"Those Magnificent Men & Their Flying Machines" (or "How I Flew from London
to Paris in 25 Hours Eleven Minutes") has finally been released on DVD.

This appears to be a good print, retaining the original widescreen format.
Bonus materials are pretty much the same as appeared on the Laserdisc
version, giving additional information on the construction of the antique
replicas and the historic aircraft used in the film, as well as an interview
with the director.

Most pilots are stunned that the ornithopter flown (briefly) by the Italian
count in the movie is a replica of an actual airplane that flew, although
the movie version did not fly. The thing looks downright dangerous. The
wings do not look nearly large enough to lift it off the ground.

The shots taken of airplanes suspended between towers are well integrated
with shots of actual flying aircraft. I cannot see the suspension lines in
the shots that use them.

Most of the shots taken from inside the aircraft (showing the legs and hands
of the pilot) were flown by an English flight instructor who was chosen for
her light weight as well as her flying ability. There was at least one
airplane that nobody else could fly at all. Apparently she actually flew the
Deperdussin in the scene where the wing nearly sweeps Benny Hill off the
tower.

I still think that the duel (balloons and blunderbusses) is one of the
funniest scenes ever filmed. The formation flight of several pre-WW I
aircraft crossing the English Channel is incredible. Now I suppose they
would have just done it with computer animation instead of building all
those replicas and borrowing museum pieces.

The replicas were as authentic as they could make them, using original
materials. Most of them were given larger engines than they had
historically, of course, in order to get them to go 45 mph and for safety
reasons. Others had minor modifications. The Bristol Boxkite gets a third
rudder, for example, to increase its maneuverability. They all appear to
have more efficient propellers that they use when flying, using the replica
props when they are shown standing on the ground.

There are a few anomalies. A nuclear power plant can be seen in the
background when one of the planes lands on a railroad car. (One of the local
line guys said, "So?" when we were talking about this. Apparently he did not
know that no one had yet split the atom in 1911. His college major is
engineering....)

This movie is worth watching just for the antique planes alone.

--
Christopher J. Campbell
World Famous Flight Instructor
Port Orchard, WA


If you go around beating the Bush, don't complain if you rile the animals.