BIGGLES

UK, 1986, 85 minutes, Colour.
Neil Dickson, Alex Hyde White, Peter Cushing.
Directed by John Hough.

Biggles is a surprisingly enjoyable action film, It uses the characters from Captain W. E. Johns' famous books of the '40s and '50s (read by most boys in the Commonwealth!).

However, Captain W.E..Johns' characters would not be credible as subjects for a modern film so the filmmakers wisely have used a back-to-the-future time travel device. The action focuses on New York in the mid-80s where the hero time travels back to 1917 and the Western Front, a twin with Biggles, saving him from dangers.

Biggles also has the opportunity to come, in wonderment, to the mid-'80s. The film offers First World War action, aerial fighting, the material familiar from World War One films as well as Boys' Own adventure action with secret weapons. The delight is in the '80s man experiencing the past and the travelling to the present from the past. A cast of unknowns does well in the central roles. Peter Cushing appears to give some authority as the World War One Commander - who in fact would have had to be about 100 -though Cushing does well, of course, in the role.

There is romance, action - and derring-do done with tongue in cheek. The film achieves what it set out to do. Direction is by John Hough (Twins of Dracula, the Disney films Escape from Witch Mountain, Watcher in the Woods and actioners like Dirty Mary, Crazy Larry and Brass Target).

1. Enjoyable action action adventure with the touch of comedy? Bridging the generations for entertainment?

2. Captain W. E. Johns and the style of his novels? For their tine? For the '80s? The device of time travel to use the Biggles characters? (Doing what readers do to identify with the stories - go back in time.) The consequent two styles and their intermingling? The blend of the serious and the humorous? Spirited entertainment?

3. The '80s in New York and London? The world of media, PR? London and Tower Bridge, hotels, police and helicopters? The contemporary thriller atmosphere?

4. 1917 and the Western Front, Europe, the trenches, convents, and hospitals, military camps, the fights in the air? Nostalgia? Musical score to combine both?

5. The enjoyment of the time travel and the two worlds: special effects, the transition and the editing, the suddenness of moving from one time period to another; the humorous devices? James leaving his apartment and falling back at home. his experience at the party, landing wearing a towel on the convent table, returning to his hotel dressed as a nun, moving in and out of the battles, Debbie going into the past, Boggles going into the future, the helicopter winning the battle in World War One? The postscript humour of James in New Guinea to rescue, Boggles and Co?

6. The Indiana Jones atmosphere? Gung-ho action, humour, pace, stunts, score.

7. James in New York, friendship with Debbie, his work, the commercial and glossy side, his associates? The encounter with the Major and his visit? The experience of the time travel and his puzzle? The return to 1917? The experience at the party? Going to London, the visit to, Tower Bridge? The importance of the mission in 1917 and helping Boggles, his going back? Debbie and the fat friend coming to London, the hotel, the chase, Debbie going back into the past? Helping Boggles, sharing in his derring-do? The achievement of the mission? The dangers? The end? James as a good sport?

8. Debbie and her love for James, her work, the puzzle, the visit to London, discovering him in the nun's habit, going back to 1917 and the front line in her fur, the adventures, meeting Biggles and Co, the machine, its testing, hiding underground, chased, to be executed? The happy ending with the wedding?

9. The fat friend and his crassness in advertising, eating, his plan backfiring on him in London, at the wedding?

10. Peter Cushing and his style as the military Commander? Sinister presence in the U.S.? Incongruous in the PR office?, London, the Tower Bridge, the explanations, developing the photos, h-is story about the past, his excitement (subdued) with Biggles visiting him in the '80s? The old school type?

11. Biggles as hero: stiff upper lip, 'chaps' etc? British - style, flying ace, his being saved by James, going to take the photo of the secret weapon? The conflict with von Stalein? The hospital, the love for Marie, the tender moments? The capture, the escape, firing squads, German soldiers, the exploding weapon? Biggles' visit to the 1980s, the encounter with the Major? Puzzle, the Dunk group, the helicopter, the ropes and the action sequences? The finale and his flying the helicopter? Marie's death - coming between the Germans and himself? In trouble in New Guinea? Serious, comic, mock-heroics, old style?

12. Bertie, Ginger and his military friends? Biggles' style?

13. Von Stalein as the ace German pilot, the parallel with the Red Baron, hostility towards Biggles, the combat sequences? His defeat?

14. The film enjoying its incongruities? '80s talk in 1917: nuked, the helicopters etc.? The photos and time?, James and his towel, the nun's habit? The helicopter and the punks?

15. A pleasing blend of nostalgia, fantasy and heroics?