Biggles (film)

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

This is an old revision of this page, as edited by 76.6.136.205 (talk) at 06:24, 2 October 2017. The present address (URL) is a permanent link to this revision, which may differ significantly from the current revision.

Biggles
Original British 1986 quad film poster
Directed byJohn Hough
Screenplay byJohn Groves
Kent Walwin
Produced byPom Oliver
Kent Walwin
StarringNeil Dickson
Alex Hyde-White
Fiona Hutchison
Peter Cushing
Marcus Gilbert
William Hootkins
CinematographyErnest Vincze
Edited byRichard Trevor
Music byStanislas Syrewicz
Production
companies
Compact Yellowbill
Tambarle
Distributed byUIP (UK)
Release date
  • 23 May 1986 (1986-05-23) (UK [1])
Running time
92 min.[2]
CountryUnited Kingdom
LanguageEnglish

Biggles is a 1986 British sci-fi adventure film directed by John Hough and later released in 1988 in the United States as Biggles: Adventures in Time[3]). The plot involves a time traveller from the 1980s who is inserted into World War I to help the character Biggles from the series of novels by W. E. Johns and where Biggles also travels to the 1980s to save his new friend. The film stars Neil Dickson, Alex Hyde-White, and Peter Cushing in his final feature film role.

Plot

Catering salesman Jim Ferguson (Alex Hyde-White), living in present day New York City, falls through a time hole to 1917 where he saves the life of dashing Royal Flying Corps pilot James "Biggles" Bigglesworth (Neil Dickson) after his photo recon mission is shot down. Before he can work out what has happened, Jim is zapped back to the 1980s. With assistance from Biggles' former commanding officer William Raymond (Peter Cushing) who lives in the Tower Bridge in London, Ferguson learns that he and Biggles are "time twins", spontaneously travelling through time when one or the other is in mortal danger. Together, Ferguson and Biggles fight across time and against the odds to stop the Germans changing the course of history by destroying a "Sound Weapon" with a Metropolitan Police helicopter that was stolen by Biggles while escaping a SWAT Team in 1986 London.

Main cast

Production

The film was produced by Yellowbill Films, a company set up in 1979[4] by British producer Kent Walwin, and one of its first acquisitions was the rights to the Biggles character.[5] Additional financing came from a subsidiary of Hammer Films, Tambarle Ab Ltd,[6] and Heath Financial Services, a group of insurance brokers,[7] which the film is copyrighted by.[8] In 1988, Compact Yellowbill Ltd was set up,[9] a company 50/50 owned by Kent Walwin and the other producer, Pom Oliver, and the film's production credit was changed to that.

The original script called for an adventure film in the mould of Raiders of the Lost Ark and would have been much more faithful to Johns' original novels. During scriptwriting, however, Back to the Future was released and became a major hit, so the script was duly altered to follow this trend, in an attempt to capitalise on Back to the Future's popularity.

The film was mostly shot in London and on various locations in the home counties.[10] Some of the aerial sequences were shot near Millbrook Proving Ground in Bedfordshire. The 1917 weapon testing ground scene was shot at the Beckton Gas Works, which a year later was used for scenes in Full Metal Jacket and had been the location for the pre title sequence in the 1981 Bond film For Your Eyes Only. The exterior church scenes were all filmed at All Saints Church, Holdenby, and the courtyard scenes were filmed by the stable blocks of Holdenby House.

Several aircraft were used in the film. These included a Stampe SV.4, which is flown by Biggles, and a Boeing Stearman, which is flown by his archrival, von Stalhein. Both these bi-planes are actually from the 1930s. Also used in ground scenes are several genuine World War I aircraft from the Shuttleworth Collection, including the Avro 504 and LVG C.VI. The film includes a scene where Biggles lands the helicopter (a Bell 206 JetRanger) on a flat wagon on a moving train. This was filmed on the Nene Valley Railway and was apparently the first time such a stunt had been attempted.

The film takes much liberty with the storyline of the original novels. In addition to the introduction of a science-fiction plot, Biggles is much older than in the books (where he is only a teenager in 1917), and the characters Ginger and Bertie feature although they don't join Biggles until much later in the book series. However, the presence of Biggles' friend Algy, adversary Erich von Stahlein and love interest Marie fits with the earlier books in the series.[11]

Dickson later reprised the Biggles character in all but name in the Pet Shop Boys' 1987 feature film It Couldn't Happen Here.

Reception

The film premiered on Friday 23 May 1986[1] at the Plaza Cinema on Lower Regent Street in London,[12] and David Robinson in The Times was not impressed, writing that "the flying ace might well have been made over into a sort of period James Bond. Instead there is a misguided and inept attempt to give the film an appeal for imagined mid-Atlantic teenage audiences", and concluded that "the script is witless, the direction is showy and the performances of the twin heroes (Neil Dixon as Biggles and Alex Hyde-White) are weakly amiable. The principal consolation is a cadaverous Peter Cushing as Biggles's old C.O., Captain Raymonds."[13]

Later reviewers have not been less critical, although Scott McKenzie at DVDActive.com concludes that while the whole plot idea "makes no sense whatsoever", the dialogue is "unbelievably corny", and the soundtrack "comes nowhere close to matching the mood of the movie", he finds the flying scenes "particularly impressive, with wing-mounted cameras putting the viewer right in the middle of the action. These sequences alone make Biggles an intriguing watch even for the most casual viewer."[14]

Books

A novelisation of the script was published by Coronet Books in paperback and Severn House in hardcover reprint. The author was Trevor Hoyle, writing under the pseudonym "Larry Milne."

A 48-page storybook entitled "Biggles: The Untold Story" was also produced, written by Peter James, it includes several photographs from the movie, and was published by Pan Books.

Soundtrack

Video game

As a tie-in to the film, a video game with the same title was released in 1986 by Image Works for the Amstrad CPC, Commodore 64 and ZX Spectrum.[15]

References

  1. ^ a b The Times, Saturday 17 May 1986, page 18: Films: Biggles - Plaza - From Friday Linked 2015-06-13
  2. ^ "Biggles (1985)". BBFC. Retrieved 12 June 2015.
  3. ^ IMDb: Biggles (1986) - Release info Linked 2015-06-12
  4. ^ Endole: Yellowbill Films Ltd Linked 2015-06-12
  5. ^ In All Sincerity... Peter Cushing, page 340. Christopher Gulb, Xlibris 2004 Linked 2015-06-12
  6. ^ Duedil: Tambarle Ab Limited Linked 2015-06-12
  7. ^ In All Sincerity... Peter Cushing, page 341. Christopher Gulb, Xlibris 2004 Linked 2015-06-12
  8. ^ IMDb: Biggles (1986) - Company Credits, Other Companies Linked 2015-06-12
  9. ^ Endole: Compact Yellowbill Limited Linked 2015-06-12
  10. ^ "Where was 'Biggles: Adventures in Time' filmed?". British Film Locations. Retrieved 6 June 2017.
  11. ^ Biggles Fansite: A history of Biggles on film Re-linked 2015-06-12
  12. ^ The Theatres Trust Theatre Database: Plaza Cinema Linked 2015-06-13
  13. ^ The Times, 23 May 1986, page 15: Hollywood's idea of farce Linked 2015-06-13
  14. ^ DVDActive.com: Guilty Pleasures: Biggles: Adventures in Time Re-linked 2015-06-13
  15. ^ World Of Spectrum: Biggles Re-linked 2015-06-12

External links


Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Biggles_(film)&oldid=803388220"