Q Planes
Tags: murder

Plot synopsis:
In September 1938, advanced British aircraft prototypes carrying experimental and secret equipment are vanishing with their crews on test flights. No one can fathom why, not even spymaster Major Hammond (Ralph Richardson) or his sister Kay (Valerie Hobson), a newspaper reporter, who is working undercover in the works canteen used by the crews at the Barrett & Ward Aircraft Company.
At first Major Hammond is seen as an outsider at the aircraft factory, especially by Mr. Barrett, the owner (George Merritt), who is working under a government contract but he soon finds a friend in a star pilot, Tony McVane (Laurence Olivier) who helps him try to solve the case. Hammond becomes convinced that Jenkins (George Curzon), the company secretary at the factory, is a foreign agent and mole but Jenkins is killed by unseen gunmen before he can give up the names of his contacts.
McVane returns to the aircraft factory, determined to make the next test flight. His aircraft, like the others, is brought down by a powerful ray beamed from the S.S. Viking, a mysterious salvage ship manned by a foreign crew. Although the nationality of the crew and agents aboard the Viking is only implied, it was understood by audiences: "All of the crew speak with German accents and little doubt is left who the villains are," wrote Variety.
Along with his aircraft, McVane and his flight crew are taken hostage on the ship, where he discovers many other missing airmen have suffered the same fate. Gathering up weapons, McVane leads the British survivors in an attempt to take control of the ship. Major Hammond learns the truth and directs a Royal Navy ship (HMS Echo) to come to their rescue. Kay and McVane form a relationship and Hammond learns, to his chagrin, that his long-time lady friend, whose plans with him are repeatedly being cancelled as the action escalates, has married someone else.

Review: A secret British aviation project is being disrupted by a foreign power, until an effete but supremely confident intelligence agent, Charles Hammond, is assigned the case.
What follows is a tense espionage thriller that refuses to take itself seriously.
Yet strangely, this odd mixture of screwball comedy and political potboiler actually works.
"Q Planes" (released in America as "Clouds Over Europe") was directed by an American, Tim Whelan, who establishes a near-anarchic tone throughout.
Here, he satirizes what other late-1930's filmmakers may have considered too serious a subject to examine lightly: a potentially disastrous affair for King and country, in which experimental aircraft are being "electronically" hijacked right out of the sky and docked within the confines of a large ship from a hostile nation.
(The culprits' nationality is never identified, but as soon as they speak their lines in that thick Teutonic accent, we can just about guess their origin.) The dialogue, much of it written and improvised by the actors themselves, is crackling, smart; and the action, while wildly improbable and clumsily staged, is as unreal and stylized as the characters.
As portrayed by Ralph Richardson, he boasts to anyone who will listen of his own considerable skills as a solver of crimes, a solver of crossword puzzles, and a solver of lovers' squabbles.
Richardson plays him as an eccentric of many shades and interests – horse-racing addict, amateur master chef, verbal wit extraordinaire, constant belittler of his "gentleman's gentleman" (Gus McNaughton), and a man whose obsession with the intrigue of his case causes him to repeatedly ignore his beloved Daphne (Sandra Storme), the single character who bests Hammond in the film's fittingly ironic conclusion.
Hammond is aided on the case by his intrepid sister-reporter, Kay (Valerie Hobson), and a temperamental test-pilot, Tony McVane (Laurence Olivier), whom Kay picks up while snooping around an aircraft factory.
Kay's character may have been intended as a caricature of the "liberated" working English suffragette.
But she holds her own when competing with her two male cohorts - McVane, who hates reporters and let's rip whenever he hears mention of Kay's profession, and Hammond, the charismatic, ardent egoist-as-detective.
"I'm right - and the whole world is wrong!" Naturally, Hammond's irregular method of sleuthing bears out his claim – as if any enemy country could measure up in a contest against single representatives of MI-5, Fleet Street, and the RAF..
The young Oliver and Richardson -- especially Richardson -- are obviously having a ball in this mix of spies, high adventure, and tongue in cheek comedy According to Michael Powell, the two stars tore up the script, and devised their own scenes, and the pleasure they have in sending up the material, and in each other's work, shines through.
