergman (Greta Ohlsson), Jacqueline Bisset (Countess Helena Andrenyi), Jean-Pierre Cassel (Pierre Paul Michel), Sean Connery (Colonel Arbuthnot), John Gielgud (Edward Beddoes), Wendy Hiller (Princess Natalia Dragomiroff), Anthony Perkins (Hector McQueen), Vanessa Redgrave (Mary Debenham), Rachel Roberts (Hildegarde Schmidt), Richard Widmark (Ratchett), Michael York (Count Rudolf Andrenyi), Colin Blakely (Cyrus B. Hardman), George Coulouris (Dr. Constantine), and Denis Quilley (Antonio Foscarelli) Directed by Sidney Lumet (#035 - 12 Angry Men, #036 - Network, #404 - The Anderson Tapes, and #1065 - Deathtrap)

Review: 
"My job is acting, and that is why I hate interviews or lectures, explaining myself to an audience."

Sometimes the devil is in the details when it comes to making a film, and this can be two-fold for a movie like this, an all-star mystery film based on the book of the same name by one of the most famous authors of all time, Agatha Christie. Her novel featured the famed character Hercule Poirot, who was featured in over forty novels and short stories since the very first in The Mysterious Affair at Styles (1920). Murder on the Orient Express (1934) had been inspired by numerous events, such as a stuck Orient Express train that was there for five days in snow along with the infamous kidnapping of Charles and Anne Lindbergh's baby. Christie had her works first adapted into film with The Passing of Mr. Quin (1928), while the first Poirot adaptation followed with Alibi (1931, starring Austin Trevor). Four actors have played the character of Poirot in film: Trevor, Tony Randall, Finney, Peter Ustinov, and Kenneth Branagh, although the most famous portrayal of the character is likely David Suchet's portrayal (1989-2013) that adapted the entire catalogue of mysteries by Christie as 70 episodes for British television. Despite reservations about a film adaptation, this proved to be one of the very few that she liked (the other was Witness for the Prosecution) prior to her death in 1976.

To put in perspective how careful one had to handle such a diverse international cast, five actors (Gielgud, Quilley, Redgrave, Bergman, and Finney) were participating in the production in the day while doing West End performances in London in the night time. Finney (third choice after Alec Guinness and Paul Scofield, both unavailable) must have had it worst of all, since he needed tremendous makeup done to emulate his character but also need sleep, which reportedly led to a routine where he would be taken out on a stretcher while asleep and the crew would do makeup on him as he was being traveled to the set. Finney, a graduate of the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art, had started his career with the theatre in 1956 (starring as the title role in Henry V), before taking on television and film with The Entertainer (1960), and he would come into prominence with his lead roles in Saturday Night and Sunday Morning (same year) and Tom Jones (1963) in a varied career that had a good deal of success for over five decades before his death in 2019 at the age of 82. As a who's who for a whodunit meant to evoke the elegance of a different time (such as Richard Rodney Bennett's striking musical composition), this proves quite satisfactory for all parties involved. Whether one is familiar with the famed novel or not isn't too important - the mystery is carefully crafted with these distinct faces that are each given a few moments to shine while set primarily on a railway car that makes for a quality 128 minutes. Finney is quite excellent with a role basked in makeup and a careful disposition that makes him the ideal man to match up with a mystery like this, particularly when it comes to seeing his initial interactions with others before the train leaves compared to when he lays out the climax of the whodunit (a scene shot numerous times to capture all the adequate angles) - he leads the film on with well-crafted care. Balsam and Coulouris accompany him for the hunt with care, while Widmark makes for a fine conniving presence to set up his murder. Of the stars that appear, the ones who seem to stand out are Bacall, Bergman (who rejected playing a bigger part while having one stand out five-minute interrogation scene, which resulted in a Best Supporting Actress win at the Academy Awards - her third overall), Gielgud, and Perkins. Each stand their ground when it comes to making their moments count in laying out their side of a story, although no one really lends a bad performance anywhere, since having a bit of scenery-chewing now and then comes with the territory without derailing the suspension of disbelief. By the time one gets to its conclusion, one finds them satisfied with how things raveled and unraveled without fail or stumble. Films can serve as escapism for its audience, and a murder mystery with plenty of agreeable faces and voices complete with a game Finney at the head and a craftsman in Lumet make for a good time worth a curiosity in its era.

Overall, I give it 8 out of 10 stars.

The Three Musketeers (1973).

Review #972: The Three Musketeers.

Cast: 
Michael York (d'Artagnan), Oliver Reed (Athos), Frank Finlay (Porthos / O'Reilly), Richard Chamberlain (Aramis), Jean-Pierre Cassel (King Louis XIII of France), Geraldine Chaplin (Anne of Austria), Charlton Heston (Cardinal Richelieu), Faye Dunaway (Milady de Winter), Christopher Lee (The Count De Rochefort), Simon Ward (the Duke of Buckingham), Raquel Welch (Constance Bonacieux), Spike Milligan (M. Bonacieux), Roy Kinnear (Planchet), and Nicole Calfan (Kitty) Directed by Richard Lester (#541 - A Hard Day's Night, #594 - A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum, #785 - Superman II, and #786 - Superman III)

Review: 
Based off the novel of the same name by Alexandre Dumas, the story has been adapted to film numerous times over the past century, but this one is often hailed as one of the better versions of the tale, and it's easy to see why. Everything from the cast to the action scenes is studded with great spectacle and entertainment. The fighting sequences (arranged by William Hobbs) are quite riveting, having an energy and execution to them that is incredible to see throughout the movie, made in a time without the possibility of using computer effects nor shortcuts; the cinematography by David Watkin is also fairly decent. York is engaging to watch on screen, being quite personable and fitting for the film. As you would probably expect from Lester's prior filmography, there is an injection of some comic humor within the film that doesn't manage to distract from the other parts of the film. There is a fine look to the film (filmed in Spain and France) that certainly helps give the film some atmosphere. The trio of Reed, Finlay and Chamberlain are fairly fine together, certainly going well together when dealing with the action scenes. Cassel and Chaplin are fine, but Heston (along with Lee) are interesting adversaries that certainly lend themselves to some fine moments, such as when York and Kinnear encounter Lee's character near the climax, having a fight scene without much light. Dunaway and Welch are fairly memorable, and they serve the climax pretty well with a scene for their own fight, and Milligan and Kinnear are fine comic relief. The best part of the film is seeing the action scenes play out with all of these characters, without giving too much thought to the story (which in itself is fine), instead its the way the film operates that makes for an exciting time. Of interest is that the original plan was to make a long epic that would run around three hours, but it was decided to separate it into two films (without telling the cast), with a trailer for the next film (The Four Muskateers) playing at the end of this film. This inspired the Screen Actor's Guild to make a stipulation that future contracts say how many films are being made. In any case, this is a fine adventure that sets out for enjoyment and succeeds with ease.

Overall, I give it 8 out of 10 stars.