Neil Welch James Bigglesworth aka Biggles was the hero of a series of 98(!) adventure books written by Captain WE Johns. They followed his adventures as a pilot, starting with the Royal Flying Corps in World War I, and continuing with post-war adventures as a commercial pilot. There was a TV series in the 60s, but the character was never strongly represented on screen until this movie.Let me say at the start that Biggles himself, his much-loved supporting cast (Algy, Bertie and Ginger), the World War I setting and the flying are all perfectly satisfactorily delivered to the screen. Had that been all there was to it, I would have had no hesitation in reporting that this movie was a success.But then we hit the three major negatives. One is the half-*ssed time travel plot. Completely unnecessary and, frankly, not very good. Two, Alec Hyde-White as present-day protagonist Jim Ferguson has more body hair than charisma. And, three, the synthesiser soundtrack music is probably the worst film music ever. No, make that "definitely", not "probably" - synths just do not go with WWI dogfights.I also observe the roaring fire in Peter Cushing's secret headquarters within Tower Bridge, and I wonder where the smoke went since, to the best of my knowledge, there are no chimneys in Tower Bridge.

ShadeGrenade Cards on the table time - I have not read the 'Biggles' books by Captain W.E. Johns. I remember seeing them on sale in the children's book department of W.H. Smiths back in the 1970's, but never plucked up the courage to actually buy one. I was more into the 'Nick Carter - Killmaster' novels. I assumed the 'Biggles' books to be jingoistic relics from the days when England was alleged to have ruled the waves ( and skies ), the sort of stories Grandad read as a boy. But that was then. Around the end of the decade, a feature film was mooted, starring John Cleese in the title role. Though it would have been interesting seeing the star of one flying circus in yet another, it never happened. Dudley Moore's name next came up in connection with the project. Fine if they wanted to send up the character, but not for an allegedly straight adaptation. Appearing on Granada's 'Clapperboard' to talk about the Robert Powell version of 'The Thirty-Nine Steps' ( which he had adapted ), writer Michael Robson stated that he was currently working on a screenplay for 'Biggles'. As he said it, he looked faintly embarrassed.The problem in bringing 'Biggles' to the Silver Screen was that the character ( indeed the genre ) had been sent up rotten over the years by, amongst other things, 'Monty Python', 'Ripping Yarns', and Russ Abbot. Just put a comedian in a World War One flying suit ( with goggles ) give him a handlebar moustache, make him talk thus: "Wizard Prang! What larks! Shot down two Fokkers over the Channel. One did a belly flop over the teddy bear!" and the audience would be certain to die laughing.In 1986, a 'Biggles' movie finally appeared. The writers decided to bring in a sci-fi element in an effort to grab some of the 'Back To The Future' audience. It starts in the then-present day with Jim Ferguson, an ad man based in New York, who is being stalked by a mysterious Englishman, Colonel Raymond, played by the great Peter Cushing ( in what turned out to be his last role ).Ferguson keeps jumping back in time for no apparent reason, to 1917, where he meets flying ace James Bigglesworth, or 'Biggles' for short. Biggles has discovered that the Germans have invented a new sonic device capable of mass destruction.So back and forth goes poor old Jim. One minute he's in N.Y. extolling the virtues of T.V. dinners, the next up to his neck in blood and mud in W.W.1 France, working alongside Biggles, who apparently is his 'time twin'. In one amusing scene, Jim dresses as a W.W.1 soldier and waits in his hotel room to be blasted back to Biggles' side, but it never happens. A cleaner finds him the next morning and laughs at him.Neil Dickson is not on screen enough of the time to warrant his top billing, which is a pity as he's terrific in the role of 'Biggles'. Most of the film is devoted to Alex Hyde-White ( son of Wilfrid ) as 'Jim'. He's okay, but I wish that the focus of the story was more on the title character. The action scenes, while not as good as those of say 'Raiders Of The Lost Ark', are nevertheless exciting. One particularly good moment has a helicopter containing Biggles and Jim winding up in 1917, where it comes in handy against the Germans. There's also a very emotional scene in 1986 where elderly Colonel Raymond is reunited with Biggles, the latter not having aged a day since they last met. Overall this is an enjoyable romp, but it is a shame that its makers did not have the confidence to make this a real 'Biggles' movie, instead of trying to shoehorn him into a daft sci-fi story. Ironically, the 1917 scenes have dated far less badly than the 1980's stuff. The rock soundtrack was another mistake.The director was John Hough, whose other credits include 'The Legend Of Hell House' and the Hammer movie 'Twins Of Evil', as well as episodes of 'The Avengers' television series. 'Biggles' was dumped on by critics and ignored by the public when it came out, but now seems quite charming. Interestingly, around the time of its release, I spotted a young boy coming out of a library with a heavy looking book - an omnibus edition of 'Biggles'. If the film, for all its faults, inspired someone to seek out and read the original stories then it could not have been a waste of time after all. I may give them a go myself one day.

