Main Cast: Burl Ives, Troy Donahue, Gert Fröbe, Hermione Gingold, Terry-Thomas, Lionel Jeffries
Release Year: 1967
Country: UK/US
Run Time: 95 minutes
Plot
Produced in the wake of the all-star "comedy spectacular" Those Magnificent Men in Their Flying Machines, Fantastic Flying Fools (originally titled Blast-Off, and also released as Those Fantastic Flying Fools) is based very loosely on a Jules Verne novel. A 19th century British newspaper offers a prize to the first scientist who is able to construct and launch a rocket to the moon. Contestants from all over the world compete for the prize, including Those Magnificent Men in Their Flying Machines cast members Terry-Thomas and Gert Frobe. Much of the slapstick is tiresome and derivative, but there is one cute closing gag involving villains Terry-Thomas and Lionel Jeffries and a Siberian chain gang. There's precious little of the spirit of Jules Verne in Fantastic Flying Fools, save for the woodcut illustrations which decorate the opening credits. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
Review
Although Those Fantastic Flying Fools is drawn from a Jules Verne story, it is very, very freely drawn, and as the title indicates, it really belongs in that bizarre 1960's subgenre that might be called "would-be wacky period comedies dealing with means of transportation" -- The Great Race, Those Magnificent Men in Their Flying Machines, etc. If one accepts it as belonging to the latter category rather than to the Verne category, Fools is moderately entertaining; if one considers it as a Verne adaptation, it's nothing short of ghastly. In either case, it features a rather disjointed screenplay that is nowhere near as amusing as it wants to be, but that does provide some decent laughs along the way: the opening sequence in particular is quite funny and raises one's hopes (soon dashed) that the entire picture will play so well. Don Sharp's direction is scattershot and doesn't hold the picture together, but he does manage a few clever moments and one gets the impression that he had a fondness for this little film. The cast includes such genre stalwarts as Terry-Thomas, Gert Frobe and Lionel Jeffries, as well as a nice turn by Burl Ives as a P.T. Barnum that is far more likeable than the real article. Troy Donahue is seriously dull, but there are nice turns from Hermione Gingold, Dennis Price and Joan Bennett, among others. ~ Craig Butler, All Movie Guide
Frank White - Art Director, Carl Toms - Costume Designer, Don Sharp - Director, Ann Chegwidden - Editor, Ron Goodwin - Composer (Music Score), John Scott - Composer (Music Score), Reginald Wyer - Cinematographer, Harry Alan Towers - Producer, Frank Graves - Set Designer, Les Bowie - Special Effects, Pat Moore - Special Effects, Peter Welbeck - Screenwriter, Dave Freeman - Screenwriter, Jules Verne - Short Story Author
