Those Magnificent Men in Their Flying Machines: Difference between revisions

 

{{quote|Those magnificent men in their flying machines,

 

'''''Those Magnificent Men in Their Flying Machines, [[Either or Title|or]] How I Flew from London to Paris in 25 Hours 11 Minutes''''', to give its [[Long Title|full title]], is a 1965 British film farce (released through [[Twentieth Century Fox]]) about an international air race held during the early, pre-[[World War I]] days of aviation. A wacky cast of characters assembles with their wacky aircraft, a love triangle develops, [[Worthy Opponent|Worthy Opponents]] square off, and great fun is had by all...except for those who can't stay in the air.

* [[National Stereotypes]]: Most of the participants of the race are humorous caricatures of their nationality. There's the lustful Frenchman, the strict, [[Nice Hat|pointy-hatted]] [[Prussia|Prussian]] soldier, the boisterous Italian bringing his whole family with him, etc. Though it is a British film, [[British Stuffiness]] is certainly there, too.

** [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ODKxMlovi4o&feature=PlayList&p=4EA6BDC0C1691CFE&playnext_from=PL&index=6 One YouTube review] points out that some of the offensiveness is mitigated by the fact that all of the actors are the nationalities of the characters they're playing and are clearly having a ball playing up their roles to the hilt. Maybe it's because absolutely nobody gets off scot-free; ''everyone'' is painted in a stereotypical way.

* [[Prussia]]: Colonel Manfred von Holstein is here to play out every Prussian stereotype to its fullest.

* [[Running Gag]]: The French pilot chats up a series of beauties whom he keeps confusing the names of, so that they have to introduce themselves as being of different nationalities and names. The suggestion is that all beautiful women look alike to him. {{spoiler|The joke is that they're all played by the same actress!}}

* [[Shout-Out]]: Among the girls Dubois chats up are [[Brigitte Bardot|Brigitte from France]], [[Marlene Dietrich|Marlene from Germany]], and [[Ingrid Bergman|Ingrid from Sweden]].

* [[Shown Their Work]]: All the race planes in the film are fairly faithful reproductions of actual early aircraft, with some modern updates to ensure safety.