Q Planes (1939) [Comedy] [Thriller]

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“Q Planes” (1939) released in the United States by Columbia Pictures as “Clouds Over Europe”, is a British spy film directed by Tim Whelan and Arthur B. Woods, starring Ralph Richardson, Laurence Olivier and Valerie Hobson. The film was produced by Irving Asher with Alexander Korda as executive producer. The name “Q Planes” may have been derived from the British “Q-ships” that were used as spy and armed merchant vessels in the First World War. The film was helmed by American director Tim Whelan (Sidewalks of London (1938) and later, in 1940, co-director of The Thief of Bagdad) who was then in Britain working for Korda at Denham Studios.

“Q Planes” (or in its American guise, “Clouds Over Europe”) mixes the genres of spy thriller and comedy romance, and was intended to be a star vehicle for Olivier, but Richardson dominates much of the screen with a sardonic take on a spy, either working for Scotland Yard or British Military Intelligence. Released just months before the United Kingdom declared war on Germany in 1939, the film is a precursor to the “strongly nationalistic, anti-German films that would reach their zenith in Britain during the war years”.

Advanced British aircraft prototypes carrying experimental and highly secret equipment being developed under government contract, are regularly vanishing with their crews on their test flights. No one can deduce the problem, not even spymaster Major Hammond (Ralph Richardson) or his sister Kay (Valerie Hobson), a newspaper reporter who is working undercover in the works canteen used by the crews at the Barrett & Ward Aircraft Company.

At first, Major Hammond is seen as an outsider at the aircraft factory, even by Mr. Barrett, the owner (George Merritt), but he soon finds a friend in a star pilot, Tony McVane (Laurence Olivier) who helps him try to unravel the case. Hammond becomes convinced that the company secretary at the factory, Jenkins (George Curzon) is a foreign agent and “mole”, but Jenkins is killed by unseen gunmen before he can give up the names of his contacts.

The mystery remains unsolved when McVane returns to the aircraft factory, determined to make the next test flight. His aircraft, like the others, is brought down by a powerful ray beamed from the S.S. Viking, a mysterious salvage ship manned by a foreign crew. Along with his aircraft, McVane and his flight crew are taken hostage on the ship, where he discovers many other missing airmen have suffered the same fate. Gathering up weapons, McVane leads the British survivors in an attempt to take control of the ship. Major Hammond learns the truth and directs a Royal Navy ship (HMS Echo) to come to their rescue. In a short coda, Kay and McVane get together and Hammond learns, to his chagrin, that his longtime lady friend has married.

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Directed by Tim Whelan and Arthur B. Woods, produced by Irving Asher (producer) and Alexander Korda (executive producer), written by Brock Williams, Jack Whittingham and Ian Dalrymple, starring Ralph Richardson, Laurence Olivier and Valerie Hobson.

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Source: “Q Planes” Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia. Wikimedia Foundation, Inc.. 7 May 2012. Web. 3 August 2012. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Q_Planes.

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33 Replies to “Q Planes (1939) [Comedy] [Thriller]”

  1. Still looking for classic British comedy movies I'd seen as a child. They were from Canadian television broadcasts from Winnipeg before US blocked signals. Featured a group of comedians who made several and were hilarious.

  4. listening to the opening "overture"; how did such a schlocky movie get such a great orchestra? you never know, huh? the best part would be the bloopers from this film that ended up on the cutting room floor 😉

  5. I never saw Olivier on stage (not many living today have) so I've only seen his movie performances and his tone is always:  irritated, annoyed, prickly, crabby, brusque.  Its no wonder he didn't have much of a movie career.

  7. The English and the French make the chattiest movies in the world, yakkety yakkety yakkety. And the Italians just slap each other silly and cry. O Dio!

  10. I love these old movies – from the acting (and sometimes lack thereof) to the often hackneyed plots.  Enemy is able to create a super-ray that can disable an entire airplane, yet they need to steal British aircraft designs? 
    Actually, that's pretty true to life, as it turned out.  German organizations were usually unwilling to share their knowledge with other groups that could have benefited from it.  so I guess, in a way, this is sort of prophetic?

  13.    Guys, This movie I saw about twenty years ago and, I thought the secret weapon the Germans were using to down aircraft was a bunch of crap. 
     However, since then, I've delved into old research and new  and, I now have another thought about this secret weapon. 
     In fact, one of the crew aboard the S.S. Viking mentioned that Marconi was the researcher who first developed the weapon but, that isn't the truth. 
     The person who actually did develop the weapon was none other than Nikolai Tesla. He even contacted the U.S. government attempting to interest them in it. He said he could drop a flight of aircraft at 250 miles distant. The 
    U.S. government and all others laughed at him and, told him it simply couldn't be done. 
      Well, guys, here's how it works. You need two beam generators and wherever the two coincide you'll have a checkerboard pattern to develop. This means you'll have areas where energy will be inputted into many squares. When an aircraft flies into one of these squares, it is overloaded with too much energy and batteries will blow up, wiring will melt and the aircraft will fall out of the sky. The reverse of this is just as effective. You can make squares where energy has been removed. If an aircraft were to fly into one, then all of the energy would be removed. 
      This is what Tesla created way back in the 1930s.

  15. I saw this one on a midnight to dawn movies session a few years back.
    It struck me then as it does now, that the plot of "The Spy Who Loved Me" is very similiar to this.
    More flash in the Bond version, but basically the same plot as "Q Planes".

  16. Bravo! Love this film. Witty, attractive and spontaneous in execution. Thank you for the upload. Picked up my spirits and put a smile on my face. Am subscribing. Diana/Chicago, Illinois USA

  19. Fun movie! Great banter.
    I only just discovered it, while watching a documentary about 'The Avengers' TV series.
    The character of the Major, as played by Ralph Richardson, was cited as an inspiration for the bowler-wearing, umbrella-toting character John Steed.

  33. A Good,rather long,drawn out film,however,it Was Wothwhile to See!! ALL of the Actors were Quite marvelous in their parts! Thank You4 Sharing Movie!!

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