Q Planes (1939)
Extremely entertaining pre-war thriller with a wicked streak of humour about test flights for new bomber planes which inexplicably go missing whilst out over the sea. Laurence Olivier and Valerie Hobson star as the test pilot and reporter attempting to figure out whats happening, all the while Ralph Richardson's Major Hammond seems one step ahead of everyone with his wild ideas about a strange device which grounds planes.
Despite the obvious talents of Olivier, Ralph Richardson steals the film from under him. His ever so slightly mad Major owns each and every scene, his quick witted, eccentric repertoire adds a lot of humour to potentially po-faced pre-war proceedings as well as great energy. The film seems to have a decent budget and it shows with plenty of flying scenes as well as ocean going sequences. Added to this there's a lengthy gun battle aboard a German frigate towards the end.
I really enjoyed Q Planes. Highly recommended.
Network's dvd looks terrific.
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