After a black & white prologue with Red Skelton (who somehow missed being in 'It's a Mad Mad Mad Mad World') the only other Hollywood actor involved in the proceedings is Stuart Whitman - who looks as if he wandered in off the set of a completely different film (while in the case of James Fox & Sarah Miles we know that the other film was 'The Servant').
As the opening credits unfurl all the other major Continental markets are ticked off by the announcement of Jean-Pierre Cassel, Gert Fröbe and Alberto Sordi; and even Japan gets a look-in in the form of pop idol Yujiro Ishihara (best known to Western connoisseurs of Japanese film as the lead in Ichikawa's 'Alone in the Pacific', whose few lines here are bizarrely dubbed by James Villiers).
The only cast member from 'It's a Mad Mad Mad Mad World' to appear is ironically the one Brit, Terry-Thomas (functioning as the Dick Dastardly character) and the film is throughout enlivened by familiar British faces - often in tiny parts - ranging from Flora Robson to Tony Hancock.
The film unfortunately rambles badly for most of the first two thirds of it's running time (NOT helped by Ron Goodwin's over-emphatic score constantly prodding us in the ribs to remind us how hilarious this all is; particularly when the Germans are crashing about onscreen) before the race itself finally begins and Don Sharp's magnificent second unit work finally provides the thrills and spectacle we've been waiting for (although somewhat marred by the cutaways to obvious process shots and studio inserts); while Ronald Searle's wonderful caricatures at the end are rather wasted since they literally fly by so quickly.
As the opening credits unfurl all the other major Continental markets are ticked off by the announcement of Jean-Pierre Cassel, Gert Fröbe and Alberto Sordi; and even Japan gets a look-in in the form of pop idol Yujiro Ishihara (best known to Western connoisseurs of Japanese film as the lead in Ichikawa's 'Alone in the Pacific', whose few lines here are bizarrely dubbed by James Villiers).
The only cast member from 'It's a Mad Mad Mad Mad World' to appear is ironically the one Brit, Terry-Thomas (functioning as the Dick Dastardly character) and the film is throughout enlivened by familiar British faces - often in tiny parts - ranging from Flora Robson to Tony Hancock.
The film unfortunately rambles badly for most of the first two thirds of it's running time (NOT helped by Ron Goodwin's over-emphatic score constantly prodding us in the ribs to remind us how hilarious this all is; particularly when the Germans are crashing about onscreen) before the race itself finally begins and Don Sharp's magnificent second unit work finally provides the thrills and spectacle we've been waiting for (although somewhat marred by the cutaways to obvious process shots and studio inserts); while Ronald Searle's wonderful caricatures at the end are rather wasted since they literally fly by so quickly.