Q Planes (1939) – Clouds Over Europe (US)

Q Planes is a 1939 spy movie. Clouds Over Europe was its name in the United States.

It is about a British Agent and his mission to discover who is trying to steal top-secret experimental equipment. The focus of this search is around the attempted theft of a new supercharger which should increase the flight speed of aircraft.

Above all, this light-hearted, spy comedy delivers a message to the world about threats. Released about 6 months before World War II, it was, in part, a propaganda movie.

Earlier movies influenced Q Planes. This movie influenced future spy movies such as James Bond and Mission: Impossible.

Our curated videos below show these influencers via video clips and descriptions. Also, check out our podcasts which discuss this movie in more detail.

WHERE TO STREAM:

It is available on Amazon Prime (Prime Link). (There may be a cost)
In addition, it is on YouTube: (YouTube Link)

North By Northwest (1959)

Alfred Hitchcock’s 1959 thriller, North by Northwest is a movie about an advertising executive who gets caught up in the world of spies. A case of mistaken identity early in the movie sets Roger Thornhill (Cary Grant) and the audience up for a thrilling journey across America.

In this curation (and in the podcast), we examine things beyond just the scope of the movie, and its interrelationship with other movies and events:

A crafty, yet charming villain, much like Franz Sanchez in Licence to Kill
Suspense on a train
How the henchmen put Thornhill in the car which foretells a scene in James Bond in On Her Majesty’s Secret Service.
An unknown criminal organization – Can you say Spectre or Quantum?
Stars from the television shows “Get Smart” and Man From U.N.C.L.E. are the good guys in this movie year’s before their tv spy-dom
A joke that is told is based on an old vaudeville routine and first showed up on film in the 1945 movie Ziegfeld Follies
Airplanes trying to run the hero down, a la James Bond in From Russia With Love
And many others