One of the joys of 1965 was the roadshow comedy "Those Magnificent Men in Their Flying Machines (or, How I Flew from London to Paris in 25 Hours and 11 Minutes"). This was one of three roadshows 20th Century-Fox was counting upon to help it rebound from "Cleopatra's" drain on studio assets. The other two were "The Agony and the Ecstasy" (greatest hopes were placed on this by studio head Zanuck but it was the weakest entry). The third was "The Sound of Music". History pretty much was made by the latter and the studio coffers were fattened in a major way.
This film, however, was Fox's best-reviewed film of the year. Critics were generally positive (some were glowing), and it finished in the top 10 box office films of the year, eventually returning the studio a handsome profit.
The music was provided by Ron Goodwin who wrote a tour-de-force score that absolutely soars along with all the various aircraft the film lovingly shows off. It boasts comedy, wit, dramatic grandiosity and one of the catchiest title tunes in movie history.
We had a thread praising this up not so long ago. Luckily its had a great release.
As i said before, this is the theme Ron wrote in his head on the walk back from the producer's office in London to his own, aided, he said, by the cadence of the title.
Myy favourite bit is when the flier lands and a monacled Fred Emney (who always made me laugh, italian job, texaco haveline adverts) n his missus are in their car and help him out with a makeshift carburettor cleaner.