The Flying Fool

Early talkie drama. William Boyd loves his brother Jimmy and so he doesn't want a dame to give him the runaround. William Boyd falls in love with the girl(Marie Prevost) that his brother is in love after going out with her to make sure that her intentions are honorable. Marie Prevost sings the theme song "If I Had My Way" twice in the movie.

I am a HUGE Hopalong Cassidy (William Boyd) fan and think he was the greatest of all the B-western stars. His Hoppy films are consistently entertaining and likable. That being said, he had an established career well before this--starring in numerous silent and sound films. I really like most of these non-Hoppy roles but was sadly disappointed in "The Flying Fool" as it was a genuinely bad film...both due to writing and Boyd's acting.

When the film begins, Bill is a cocky but very talented fighter plane pilot during WWI. Soon the film skips ahead to the 1920s and Bill makes a living as a barnstormer...a pilot that thrills crowds with dangerous flying stunts. He also is accompanied by his brother, Jimmy. He is like a mother, father and best buddy for Jimmy and the lesson he seems to keep pressing on the impressionable young man is that women are a dime a dozen...love 'em and leave 'em! Clearly, Bill is a bit of a jerk here...and ultimately, Jimmy ignores his brother's advice and falls for a lady...and the film then plummets in quality.

In addition to bad writing and poor acting by Boyd as Bill, the film really had a bizarre and silly ending. In many ways, although the film was A-picture length, its writing seemed like a B-movie...and not a particularly good one.

First I have to say that I'm not a fan of William Boyd. I've seen him in "The Big Gamble" and "The Painted Desert" and both times I was underwhelmed. "The Flying Fool" was no different. In this rinky-dink movie he played Bill Taylor: WWI vet, ace pilot, ladies' man, and tough guy. He was the alpha-est of the alphas and thoroughly unlikeable. If he wasn't macking on ladies he was flying, and if he wasn't doing either of those he was trying to raise his younger brother Tommy (Russell Gleason) who practically worshipped him.

When Tommy wanted to date a nightclub singer named Pat (Marie Prevost), good ol' Billy decided to give her a trial run first to see if she was good enough for his brother. Well, the fool fell in love with Pat and she with him, leaving Tommy to be the sucker in the whole charade.

This movie was pitiful and probably took all of a day to write and another day to shoot. Looks like I was the fool for watching this mess.

Free on Odnoklassniki.

Tay Garnett's first sound feature (he'd previously made a couple of comedy shorts, a silent feature and a part-talkie) is more than a bit rough around the edges. The sound is often muffled and has an unnatural echo, although most of the players handle it well. The exception is possibly Marie Prevost. Her singing is cleverly dubbed and maybe her whole role. She allegedly had a "thick New England accent", but there's no sign of it here.

The problem is not so much the sound recording itself, but the limitations it has placed on the camera. James Gleason's dull dialogue doesn't help either. Many scenes are simply staged in front of the microphone in boring, extended takes, though Garnett does move the camera occasionally; and when the movie takes to the skies (and all these sound effects were professionally dubbed) the photography at times is quite breathtaking.

"Hoppy" fans are not likely to be entranced by the sight of their hero here. Even though he laughs and smiles often, he looks old.