History Film / ThoseMagnificentMenInTheirFlyingMachines

** Lord Rawnsley mentions that a French fellow managed to fly across the English Channel last year. That fellow was inventor Louis Blériot, who actually won a £1000 from the Daily Mail for his accomplishment.

* DwindlingParty: Non-fatally, as all the pilots survive and are rescued, but the planes crash with increasing frequency as the race progresses. The race starts with fourteen planes. [[spoiler:Yamamoto crashes on takeoff due to Sir Percy's sabotage. Five unseen pilots fail to reach the Dover checkpoint. Popperwell ends up flying in the wrong direction. Lt. Parsons and Colonel von Holstein both crash in the English Channel. Sir Percy attempts to cheat, but his plane lands on a train and it is smashed when it enters a tunnel. Ponticelli nearly wins, but his engine catches fire as he approaches the finish line. Only Richard, Orvil, and Dubois complete the race.]]

* DwindlingParty: Non-fatally, as all the pilots survive and are rescued, but the planes crash with increasing frequency as the race progresses. The race starts with fourteen planes. [[spoiler:Yamamoto crashes on takeoff due to Sir Percy's sabotage. Five unseen pilots fail to reach the Dover checkpoint. Popperwell ends up flying in the wrong direction. [=MacDougal=] and Colonel von Holstein both crash in the English Channel. Sir Percy attempts to cheat, but his plane lands on a train and it is smashed when it enters a tunnel. Ponticelli nearly wins, but his engine catches fire as he approaches the finish line. Only Richard, Orvil, and Dubois complete the race.]]

* DwindlingParty: Non-fatally, as all the pilots survive, but the planes crash with increasing frequency as the race progresses. [[spoiler:Yamamoto crashes on takeoff. Popperwell ends up flying in the wrong direction. [=MacDougal=] and Holstein both crash in the English Channel. Sir Percy attempts to cheat, but his plane lands on a train and is smashed when it enters a tunnel. Ponticelli nearly wins, but his engine catches fire as he approaches the finish line. Only Richard, Orvil, and Dubois complete the race.]]

** This doubles with RealityIsUnrealistic : such duel [[https://blog.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk/2012/08/24/the-first-duel-fought-in-hot-air-balloons-paris-1808/ was actually fought]] 22 June 1808 in Paris.

* EpicRace

* HongKongDub: As a nod to the {{Godzilla}} films the lip-synching for Yamamoto's dubbed voice is deliberately awful, with his lips continuing to move a split second after each line.

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

* HongKongDub: As a nod to the {{Godzilla}} films Yamamoto is deliberately dubbed badly, with his lips continuing to move a split second after each line.

[[AllStarCast The brilliant international cast]] includes Stuart Whitman, Sarah Miles, James Fox, Alberto Sordi, Robert Morley, Creator/GertFrobe, Jean-Pierre Cassel, Yûjirô Ishihara, John Le Mesurier, Creator/BennyHill and Creator/TerryThomas. Extra footage added to the American release featured popular comedian Red Skelton as a hapless victim of flight tests throughout the ages.

[[AllStarCast The brilliant international cast]] includes Stuart Whitman, Sarah Miles, James Fox, Alberto Sordi, Robert Morley, Creator/GertFrobe, Jean-Pierre Cassel, Yûjirô Ishihara, John Le Mesurier, Creator/BennyHill, and Creator/TerryThomas as Sir Percy Ware-Armitage. Extra footage added to the American release featured popular comedian Red Skelton as a hapless victim of flight tests throughout the ages.

* AmusingInjuries: Whenever someone crashes.

''Those Magnificent Men in Their Flying Machines, [[EitherOrTitle or]] How I Flew from London to Paris in 25 Hours 11 Minutes'', to give its [[LongTitle full title]], is a 1965 British {{period|piece}} comedy film (released through Creator/TwentiethCenturyFox) about an international air race held during the early, pre-UsefulNotes/WorldWarI days of aviation. A wacky cast of characters assembles with their wacky aircraft, a love triangle develops, {{Worthy Opponent}}s square off, and great fun is had by all... except for those who can't stay in the air.

* LogoJoke: For the American release and right before the Red Skelton sequence, the Creator/TwentiethCenturyFox logo opens in a 1910s-1920s theater setting, and the studio's iconic fanfare has a honkytonk remix to match the movie's main theme played in the Red Skelton sequence.

