... if the first choice of actor to play Orville had been able to play the part? He had to decline. He was already doing a TV show, and couldn't commit the time.
Dick Van Dyke would have been a marvelous Orville.
"Those Magnificent Men In Their Flying Machines" would have been 100 percent better from an utterly original idea had the entire romance between Whitman-Miles-Fox, or whatever his name was, been completely removed and entries from Sweden, Switzerland, Spain, Finland, Iceland, Greenland, Nigeria (wow, 1965, couldn't you just see that?) and whatever other countries they could think of, been included instead.
Do you realize that the actual 'race' in this movie that runs over 2 hours, the race was barely forty minutes?
From a historical perspective none of the nation`s you mention were `major players` on the international scene during the time period and, in most cases didn`t have much going on in aviation research then. One of the things about this film is that, while it`s a comedy it`s also a fairly accurate depiction of what was actually going on in aviation circles in Europe about 1910!
"Any plan that involves losing your hat is a BAD plan.""
I'm amazed the studio didn't look at the script and say, "You take forever to get off the ground, what's up with THAT?" I'm also amazed that someone thought Stuart Whitman could carry a big budget film.
Dick van Dyke did not decline the role of Orvil Newton. He never received it from his agent. On the DVD, director Ken Annakin explains that in his comments. Two years later Van Dyke said he would have loved to do it if he'd heard about it in time.
I'm quite a fan of Dick Van Dyke and all of the wonderful entertainment that he has given us over the years, but I must disagree with the original post; Stuart Whitman is perfectly cast in this film.