History Film / ThoseMagnificentMenInTheirFlyingMachines

* 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 (Out of ''eighty-four'' entries, suggesting that most of the competitors had to withdraw after wrecking their planes in practice flights). [[spoiler:Yamamoto crashes on takeoff due to Sir Percy's sabotage. Four unseen pilots fail to reach the Dover checkpoint. Popperwell ends up flying in the wrong direction. [=MacDougal=] reaches Dover, but is not shown landing in Calais. Lieutenant Parsons and Colonel von Holstein both crash in the English Channel. Sir Percy attempts to cheat by ferrying across the Channel, 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.]]

* GladIThoughtOfIt: The race was originally Patricia's idea, but she convinced Richard to pitch it to her father as his own idea. After which, Lord Rawnsley promotes it as his own idea.

[[AllStarCast The brilliant international cast]] includes Stuart Whitman, Sarah Miles, James Fox, Alberto Sordi, Creator/RobertMorley, Creator/GertFrobe, Creator/JeanPierreCassel, Creator/YujiroIshihara, 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, Creator/JeanPierreCassel, Creator/YujiroIshihara, 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.

* NationalStereotypes: Most of the participants of the race are humorous caricatures of their nationality. There's the lustful Frenchman, the strict, [[NiceHat pointy-hatted]] [[UsefulNotes/{{Prussia}} Prussian]] soldier, the cocksure American cowboy, the boisterous Italian bringing his whole family with him, etc. Though it is a British film, BritishStuffiness is certainly there, too.

* BookEnds: The American release features footage of Red Skelton at both ends of the films. The first set of clips features him in a series of "historic" flight tests, such as a caveman flapping his elbows like a bird. At the end of the film, a modern Red Skelton is stuck in the airport, waiting for scheduling troubles to get sorted out, when he suddenly hits upon an idea... and begins flapping his elbows like a bird.

* TheDogBitesBack: Cuthbert's man is only loyal to him because of blackmail. The moment the blackmail files are destroyed, he turns on him.

* BrickJoke: During the Germans' test flight (the one that goes horribly wrong) the fire engine knocks out a section of wall between the field and the sewage farm. At the end of the scene when the German officer has lost control of the motorbike, he ends up going through that section of wall.

* ThemeTuneCameo: A string quartet can be heard playing the film's theme song at the reception in Dover.

* CantHoldHisLiquor: The master of ceremonies ends up falling down drunk during the trophy awarding, which involves filling the trophy with champagne and drinking it with the winners. To be fair, thanks to multiple disqualifications causing the winner to repeatedly change, he has to perform the ceremony three times over the course of a few minutes.

* RealityHasNoSubtitles: Yamamoto's introduction, in which he learns about the race and receives a ''hachimaki'' from his instructor, is entirely in Japanese and has no subtitles.

* WhatHappenedToTheMouse: [=MacDougal=], the Scottish aviator, is shown arriving in Dover, but not Calais. This leaves it unclear as to whether he crashed on takeoff or landed in the English Channel.

* WomenDrivers: The women's team is introduced chattering among themselves while driving without paying any attention to the road, causing an accident. They don't drive like that in any later scenes.

* DisqualificationInducedVictory: The trophy ends up going to the third-place racers because the first and second place racers end up getting arrested.

* BusCrash: Sir Percy died in a literal vehicular crash between films, with his son getting the news in his first scene.

* IdenticalGrandson: Sir Cuthbert is the identical son of Terry-Thomas' character from the previous movie, Sir Percy - the archetypal upper-class scoundrel.

* SpiritualSuccessor: Averts this by the skin of its teeth. It's another race movie with vintage vehicles, made by the same production team and featuring several returning cast members, but its only in-universe link to ''Those Magnificent Men in their Flying Machines'' is that Terry Thomas appears as the son of his character from the earlier film.

* ThirdLineSomeWaiting: Because the rally has multiple tracks, the story jumps back and forth between racers on the Britain/France route, the Sweden/Germany route, and the Italy route, with the Italy route getting the least focus.

* SuddenlySoused: The trophy ceremony involves the master of ceremonies filling the trophy with champagne and draining it with the champion. Since the ceremony ends up happening three times due to disqualifications, the master of ceremonies is falling down drunk by the time the winner is finalized.

!!The Sequel contains examples of:

* SpiritualSuccessor: ''Monte Carlo or Bust'' averts this by the skin of its teeth. It's another race movie with vintage vehicles, made by the same production team and featuring several returning cast members, but its only in-universe link to ''Those Magnificent Men in their Flying Machines'' is that Terry Thomas appears as the son of his character from the earlier film.

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.

[[AllStarCast The brilliant international cast]] includes Stuart Whitman, Sarah Miles, Creator/JamesFox, Alberto Sordi, Robert Morley, Creator/GertFrobe, Creator/JeanPierreCassel, Creator/YujiroIshihara, 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, Creator/JeanPierreCassel, Creator/YujiroIshihara, 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.

''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-American {{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.

* 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. Four unseen pilots fail to reach the Dover checkpoint. Popperwell ends up flying in the wrong direction. [=MacDougal=] reaches Dover, but is not shown landing in Calais. Lieutenant Parsons and Colonel von Holstein both crash in the English Channel. Sir Percy attempts to cheat by ferrying across the Channel, 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.]]

* LaxativePrank: Sir Percy pulls this on Rumpelstoss just before the race begins, forcing von Holstein to pilot the plane himself using the manual.

[[AllStarCast The brilliant international cast]] includes Stuart Whitman, Sarah Miles, James Fox, Alberto Sordi, Robert Morley, Creator/GertFrobe, Creator/JeanPierreCassel, 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.