Those Magnificent Men in their Flying Machines

It's 1910 and there's to be an air race from London to Paris. It's a surefire bet that, sooner or later, one of the aviators in this crazy all-star comedy will crash into the local sewage farm. These gigantic splashes provide the most side-splitting moments in a film whose greatest assets are the animated Ronald Searle cartoons and the wonderful flying contraptions. There's rather too much romance and too little of Terry-Thomas, as a dastardly Victorian villain who'll stop at nothing to win the race, and Eric Sykes, delightfully droll as his downtrodden manservant. But there are hilarious compensations, including a Keystone Kops fire brigade bossed by Benny Hill.