Biggles (film)

1986 film directed by John Hough

Biggles is a 1986 British science fiction adventure film directed by John Hough (later released in 1988 in the United States as Biggles: Adventures in Time). The plot involves time travel between the 1980s and World War I, involving the character, Biggles (from the series of novels by W. E. Johns). The film stars Neil Dickson, Alex Hyde White, and Peter Cushing in his final feature film role.

Catering salesman Jim Ferguson (Alex Hyde White), living in present day New York City, is involuntarily transported to 1917, where he saves the life of dashing Royal Flying Corps pilot James "Biggles" Bigglesworth (Neil Dickson) after he is shot down on a photo recon mission. Before he can work out what has happened, Jim is zapped back to the 1980s. He is visited by Biggles' former commanding officer, William Raymond (Peter Cushing), who is now an Air Commodore living in the Tower Bridge in London. Raymond tells him about his theory that Ferguson and Biggles are "time twins", spontaneously transported through time when the other is in mortal danger. Together, Ferguson and Biggles fight across time and against the odds to stop the Germans by destroying a revolutionary "sound weapon" with a Metropolitan Police helicopter that was stolen by Biggles while they were escaping a SWAT team in 1986 London.

As early as 1968, and inspired by the success of films such as The Blue Max, it was planned to make a film based on W. E. Johns' books entitled Biggles Sweeps The Skies scripted by Chris Bryant to be filmed in Algeria and financed by Universal Pictures. Pre production work was completed, including building replica period aircraft. James Fox was tapped to play Biggles and even appeared in promotional material. However, the film was cancelled, due to budgetary and location problems. Peter James bought the rights to the Biggles stories in 1976, but the film remained in development hell for several years. The film was produced by Kent Walwin's Yellowbill Films. Walwin had plans to make a series of Biggles adventures and other works, stating:

We want to do not only another 'Biggles', but other films by buying rights in a whole slew of books, we foresaw the fact that we might be able to go on. We were looking for something with the quality of Bond, not just aesthetically in terms of what we could create, but financially. The subject lends itself to a mini series – and there is almost certainly that somewhere down the line. And we could do another feature. What we are saying is that 'Biggles' is our Bond. In December 1979, Dudley Moore, who had just become a star with 10, said he would make the film in Europe after he finished Arthur. In October 1980, Disney announced they would make Biggles as a co production with producer Robert Stigwood. In April 1981, a newspaper report said that the movie would be produced by Kent Walwin of Yellowbill Productions, Jack Briley had written the script, Moore would star as Biggles and they hoped for Oliver Reed to play von Stalhein. In February 1982, it was announced that Biggles would be played by Jeremy Irons, coming off Brideshead Revisited instead of Moore. John Hough had already directed several movies for Hammer Films and Walt Disney Productions in the United States, and had had box office hits with Dirty Mary, Crazy Larry (1974) and Escape to Witch Mountain (1975). He had read the Biggles books as a child and was available after a deal to direct a James Bond film fell through. He was attracted by the unconventional story and signed to direct in November 1984. Neil Dickson was cast as Biggles after the producers and Hough saw his performance in the miniseries A. D. Like Hough, he was a fan of the novels and was thrilled at getting the chance to play the character. Alex Hyde White landed the role of Jim based on his work in The First Olympics: Athens 1896. The two leads became friends during filming.

The soundtrack was composed by Stanislas Syrewicz and released by MCA Records on vinyl and cassette tape. Jon Anderson, frontman of Yes, wrote the lyrics for the film's signature song, "Do You Want to Be a Hero?" as well as "Chocks Away", while Stanislas composed the rhythm. Anderson and Stanislas were both signed to Island Records at the time and had agreed to collaborate on the music. Just like the film, the soundtrack drew mixed reviews because of its experimental themes which seemed out of place in a period adventure and heavy use of synthesizers.

As a tie in to the film, a video game with the same title was released in 1986 by Image Works for the Amstrad CPC, Commodore 64 and ZX Spectrum. The game was based on the movie's storyline and featured four different missions, including flying combat sequences with biplanes, a rooftop chase, searching for the secret weapon in a trench setting and first person helicopter gameplay. The game received mixed reviews.