A review from an Amazon UK, satisfied customer - I think.
"I was in this film - yes really,and it really is a bit of fun, with the most apauling effects, like aircraft being shot down and dissapering behind the treeline to blow up. A lot of this was filmed in Beckton gas works befor it became a swankey part of docklands, filmed entirly on location in London & Kent, but not in France and New York. That said it really is quite a good cheepie film that has a storyline that holds together and has moments of plausability but not when Biggles fresh from his Sopwith Camel jumps into a helicoptor declairs "what a facinating flying machine" and procedes to fly it away, can't say where to without a spoiler. One good thing is the cover artwork has at last been changed, the original release had a picture of a Spitfire on it!!!"
It garners 3.8 out of 5 stars, which to be honest, was something of an overestimated surprise. I scratch my head when finding out there are "apauling effects" and "moments of plausability" in this cooked goose/turkey. Now, there's a fanboy!
Biggles was part of my youth ... I read many, though not all, of the novels (by Capt. W.E. Johns) and when the film was released in 1986/7 I paid my money and sat, not knowing what to expect. Yes, there were newspaper & TV reviews but no mass internet and I can't recall if I knew about the time-travel story-line.
The opening few minutes were ... Oh dear ... oh well ...
The remaining approx.80 minutes [edit: or whatever, based on the superb film résumé, below, posted by Bob] were so entertaining that I've recommended the film many times since. The only TV broadcast I caught was on a Saturday morning ... and all the DVDs I've looked to buy appear to be poor P&S cheapo releases.
So, if this BD release has the proper goods - decent W/S picture and Surround Sound - I'm in for it.
Maybe the effects are poor ... but they'll still be so much better than today's computer-game CGI animation which bores me. Certainly the story is cheesy (and how Biggles and co. defeat the enemy is a bit of let-down) but take it as a bit-of-fun and it's highly entertaining. I enjoyed the music score, too, by Stanislas Syrewicz, including Jon Anderson 's Do You Want to be a Hero.
Biggles (a nickname for James Bigglesworth), is a pilot and adventurer and is the title character and main hero of the “Biggles” series of youth-oriented adventure books written by English author W. E. Johns. The character first appeared in the story "The White Fokker," published in the first issue of Popular Flying magazine, in 1932. The first collection of Biggles stories, The Camels are Coming, was published that same year. The series was continued until the author's death in 1968, eventually spanning nearly a hundred volumes – including novels and short story collections.
In 1986, Pom Oliver, an experienced woman polar explorer and sometime film producer, produced a film version of BIGGLES which starred Neil Dickson as “Biggles,” Alex Hyde-White as “Jim Ferguson,” and Peter Cushing in his final feature film role as “William Raymond.” Pom Oliver had produced a half-dozen prior projects, but none approached the scope of BIGGLES. The film was directed by veteran British film and television director John Hough. Hough had directed the Hammer horror film TWINS OF EVIL (1971) in addition to such well-known genre films as THE LEGEND OF HELL HOUSE (1973), DIRTY MARY, CRAZY LARRY (1975), and BRASS TARGET (1978). Hough also directed the Disney films ESCAPE TO WITCH MOUNTAIN (1975) (and its 1978 sequel) and THE WATCHER IN THE WOODS (1980).
Although Dudley Moore was at one time considered for the role of Biggles, Neil Dickson ultimately got the part. Dickson had made his name on the British stage and on English television, which brought him to the attention of the producers of NBC's 12-hour mini-series "Anno Domini (A.D.)" where in 1985 he co-starred opposite Ian McShane, Susan Sarandon, James Mason, and Ava Gardner. This led directly to Dickson playing the title role of James Bigglesworth. Alex Hyde-White got his first acting break when his father was appearing in the pilot for "Battlestar Galactica" (1978) and Universal was auditioning young actors to play Viper pilots. He acted primarily in television movies and series for Universal (“Quincy, M.E.;” “Buck Rogers in the 25th Century”) in the early 1980s. BIGGLES was his first major feature film.
In the film, unassuming catering salesman Jim Ferguson (Hyde-White) falls through a time hole to 1917 where he saves the life of dashing Royal Flying Corps pilot James "Biggles" Bigglesworth (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 Raymond (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 from 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.
The film is notably unfaithful to the original works. In addition to the introduction of a science-fiction plot, the continuity of the Biggles universe was largely ignored by the screenplay. The original script called for an adventure film in the mold of RAIDERS OF THE LOST ARK, and would have been much more faithful to Johns' original novels. But during filming, BACK TO THE FUTURE was released and became a major hit, so the script was altered to include the time travel element, in the hopes of riding on the popularity of that film.
BIGGLES was shot mostly on location in London and in the surrounding counties. Some of the aerial sequences were shot near Millbrook Proving Ground in Bedfordshire. The weapon testing ground in the 1917 scene is Beckton Gas Works. The Bond film FOR YOUR EYES ONLY had used this location for its pre-title sequence. The year after BIGGLES, FULL METAL JACKET also made considerable use of the Gas Works location for its Vietnam scenes.