* AmbiguouslyGay: Richard. He's oddly hesitant to marry Patricia despite her being attractive, intelligent, upper class, and interested in him. He also notes how handsome Orvil is ''before'' Patricia... while talking ''to'' Patricia. [[spoiler: He doesn't mind her getting with Orvil at the end in the slightest]].
* AmusingInjuries

* ArtisticLicenseAwards: Captain Rumpelstoss is shown wearing the Iron Cross, Germany's most iconic military decoration. However, he's too young to have served in the Franco-Prussian War, the last time it was awarded prior to World War I.

* ButIReadABookAboutIt: Colonel Manfred von Holstein attempts to teach himself how to fly by reading the official German army handbook on piloting; while he is flying. He does surprisingly well until he drops the book.

* CrazyJealousGuy: Richard
* DastardlyWhiplash: Sir Percy Ware-Armitage.
* [[DisposableFiance Disposable Fiancé]]: [[spoiler:Richard]] gradually emerges as one.

* FanService: the girl at the sea near the start.

* GreatBigBookOfEverything: The Prussian Army's Big Book of Instructions includes instructions on how to fly an airplane. Step one: sit down.
** "Sit down" was apparently an AdLib by Gert Fröbe which [[ThrowItIn they kept in]].
* InnocentInnuendo: Richard Mays would like to take Patricia "up". Her father is okay with that... [[BaitAndSwitch until Mays reveals that he means physically flying with her in his plane]].

** It is somewhat subverted in the case of the Japanese pilot in that he fails to conform to 1910-era expectations, not only by speaking flawless English and having a taste for Scotch whisky, but also in the scene when his plane crashes on take-off. When he asks for a knife it is not, as the fireman fears, to commit Harakiri, but to free himself from entangling wires. Interestingly, he does fit more modern stereotypes by being perhaps the single most intelligent and polite character in the film.

* ScrewTheRulesIHaveMoney: Sir Percy Ware-Armitage's attitude. (Orvil on the other hand clearly thinks he deserves special consideration because unlike the other participants he is poor.)

* StiffUpperLip: Richard and the Navy pilot.

''Those Magnificent Men in Their Flying Machines, [[EitherOrTitle or]] How I Flew from London to Paris in 25 Hours 11 Minutes'', to give its [[LongTitle full title]], is a 1965 British comedy film (released through Creator/TwentiethCenturyFox) about an international air race held during the early, pre-UsefulNotes/WorldWarI days of aviation. A wacky cast of characters assembles with their wacky aircraft, a love triangle develops, {{Worthy Opponent}}s square off, and great fun is had by all... except for those who can't stay in the air.

* OverprotectiveDad: Patricia's father ''absolutely forbids'' his daughter from riding in a plane, getting angry at anyone who even suggests it. (Don't forget though how primitive - and dangerous - they were at this time; it's hard to blame him.)

The film directly inspired Creator/HannaBarbera's ''WesternAnimation/WackyRaces'' SpinOff ''WesternAnimation/DastardlyAndMuttleyInTheirFlyingMachines''. Dick Dastardly, whose ''Wacky Races'' self was heavily inspired by Professor Fate from ''Magnificent Men''[='=]s [[DuellingMovies rival]] ''Film/TheGreatRace'', was altered to heavily resemble Terry-Thomas' character, Sir Percy Ware-Armitage. (To be fair, that took little effort, as both Fate and Ware-Armitage are more or less based on the classic DastardlyWhiplash villain).

[[quoteright:241:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/ThoseMagnificentMen_1162.jpg]]

* AllStereotypeCast: The Germans are uptight efficiency freaks with pointy helmets, the French are more interested in flirting and having fun than working, the Italians are devout Catholics and have a bunch of kids, the American is a cowboy, the British are stuffy and formal, and so forth.
* AmbiguouslyGay: Richard. He's oddly hesitant to marry Patricia despite her being attractive, intelligent, upper class, and interested in him. He also notes how handsome Orvil is ''before'' Patricia...while talking ''to'' Patricia. [[spoiler: He doesn't mind her getting with Orvil at the end in the slightest]].

* RollInTheHay: A French pilot makes an emergency landing near a haystack in France. While a farmer is going to get help, which will cost him 30 minutes to get to the nearest farm, the pilot uses this as an ideal opportunity to make love to the Farmer's Daughter in the hay.
* RunningGag: Pierre Dubois (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!]]

* OverprotectiveDad: Patricia's father ''absolutely forbids'' his daughter from riding in a plane, getting angry at anyone who even suggests it. (Don't forget the how primitive - and dangerous - they were at this time; it's hard to blame him.)

* ShoutOut: Among the girls Dubois chats up are [[Creator/BrigitteBardot from France]], [[Creator/MarleneDietrich Marlene from Germany]], and [[Creator/IngridBergman Ingrid from Sweden]].