Those Magnificent Men in Their Flying Machines - Reception

Reception

Contemporary reviews judged the film as "good fun", and even the usually hyper-critical New York Times reviewer Bosley Crowther was effusive in that the film was a good-natured "large-canvas" comedy with costumes, authentic-looking props and good character acting. Variety had a similar reaction: "As fanciful and nostalgic a piece of clever picture-making as has hit the screen in recent years, this backward look into the pioneer days of aviation, when most planes were built with spit and bailing wire, is a warming entertainment experience." When the film turned up on television for the first time in 1969, TV Guide summed up most critical reviews: "Good, clean fun, with fast and furious action, good cinematography, crisp dialogue, wonderful planes, and a host of some of the funniest people in movies in the cast."

Running at over two hours' length, Those Magnificent Men In their Flying Machines... (most theatre marquees abbreviated the full title and it was eventually re-released with the shorter title) was treated as a major production, one of only three full-length 70 mm Todd-AO Fox releases in 1965 with an intermission and musical interlude spliced into the original screenings. Due to the Todd-AO process, Those Magnificent Men In their Flying Machines was considered an exclusive feature shown in deluxe Cinerama venues where customers needed reserved seats purchased ahead of time to see it. Considered one of the most popular exemplars of the '60s "epic comedy" genre, it was an immediate box-office success, far outgrossing the similar car-race comedy The Great Race and even eclipsing the perennial favorite It's a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World. Audience reaction both in first release and even today is nearly universal in assessing the film as one of the "classic" aviation films.