Those Magnificent Men in Their Flying Machines

Annotation for 70mm film seminar 2009 by Lenka Křesťanová

Those Magnificent Men with a handle, I mean, with a stick, actually, on the wings, as the film was also paraphrased, whether directly in the title of Menzel's comedy about the pioneers of Czech cinema or in a number of texts describing films about the lives of pilots, mostly war films, where the title of Annakin's film often serves as an obligatory crutch. Especially in the Anglo-Saxon environment, in various variations, this is a relatively common usage, even outside the film context. However, the director was originally afraid that the lyrics of the song that gave the film its name ("Those Magnificent Men on Flying Machines, heading up, padadampam, and right down, padadampam") would hasten the film's fate even before it was made. This was at a time when, in connection with the boom in the 70mm format, there was a trend to also shoot comedy films as blockbusters and thus bring viewers back from television screens to the cinema. Finally, it was the "Fabulous Men" who, on May 23, 1969, became the imaginary pioneers in screening 70mm films at the Krnov Mír cinema. This exceptionally successful comedy tells the story of 1910, when an air race takes place on the London-Paris route, sponsored by the publisher of the English newspaper Daily Post. The pilot who is the first to cross the English Channel with his machine will win ten thousand pounds, but above all, Britain is to confirm its position as the ruler of the airspace. The duel of enthusiasts from all over the world will result in a series of legendary escapades, gags, air chases and stunts. Among others, Jaromír Blažejovský points out in his review of Kusturica's Arizona Dream in Film review magazine a clear reference to the popular British retro comedy, and there is certainly no doubt that the pre-title sequence with the stylized 20th Century Fox theme song in Moulin Rouge is a reference to Buz Luhrman. The film will be screened from a newly produced copy with sound recorded in DTS format.