Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #15275 in DVD
• Released on: 2008-06-03
• Aspect ratio: 2.35:1
• Formats: Colour, DVD-Video, Widescreen, NTSC
• Original language: English
• Number of discs: 1
• Dimensions: 5.00 pounds
• Running time: 125 minutes

Customer Reviews

"I say, what jam!"
A belated sequel to Those Magnificent Men in Their Flying Machines produced at Paramount after 20th Century Fox passed on the project, Those Daring Young Men in Their Jaunty Jalopies - perhaps better known under its European title Monte Carlo or Bust - reunites many of the key players (director Ken Annakin, co-writer Jack Davies, composer Ron Goodwin and cartoonist Ronald Serle providing the titles) along with the star of The Great Race to rather less effect yet still manages to coast by as much on goodwill and good nature as on its own variable entertainment value. Trying to do for vintage cars what its 1965 predecessor did for vintage planes, it sets a multinational cast against each other in the Monte Carlo Rally, with Terry-Thomas (as the equally caddish son of his character in Flying Machines) betting his half of a car factory against his brash and all-too irritating American partner Tony Curtis Chester Schofield the First ("You mean there are TWO of them?") and, naturally, going all-out to cheat his way to victory with the reluctant aid of a put upon and blackmailed Eric Sykes. Also competing (and stealing most of the laughs) are British officers Peter Cook and Dudley Moore and their assortment of ingeniously misconceived inventions, Gert Frobe's crook smuggling diamonds across the border for master criminal Jack Hawkins (here dubbed by Robert Rietty), Italian policemen Walter Chiari and Lando Buzzanca and a gaggle of glamorous female doctors among them, while Susan Hampshire provides Curtis' often just irritating romantic interest.

Subsequently edited down to 93 minutes and retitled after poor initial box-office, even in this uncut two hour version the film often feels disjointed, with many characters either underused (Bourvil especially) or disappearing for long stretches of the running time - Terry-Thomas in particular as the film frequently seems to lose interest in their rivalry - giving the impression that large chunks of the story either hit the cutting room floor or never got shot to begin with: considering how many split-screen sequences there are in the film, possibly the former. Yet there are a couple of impressive stunts, a jaunty score from Ron Goodwin that keeps things moving and just enough funny moments to help it cross the finishing line. Legend's DVD has a less than great but certainly acceptable 2.35:1 widescreen transfer of the two-hour version with the original US trailer as the only extra.

One of the Best Epic Comedies
I adore this film. It made me laugh out loud many times. What i cant understand is how come this film is so underrated, in my oppinion its even better than the histerical "The Great Race," it made me laugh more. i admit that it doesnt have much style to it and the cars are rather uninteresting, not nearly as cool as the planes in "Those Magnificant Men in their Flying Machines". the separate stories are rather loosely connected so unlike "the great race" or "TMMITFM" it does not have a very good structure to it, and like the previous review said, it feels as though some of the scenes never got shot. But still that does not stop it from being outrageously hillarious. for me there were two double acts who stole the show: Terry-Thomas and Erik Sykes being the first, and
Peter Cook and Dudley Moore being the second. Terry-Thomas was just hillariously caddish and villainous, his banter towards Sykes is just hillarious and just the way he acts with all of his funny faces and the way he says his lines are hillarious, he is just deliciously caddish and villainous and he really shines in the scene at the chalet with his switching of the shoes and ending up in bed with the German. Hillarious! Meanwhile Pete and Dud were hillarious as the two British officers with all of their crazy inventions and their calmness in the most extreme situations, and their British narrowmindedness. they indeed got most of the laughs. The German character acted by Gert Frobe is also extremely ammusing.
The one scene that really stands out is the one in the chalet in the Alps, which shows British farce at its best. Quite why this film is so underrated beats me, sure its not the best structured, but its outrageously hillarious in places, i strongly reccoment you Buy It.