(In fact, once or twice, Oliver seems to be trying not to crack up at Richardson's antics.) Patrick Macnee says he based The Avengers' John Steed on Richardson's character in this film, and that, too, shows.
Thrills, spills,secret rays,  gags and eccentric British characters, and villains from a country suspiciously reminiscent of Germany, but not named in 1938..
Some 20 years before Ian Fleming started writing about these things, it's nice to know that the British Secret Service was on the job and apprehending spies and saboteurs even if they're a bit slow to catch on at times.
With a little inside help from the air plant, some Teutonic looking gentleman have perfected a ray that immobilizes airships and brings them down real nice on the ocean.
It's of concern to test pilot Laurence Olivier, to British agent Ralph Richardson, and to news reporter Valerie Hobson.Hobson and Richardson are brother and sister.
As you can imagine his job involves secrecy and undercover work and Hobson's from the Lois Lane school of journalism.
She also falls for Olivier while she's undercover working as a waitress at a coffee shop near the plane factory.Q Planes must have been seen as wildly fantastic by the 1939 audience, but two generations who saw Sean Connery and Roger Moore engage in even wilder derring-do than is shown in this film, would regard Q Planes as all in a day's work.
Olivier and Hobson are fine, but Richardson steals the film whenever he's on screen.
Q Planes will never be ranked as in the top 10 of any of these players, but it's a nice breezy espionage comedy/drama made a lot better by some of the greatest thespian talent in the English speaking world of the last century..
Classic British wartime romp.
When newly developed planes being disappearing during testing with no trace a police Inspector and a test pilot begin to look into the possibility of espionage within the company.Wartime dramas are very much of a standard affair  feel good affairs where we beat the Germans.
This is very much one of those  the story is very flimsy and unlikely but it manages to have plenty to commend it.
The story is carry by the comedy and the characters that make you overlook the sheer unlikely way in which the planes vanish.
The story progresses to the inevitable shootout between the Brits and the Germans but on the way there's plenty to enjoy.The film is mainly saved by a wonderful performance by Ralph Richardson as the inspector  he is funny from the first scene and his character is wonderfully charming and forgetful.
Olivier is also good, but it's not his best!
The supporting cast of sassy women and foolish businessmen also add to the mix to make for an enjoyable romp.Overall this isn't a classic but the comedy and a superb Richardson makes this better than the sum of it's parts..
It's all Olivier and Richardson.
The two stage actors rattle off the rapid-fire dialogue like two Spitfires in a dogfight.
Rollicking good fun.
Everyone involved with this brisk comedy/thriller seems to be enjoying themselves immensely.
It's a ripping yarn about spies, disappearing planes and a secret ray gun, lit up by Olivier and Richardson, with lots of cheerful gags along the way.
It's dated, of course, but if you can leave that aside it's still good fun..
Some very "James Bond" elements, 25 years earlier.
Experimental craft are disappearing.
Because villain uses a ray to disable the craft, then captures craft and crew intact.
There must be half a dozen Bond films with this plot.
The villian's henchmen are also very much in the Bond mold - running all over the ship like so many ants in an ant colony.
Only difference is that these henchmen are more realistic; they are harder to kill, and are better shots..
Beneath the British B-picture exterior lies a hidden gem of an espionage thriller.
Q PLANES is briskly paced and delightfully entertaining, balancing exciting spy intrigue with lighthearted character moments.
The villains' dastardly scheme foreshadows James Bond villainy to come, and one can almost hear the John Barry music swell up during certain scenes.The film is anchored by Ralph Richardson in a droll performance as a slightly Holmesian secret service man: undeniably brilliant, if a tad eccentric and prone to absent-mindedness.
The triumvirate of stars is completed by Laurence Olivier as a pilot (and all-around good guy) and Valerie Hobson, who we learn is a newspaper reporter out looking for a scoop (in the grand tradition of such characters).Top-secret experimental planes are disappearing under mysterious circumstances and Richardson is doing everything he can to get to the bottom of it.
The main cast of Richardson, Olivier, and Hobson are great together and the movie manages to blend real comedy with real excitement.
This little-known British thriller is a real winner.
It's lots of fun and a wonderful surprise.
