Q Planes - Part 1 (Laurence Olivier, Ralph Richardson - Movie)

[doctornoooo]

For me THE most overated movie actor of them all was Olivier: overacter I should say: you just always saw the wheels turning: only in Marathon Man and The Entertainer was he good, and in both of them truly great. Otherwise I just saw this churning vapidity at work. Just I, of course, for those that like and love him, more power to you. Look at Richardson here, how much better he is than ole Larry.

[11october1893]

@doctornoooo As someone who was lucky enough to see Olivier acting on-stage one thing I can assure you is that Olivier was not overrated – in fact it’s because of people like you he’s underrated today. Olivier was one of the greatest actors Britain has ever produced. I would love to know in which films you think he overacts – presumably you’ve watched Clash of the Titans or The Jazz Singer and thought that that’s all there is to Olivier.

[11october1893]

@doctornoooo He may not have been at times been as effective a film actor as others but there are certainly enough film performances which display his enormous talent like Carrie (1952), Marathon Man, Sleuth, The Entertainer, Wuthering Heights, Rebecca, Hamlet, Bunny Lake is Missing, Brideshead Revisited etc.

[doctornoooo]

For me THE most overated movie actor of them all was Olivier: overacter I should say: you just always saw the wheels turning:  only in Marathon Man and The Entertainer was he good, and in both of them truly great. Otherwise I just saw this churning vapidily at work. Just I, of course, for those that like and love him, more power to you. Look at Richardson here, how much better he is than ole Larry.

[n8nette]

The Director Arthur B Woods was killed during WW2 at the age of 39 when his plane collided with a Jan Bugge of the Norwegian air force in a field where I live. Until today I did not know he had made films. RIP

[hatgirl09]

Only Ralph Richardson makes this film worth watching - but to an extent that justifies all the weaknesses of this film. *sigh*

[vawlkee]

A truly great film!

I once had a chance to chat with Partick Macnee - John Steed of  "The Avengers" and he freely admitted that his character in the series "The Avengers" was loosely based on Ralph Richardson's character in this film. Pretty obvious to me!

The whole film is done a-la "The Avengers" - in 1938.

Valerie Hobson, while not dressed in leather makes a good facsimile of Emma Peel and Richardson's news reporter sister.

A wonderful combo of cold war, James Bond and Buck Rogers!

[morricone1900]

I've loved this film for years and used ot have it on VHS, but have had no copy of it for a long time now. Huge thanks to you for uploading it. For me it's the most rewarding on-screen collaboration between Richardson and Olivier, with of course Richardson stealing the show.

A delight, a little classic, and without question my favorite Tim Whelan picture. Thanks so much for posting it here!

[chrisart7]

This really isn't a great film---too much talk and not enough action, and not enough exciting camera work---but nonetheless the scenes with Ralph Richardson are absolutely outstanding. Great support from Laurence Olivier and Valerie Hobson as well. It wouldn't have taken much more to make this a classic, but it falls short. Yes, one can see the germ of many a James Bond story in this one, including Ian Fleming (unbilled) as an airman!