MARIO GAUCI This had been another childhood viewing; actually, I had owned the computer game it spawned (of which an advert is included among the surprisingly extensive bonus features here – more on this later).The film is an old-fashioned adventure (based on a character, a British air ace of WWI, created by Capt. W.E. Johns) but given modern trappings – by way of the time travel concept (just then brought back into fashion via BACK TO THE FUTURE [1985]), a young American ad executive is transported into the thick of battle and has to aid his so-called "Time Twin", Biggles, in destroying the German forces' secret weapon! While this element may not have been necessary in rendering the war exploits exciting, I guess it was considered safer (especially for American audiences to whom the name Biggles wouldn't mean much) – then again, this makes for some amusing misunderstandings (involving the American's bewildered colleagues or him being chased by police) to go along with the dogfights (incidentally, Biggles has three inseparable buddies and a Von Richtofen-like nemesis); at one point, it's Biggles (played by Neil Dickson, by the way) who's thrown into our times and then takes a modern helicopter back to 1917! Still, the biggest joy of the film is watching Peter Cushing's graceful farewell performance as Biggles' aged superior (not so dignified was his cameo appearance during the accompanying music video for the obligatory theme song, "Do You Want To Be A Hero?"). With this in mind, the film's ill-advised soundtrack consists of cheesy electro-pop rhythms – which, more than anything, betray this as a product of the 1980s! Apart from the expected fillers, the extras contained a number of vintage 'documents' – from an interesting 20-minute featurette (in which Dickson, somewhat bafflingly, states that the film should appeal to fans of such effects-laden blockbusters as GHOSTBUSTERS [1984] and GREMLINS [1984]) to excerpts from TV programs discussing/advertising BIGGLES (to which was added the subtitle "Adventures In Time" for the U.S.) at the time of its release.

Jonathon Dabell Biggles was originally a WW1 pilot created by Captain W.E Johns in a series of dashing adventure novels. I'm not a purist and I don't mind new twists on old material, but this sci-fi/time-travel slant on the old stories strains the patience beyond belief. It's such a contrived, feeble concept - badly scripted, badly directed and badly acted - that only the most easily satisfied of viewers will enjoy it. You know you're in trouble from the moment the film's cheesy disco-style theme tune, "Do You Want To Be A Hero", kicks in during the opening credits. Young New Yorker James Ferguson (Alex Hyde-White) arrives home at his apartment only to be confronted by a mysterious old Englishman named Colonel Raymond (Peter Cushing). Moments later, there's a mysterious flash of lightning and Ferguson finds himself whisked back in time to a WW1 battlefield, just in time to save the life of ace pilot Biggles (Neil Dickson). It turns out that Ferguson and Biggles are "time twins" and that whenever one is in grave danger, the other will come zapping through time to the rescue. The wittiest moment in the film comes during the final credits, when a monicker comes up on screen reading: "Filmed on location in New York - London - and the Western Front 1917". Other than that, this is a witless affair indeed. It's quite sad to see the legendary Cushing slumming in such a weakly written cameo role. Some of the action sequences set during WW1 rise to the giddy heights of "mediocre", but the 1980s sequences are hopelessly tacky, and the twist ending in which our irritating hero is zapped back to a cave full of cannibal tribesmen is just plain awful. On the whole, Biggles is a monumental example of how low a point entertainment sank to during the era of cinematic junk that was the '80s.