Very pleasant classic, never mind the little perforations..
A 'Korda Collection' classic film and I shan't part with my videocassette - 'Tiger' comic script and stilted dialogue notwithstanding.
Doesn't even matter that McVane appears to take off in a different airplane to that which is captured and seen in flight.
Only trouble with Valerie Hobson is she retired too early..
Fun. You really can't go wrong with Ralph Richardson in a cast, and it holds true with "Clouds Over Europe," a 1939 film that also stars Laurence Olivier and Valerie Hobson.
It's pre-WW II, and Richardson plays a secret service man in England who is convinced that a series of missing planes from diverse places is no accident.
He's convinced the planes are being sabotaged, but by whom, and why?
Olivier plays one of the pilots, and he's funny as well as handsome.
Valerie Hobson is a reporter in an adversarial relationship with Olivier.
She turns out to be related to someone else in the film.But it's Richardson who steals the show with his eccentric portrayal of Major Charles Hammond, a man who always forgets his umbrella and returns for it.
He helps to give this affair a lightheartedness that makes it enjoyable.Recommended for its very good British cast..
Essential Comedy.
As a confirmed Ralph Richardson fan, I can say that this is one of his best performances.
I watch it happily avery several years or so and always come away delightfully entertained..
I've probably seen it ten times and I always laugh at the same bits..
instead it is a fun little espionage piece with a witty script with its tongue placed firmly in its cheek.
Set during the tense years preceding the outbreak of WWII, the Brits are losing experimental aircraft (the titular Q Planes) in mysterious circumstances, and Ralph Richardson's character is head of a government agency out to discover whats really going on, whilst Valerie Hobson is seemingly a spy for a foreign power, trying none-too-subtly to extract information from a bemused, cynical test pilot played by Laurence Olivier just before he headed off to bigger things.The tone of the film is set from the initial scene, which opens with a composed, but confused Richardson trying to work out what he's doing in a trashed room, why he's surrounded by police, and what the heck his own name is.Aside from a fun plot & great cast, there are some neat period aircraft up for viewing, for those with an interest in such things.
Some other interesting tidbits that Wikipedia turned up are that airfield shots in the film were filmed at Brooklands (an early center of aviation & motor racing) and that the film was apparently based off actual events where the British government believed that the Germans were behind the downing of an experimental plane over the English Channel, so they helped fund this movie to let the Germans know that they were on to them, without any messy diplomatic unpleasantness being needed..
Produced before WW-II, this is a sort of British equivalent of the Saturday-matinée thrillers they used to produce in the U.S. by the hundreds in those days.
However, this particular example sports A-List British stars Lawrence Olivier, Ralph Richardson and Valerie Hobson.
The story involves a nefarious plot by foreign agents to steal the newest British airplanes, and the efforts of an eccentric intelligence agent, a female reporter and a heroic pilot to thwart them.
It's strictly comic-book stuff but these three pros, and particularly Ralph Richardson, lift the material up above the level of mediocrity.This was early in Olivier's career, before he made "Withering Heights", the movie on which he admittedly learned how to act in movies.
Olivier was still clearly not entirely at home in front of the camera.On the other hand, Valerie Hobson was a major British film star and was at the peak of her relatively short career at the time this movie was produced.
However, this is clearly Richardson's movie.
He is delightfully hilarious as an eccentric British Intelligence agent, and milks every scene he is in for all it is worth.
When Richardson and Olivier share the same scene Olivier doesn't stand a chance.
One of my all-time favorite actors, Ralph Richardson was one of those versatile British actors who seemingly could turn his hand to everything, from Shakespearean tragedy to low comedy, with equal grace.
Small wonder that, when Terry Gilliam had to cast an actor to play the role of "The Supreme Being" in "Time Bandits", he chose Ralph Richardson.
After all, if there is a God, doesn't it stand to reason that He would have to be something like Ralph Richardson?If you don't mind checking your mind at the door this is the perfect movie with which to sit back and enjoy some vintage fun..
Good.....could have been better..
"Clouds Over Europe" (also known as "Q Planes") is a film that has been mischaracterized by some as a 'wartime' picture, though it actually came out several months before WWII began.
