British Comedy Guide

Q Planes (1939)

Really enjoyed this comedy spy romp, played tongue in cheek by Ralph Richardson (I note that apparently, Patrick McNee based his Avengers character on this) and a suave pilot/hero in the form of Laurence Olivier, with love interest from Valerie Hobson. No one else of note, apart from Ronald Adam in a small part.

So, secret agents are stealing aeroplanes mid flight (!) using a special ray gun kept on an innocent looking freighter that sails around the high seas picking off the latest in aviation. Lot of bi-planes in this, which is surprising when you think the Spitfire for example wasn't that far in the future.

Yes, good film.

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