Q Planes - 1939

Technically correct spy feature.
1939 was a good year for movies. It was at the end of this year that England declared war on Germany so no one could have predicted the outcome. You can get a feel for the time and events by watching Mrs. Miniver (1942). Laurence Olivier is the head pilot for an aeroplane test firm. Planes are missing from the test of a new turbocharger. The use of Marconi's ray in the movie have shades of EMP (electromagnetic pulse) and looks like a particle beam generator that we are perfecting today for our anti ballistic missile defenses system.

Aside from being a great spy movie there is a love interest (Valerie Hobson) that does not overwhelm the story. And we see the mysterious workings of the intelligence service (Ralph Richardson).

A favorite movie, terrible DVD transfer
"Q Planes" is one of my pet movies, so I was very excited to see it available on DVD at last. When it arrived I was a bit apprehensive, though, because the packaging looked rather amateurish. Watching the DVD, my apprehension proved to be justified, as the transfer is of very poor quality, with constant pixilation, slowing and pausing of the image, jumping ahead to later chapters, and even stopping altogether when one of the cartoons on the same DVD begins playing. It appears to be a DVD transfer of a video tape of a decent enough print, but it's unplayable--and given the amateurish packaging, I suspect it's not just my copy. Very disappointing.

Laurence Olivier as Action Hero!
Imagine Laurence Olivier as an action hero. That's what you see in the last reel of this WW2 movie. Olivier's character McVane is captured by Nazis (it's implied they're Nazis, the enemy is never identified).He's a regular Rambo.Q-Planes is a mystery,comedy,awr romance, which is a lot for 1 movie to try to accomplish.Using a special ray, British test planes are being brought down and captured by the enemy, crew and all.Everyone is suspected of being a spy, including an inquisitive news reporter posing as a canteen counter girl.Meanwhile Ralph Richardson is investigating the mystery of the missing planes and butts heads with the plane's manufacturer whom is desparate to avoid scandal.Anyway it all comes together nicely in this rather rare film.

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