Additionally, although the baddies in the film COULD have been Germans, no mention of their nationality is given and most have very British accents.Several experimental planes have been lost around the world.
In each case, no trace of the planes ever turned up and the Major (Ralph Richardson) is convinced someone is behind this.
Good thing that a hot-shot pilot (Laurence Olivier) is out to help the Major.In some ways, it's a very good film.
I love some of the main characters-- particularly the Major .
When it comes to the characters, this is the big strength of the movie.
The story idea also is quite nice.
What is NOT so nice is how easily the baddies are beaten at the end of the film.
Why would they allow the planes' crews to live and have ANY opportunity to fight back?!
With a better handled ending, it easily could have scored an 8 or 9..
No wonder that this picture anticipates Bond by 25 years, it was co written by Jack Whittingham, who was one of the principle architects of the movie version of James Bond.
Whittingham shares a credit on the film, and the novel, Thunderball, which was originally intended to be the first James Bond picture.
More than a few of the classic Bond tropes are contained in the story--it actually points to Dr No (bringing down planes electronically) and to so many of the Bond stories that have huge battles at the end, with the hero freeing, and/or working alongside troops of one kind or another..
Hobson's Choice.
The great Ralph Richardson not only walks away with this film but makes Laurence Olivier look as wooden as Richard Todd, John Gregson, Laurence Harvey and Richard Pasco combined.
Both primarily actors in the theatre they had appeared in something like ten or twelve movies apiece (including The Divorce Of Lady X in which they both played) but whilst Richardson is laid-back and thoroughly at home before the camera Olivier is self-conscious in the extreme and about as believable as a pilot as Stan Laurel would be as a thoracic surgeon.
It's all very Boy's Own Paper with a fair quota of sloppiness in the writing - no explanation of why Richardson is sleeping in a building that is being raided by police and nothing more said of the raid, for example, plus George Merrit's character - supposedly a hard-headed businessman who has built up an airplane factory yet is portrayed as a buffoon.
All this is forgiven whenever Richardson is on screen which, luckily for us - and tough for Olivier - is virtually throughout the running time..
Comedy Thriller..
It's 1938 and Britain is gearing up for war by testing secret devices in their airplanes.
Unfortunately, the airplanes are disappearing over the sea once airborne.
Ralph Richardson, an intelligence officer, and Lawrence Olivier, a pilot, come independently to the same conclusion.
-- namely that there's a spy in their midst and -- SURPRISE!
-- there is a spy in their midst.
The spy makes an error and is bumped off by his irate colleagues, just like all the other enemy spies who make mistakes in other movies.There are several familiar names in the cast, including Richardson and Olivier, who at first play rivals.
They rush through their lines the way they rush through the rooms, flipping off some neat wisecracks along the way.Valerie Hobson has the part of Richardson's nosy journalist sister, which means that Olivier gets the girl.
Here she poses as a counter waitress in order to get stories for her paper and she trades unchaste and speedy quips with the best of them.
It has to do with some kind of ray invented by Marconi that disables airplanes in flight at a distance, bring them down into the hands of "those fellows." If the production values weren't as high as they are, if the performances weren't so professional, and if the wit were lower, it could be a Charlie Chan movies, or Mr. Wong, or Fu Manchu.
As it is, it's rather fun..
The film, though a good one, seems to have a rushed up ending to draw to the climax as soon as possible.
I guess that is called film budgeting.Ralph Richardson, in a way, is comedic here and that was something different for the veteran screen star.
As the head of the bureau, he is often right exactly where the action is, while he has to constantly disappoint a female dinner date who can't get to tell him something.The film involves planes with special secretive equipment mysteriously disappearing throughout the world as the war clouds in 1939 are gathering.
Laurence Olivier is one of the pilots and he makes sure that when one plane is downed, it doesn't have the necessary material leading the spy ring involved to kill the British employee who was in cahoots with them and thus opening a Pandora's box.Valerie Hobson is a waitress whose shifty eyes and questioning reveals that she is much more than a waitress- a newspaper reporter itching to get information on exactly what is going on.
Coincidentally, she is the sister of the Richardson character and soon the love interest of Olivier.Would have rated this even higher had it not been for the rather quick ending to a sordid affair.