The film’s score was by Stanislas Syrewicz, billed simply as “Stanislas” in the film. MCA released a song and score LP in Great Britain and Germany, but not in the U.S. Syrewicz’ most well-known score had been for the previous year’s Michael Caine thriller THE HOLCROFT COVENANT. He composed two songs for BIGGLES, including the anthem “Do You Want To be a Hero,” seen here in this music video as sung by Jon Anderson, who also supplied the lyrics:
BIGGLES was released in Britain on 30 May 1986. Variety took a liking to the “stylish romp,” found the acting “uniformly lively,” and declared that “technically, [the] pic is top notch, especially aerial sequences using vintage biplanes.” But perhaps inadvertently stumbling upon the film’s ultimate problem, Variety felt that the film “has all the makings of a solid draw in countries where older audiences are familiar with the fictional hero.” It was perhaps because the film could not bridge the gap between the older audiences who were familiar with the books and the younger audiences who the film needed to attract that it was poorly received by other critics and audiences in general. In London’s Time Out magazine, critic Anne Billson shouted that the film contained “Sci-fi! Special Effects! Disco dogfights! Americans!” and proclaimed the result to be “Biggles! Boggles! Buggles! Bunkum!”
It wasn’t until a year and a half later that the film was picked up for U.S. release by a tiny distributor called New Century Vista Film Company, which opened the PG-rated film on 29 January 1988. The distributor re-titled the film BIGGLES: ADVENTURES IN TIME, in deference to American audiences who were unfamiliar with the Biggles character and literary history. It was fruitless. The film grossed a paltry $112,000 in U.S. theaters.
Looking at the film through modern eyes, reviewers are mixed on BIGGLES. Leonard Maltin gives the film two stars and terms it “curious” and “occasionally entertaining.” Steven H. Scheuer, in his book Movies on TV and Videocassette gives the film one and a half stars and calls it a “flat , unimaginative fantasy” that is “lifeless and mechanical, especially for American audiences.” On the other hand, the Blockbuster Guide to Movies and Videos awards the film 4 stars out of 5, finding that the “novel use of the time travel device holds up, often providing humor with its action.” Even so, Blockbuster notes that “Anglophiles may enjoy it most.” Perhaps the The Encyclopedia of Science Fiction Movies best sums up the consensus by terming BIGGLES “watchable and somewhat engaging, but not memorable.”
Reportedly, the UK version of the film ran for 108 minutes, but it generally played at shorter lengths elsewhere, down to as low as 85 minutes.
In 1988, New World Video issued BIGGLES on VHS and New World/Image Entertainment issued the film on laserdisc. In 2004, Image released the film on DVD, but that release is now out-of-print and has asking prices of $50+. The DVD is listed as running 108 minutes, while the VHS and laserdisc are listed at 100 minutes.
An excellent looking widescreen version of the film was once on YouTube, but it ran only 93-minutes, somewhat shy of even the 100 minute laserdisc version.
Pom Oliver would produce a few more projects, mostly for British television. In 1997, she formed a part of the relay team which reached the North Pole. Then in 1999/2000 she was a part of the M&G Polar Team, making her one of the five who became the first British all-women's team to ski to the South Pole. She currently owns and runs Woodland Skills in West Sussex. Director John Hough would spend most of the rest of his career in British television. Neil Dickson continued to act in television, moving to Los Angeles in 1990 to star in a short-lived Universal series called “She-Wolf of London.” Over the years he has alternated acting jobs with considerable voice-over work in television cartoons and feature animation such as BEOWULF. He continues to work in L.A. today.
Alex Hyde-White has acted mainly in television in the years following BIGGLES, but he did have significant roles in the features PRETTY WOMAN, INDIANA JONES AND THE LAST CRUSADE, and CATCH ME IF YOU CAN. His most recent role was as Senator Lindsey Graham in the 2012 cable film on Sarah Palin, “Game Change.” Composer Stanislas Syrewicz would go on to score Ken Russell’s film THE LAIR OF THE WHITE WORM (1988) and the cable movie STALIN starring Robert Duvall (1992). New Century Vista Film Company stayed in business for 3 years, and released films such as 1987’s RUSSKIES and NIGHTFLYERS, which had its Doug Timm soundtrack LP released by Varese Sarabande.
Bob, you really do have a talent for encapsulating everything one ever needed to know about a movie and it's history inside of a few digestible chunks.
Just viewed this addition to my (small) Blu-ray library. The picture quality is excellent (it shows up a little too much of the faked scenes) and the sound is very good ... it does play in surround albeit described as only LPCM 2.0 Stereo.
But it's such good fun ... I'm bored to sleep with all of the modern CGI action films ... this film I enjoy!
Kino Lorber will add to their Blu-ray catalog director John Hough's film Biggles: Adventures in Time (1986), starring Alex Hyde-White, Peter Cushing, Marcus Gilbert, William Hootkins, and Neil Dickson. The release is expected to arrive on the market later this year.
Went ahead and ordered this from England. Got it for $13 total. That includes shipping. Completely worth it. I wish it was a digital remaster blah blah blah, but I am just glad to have it on the Blu format period. Doubt anyone but Shout Factory would remaster this film anyway.
