Enemy agents (of undisclosed (but clearly not British) origin) employ a ray-gun that knocks out an aircraft's engines and radio so the villains can recover the downed plane and steal experimental technological secrets. The premise and 'special effects' (secret agents employing a secret weapon from the secret base to steal secrets) resemble contemporaneous Republic Studios serials but the cast, which includes Ralph Richardson and Laurence Olivier), is top-notch (although Olivier is somewhat wasted in his routine role as 'love interest' and heroic test pilot). On the other hand, Richardson carries the picture and, as Patrick Macnee has acknowledged, his droll, eccentric umbrella-carrying British intelligence officer was the inspiration for the debonair 'John Steed' in 'The Avengers' (1961). The light-hearted script is excellent but the simplistic and trite climax is a bit of a letdown. As always, watching 1930's 'state of the art' aeronautical technology is entertaining given a post-WW2 perspective and knowledge of what would be in the air within a decade of the film's production. All in all, "good show".
Review of Q Planes
