Biggles: Adventures in Time (1986) on Netflix
PG19861h 48mAdventureFamilySci-Fi
Jim Ferguson, a catering salesman in 1980s New York, is transported to 1917, where he saves Royal Flying Corps pilot James Bigglesworth. William Raymond tells him they are time twins.
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- IMDb5.6/103,820 votes
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Plot summary
Catering salesman Jim Ferguson lives in mid-1980s New York City. At a business party he is suddenly carried back to 1917, into the middle of a plane fight in the First World War. There he saves the life of Royal Flying Corps pilot James Bigglesworth, brought down on a photo reconnaissance flight. Before Jim can work out what happened, he is returned to the 1980s. Bigglesworth's former commanding officer, William Raymond, now an air commodore in London, tells Jim that he and Bigglesworth are time twins, moved through the years whenever the other is in mortal danger.
Cast
Did you know?!Facts and trivia about Biggles: Adventures in Time (1986)
Can contain spoilers, watch the movie first.
- Biggles lands a Bell 206 JetRanger helicopter on a flat wagon on a moving train in a scene shot on the Nene Valley Railway; it was apparently the first time such a stunt had been attempted, and fifteen takes were needed, with stunt pilot Marc Wolff at the controls.
- Some sources claim the script was altered by Walwin and John Groves to follow the time-travel trend after Back to the Future became a major hit, even though Biggles had already finished filming by Back to the Future's December 1985 UK release.
- The Sopwith Pup that crashes near the start of the film was specially built by Skysport Engineering, and its crash was unplanned, so the scene was rewritten to work around it.
- John Hough asked John Deacon to compose a song for the film after meeting him shortly after Live Aid; the track was released as a single, its music video gave Peter Cushing his very last on-screen appearance, and the song failed to chart.
- An earlier Universal-backed version, planned in 1968 from a Chris Bryant script called Biggles Sweeps The Skies and to be filmed in Algeria, got as far as building replica aircraft; James Fox was tapped to play Biggles and even appeared in promotional material before it was canceled over budget and location problems.
- In December 1979 Dudley Moore, who had just become a star with 10, said he agreed to play Biggles and make the film in Europe once he had finished Arthur (1981).
- Because the Eady Levy was due to expire at the end of March 1985 and partly funded the film, shooting had to be completed before then; with the tight deadline, filming began in London on 21 January 1985 before the script was finalised.
