Q PLANES (CLOUDS OVER EUROPE)

UK, 1939, 82 minutes, Black and white.
Ralph Richardson. Laurence Olivier, Valerie Hobson, George Merritt, George Curzon, Gus Mc Naughton, David Tree.
Directed by Tim Whelan.

Q Planes (Clouds Over Europe) is an entertaining comedy spy melodrama just before World War Two. The film is a London Films production, backed by Sir Alexander Korda. It has an excellent cast with Ralph Richardson giving one of his best performances as a daffy civil servant spy. Laurence Olivier is the rather conventional hero and Valerie Hobson is all energy and style as the heroine. There are some very amusing lines - including John Laurie's criticism of Valerie Hobson for being too enthusiastic - "after all, this is England". The film is rather dated but shows the perennial ingredients of the espionage thriller. It is a still entertaining indication of London Films' cinema style of the '30s. Direction is by Tim Whelan, an American director who worked for Korda for some time and then returned to Hollywood.

1. Entertaining British spy comedy? The British film industry of the '30s? The work of Alexander Korda? A glimpse of the stars early in their careers? Spies, patriotism, humour? Hitler's Europe and the eve of World War Two? Now?

2. Black and white photography, production values, London in the '30s, the technology of planes and ships? Location photography? Special effects? The score?

3. The stars and their later reputations? Ralph Richardson and his flair for comedy?

4. The comic touch with Hammond and the opening, seeing him at work, his being arrested, the comedy routines covering the serious effort, the police, the umbrella, his manservant? Hammond and his British eccentricities? His absent-mindedness yet skill at detection? Oblivious and shrewd? His interviews with the authorities? The infiltration into the plant? The following of Jenkins and his death? The clash with Mc Vane and their growing friendship? His clashes with Kay and her investigations? His being taken off the case despite his credentials? His going home to cook and suddenly leaving with a brainwave? His snooping? Discovery of the truth? His gentlemanly gung-ho attack at the end? The humorous refrain of the phone calls to Daphne and postponing their appointment? His discovery that she was married? The understated eccentric British humour - as the style for the Secret Service?

5. Mc Vane and Laurence Olivier's earnestness? His work as a pilot, skills, grudges? The encounter with Kay at the canteen and the clash when he found her ringing the newspaper? The discovery of the truth and his embarrassment? Their continued clashing and falling in love? His following Jenkins and discovering Hammond at the death? His going up in the plane? The farewell to Kay? The heroics and the British fight against the Germans at the end? The noble British warrior hero, '30s style?

6. Kay and her work in the canteen, her talk and inquiry, the slap and getting the sack, phoning the news through, her work with the editor, the clashes with Mc Vane and their falling in love, her tormenting her brother? Her help with the detection? Happy ending? The plucky British heroine?

7. The Secret Service and the authorities, patriotism, style?

8. British industry and technology in the '30s? Development of planes? Pig-headedness? The British government depending on the finance and goodwill of the industrialists? The tests and their failure? The group of pilots and their morale?

9. Spies, covers, money deals, agents? The planes and the desperate means to steal them?

10. The techniques of stealing the planes, washing the wreckage ashore? The salvage vessel? The anticipation of World War Two with the plucky British fighting to the death at the end? The effectiveness of this morale-boosting and patriotism?

11. The blend of the mock-heroics with the heroics? Comparisons with later spy films? The perennial themes despite the big-budget spectaculars of later decades?