Flying High

Bert Lahr starred in several musical revues on Broadway, but one of his rare successes in a 'book' musical (with a plotline) was 'Flying High', a topical comedy which scored points off the aviation contests and wing-walking stunts that were so popular in America at this time.

The plot is some froth about rival aviators competing for a transcontinental air race; the winner to receive a large cash prize, fame, and so forth. Gordon is the wealthy playboy pilot who wants to sink his skyhooks into sweet little Eileen Cassidy.

Bert Lahr, in fine form and looking surprisingly athletic, plays Rusty Krause, the airfield mechanic who is (somewhat unwillingly) engaged to Pansy (Charlotte Greenwood), who seems to be some sort of airport groupie. Rusty, who has no piloting experience, accidentally goes aloft in an experimental 'aero-copter'. Not willing to let her man fly away that easily, Pansy jumps on the tail of the 'copter just before it leaves the ground. Once they're up in the air, something goes wrong with the 'copter. While Rusty moans in terror, Pansy climbs out on the fuselage and fixes the rudder.

Charlotte Greenwood is one of my favourite actresses: funny, intelligent, and extremely athletic despite her tall gawky physique. She often played super-competent women strangely attracted to weakling men. She's an utter delight here, doing her airborne acrobatics (despite some bad process photography). When 'Flying High' ran on Broadway, Lahr's leading lady was Kate Smith ... yes, the moon-mountainous singer. I can't imagine how the stage production managed the climactic scene in the aero-copter, high above solid ground ... and I also can't imagine the very plus-sized Kate Smith as Pansy, enacting a stagebound version of Charlotte Greenwood's acrobatics in this movie. That's not a cheap crack about Kate Smith's girth; I'm forced to assume that her characterisation was very different from Greenwood's.

The funniest scene in this film is Lahr's medical examination, in which Doc Brown straps him into a revolving drum and sends it spinning rapidly while Lahr howls in agony. But the best gag of all comes in the same scene, while Lahr's feet are on the ground. (I'll set up the joke by mentioning that this movie was made during Prohibition, when every red-blooded American male carried a hip flask full of booze.) The doctor hands Lahr an empty bottle and tells Lahr to give him a 'specimen'. Lahr doesn't know what this means. Just as the doctor is about to explain, his phone rings. While on the phone, Doc Brown pantomimes to Lahr that he must fill up the bottle. As the doctor looks away, Lahr whips out his hip flask and fills the bottle with amber fluid. (I assume it's amber; this is a monochrome movie.) Doc Brown rings off the phone, just in time for Lahr to hand him a full bottle and announce: 'Here y'go, Doc. I could only spare a quart.' The sophisticated audiences on Broadway gave this line the biggest laugh of Lahr's career. It's a pity that Lahr is remembered only as the Cowardly Lion, and his brilliant comedy portrayals are forgotten. I'll rate 'Flying High' 8 out of 10.

For those who only associate Bert Lahr with The Wizard Of Oz this film from MGM gives one a chance to see him repeating his role on Broadway from one of the many shows he starred in. Lahr other than The Wizard Of Oz was far more a success on Broadway than on the big screen.

Flying High ran for 355 performances on Broadway during the 1930-31 season and on Broadway Lahr's co-star was Kate Smith. Lahr's barbs whether they came in the script or were ad-libbed for the performance about fat girls caused some wounding to Kate. It was here she decided that radio would be her best medium of expression.

Rawboned Charlotte Greenwood of the Bruce Lee like kicks in her dancing takes Kate's role and she's looking for a husband and she'd like to settle a dowry on him. Lahr becomes the object of her attentions. And Lahr needs the money in order to help his partner and friend Pat O'Brien promote the aero-copter that Lahr's invented.

DeSylva, Brown and Henderson wrote the Broadway score which was completely chucked for the film with new songs by Jimmy McHugh and Dorothy Fields. I was disappointed not to hear items like Without Love and Thank Your Father on the screen. Nothing memorable came from Fields and McHugh.

Busby Berkeley did the choreography and there is a definite hint as to what would be coming in the way gaudy numbers like in his Warner Brothers period.

Pat O'Brien played Bud Abbott in this film, but Lahr's comedy style was more like Curly Howard than Lou Costello. During the Thirties, O'Brien was a fast talking promoter of something even if it was himself until he slowed down the pace to a crawl when he played a priest. O'Brien was new on the big screen himself after playing Hildy Johnson in The Front Page.

Flying High didn't quite weather the transfer from the Broadway stage to the big screen. Still it's a chance to see a Broadway hit with its original star and that's rare enough for the era this film came out in.

I saw this picture once,ages ago. Lahr is a cuckoo inventor who is trying to gain interest in his new type of dirigible(a method which became obsolete in a few years anyway). And he has to dodge spinster Charlotte Greenwood, who relentlessly pursues him and who Lahr sneeringly calls "that Giraffe".

Not that Lahr looks like a matinee idol himself, and that was part of t he problem.

While Lahr was under contract to MGM for a few years,when Red Skelton came along in the early 1940's they decided to cast their lot with Red(not a bad move). And Lahr was a dyed-in-the-wool New Yorker who preferred to make his living on the Broadway stage and shared Fred Allen's famous opinion that "California is a great place to live if you're an orange".

Lahr never played a lead role again---he was inserted as 3rd or 4th bill comedy relief in all of his best remembered films--the last one being ROSE MARIE(1954).

FLYING HIGH (Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, 1931), directed by Charles Reisner, marked the motion picture debut of comedian Bert Lahr (1892-1967), best known today for his memorable performance as the Cowardly Lion in the musical fantasy, THE WIZARD OF OZ (MGM, 1939). Reprising his theatrical role of Rusty from George White's 1930 Broadway musical, the screen version is very much a showcase for Lahr, with co-star Charlotte Greenwood, who can always be counted on to deliver a hilarious performance, coming a close second as a man-chasing spinster whom Lahr's character describes as a woman who "makes love like an alley cat." Greenwood's role parallels what she'd previously done with another Broadway gone Hollywood entertainer, Eddie Cantor, in PALMY DAYS (Samuel Goldwyn, 1931). While Cantor continued to perform steadily in films through most of the 1930s, FLYING HIGH was to be Lahr's sole venture into the new medium until his return to the screen by 1937 in secondary roles. What PALMY DAYS and FLYING HIGH have in common is not so much having Broadway comics in the lead and Greenwood as their foil, but the benefit of dance director Busby Berkeley, in his pre-Warner Brothers days, whose two production numbers benefits FLYING HIGH more than the plot itself.

Bert Lahr stars as Emil "Rusty" Krause, a hack-eyed inventor of the "aerocopter" who's unable to find a backer for his product. He becomes partners with "Sport" Wordell (Pat O'Brien), who doesn't have any money either. Sport acquires an investor named Fred Smith (Guy Kibbee), who's just as broke as he is. After falling in love with Smith's daughter, Eileen (Kathryn Crawford), Sport works out an angle acquiring the much needed $500 through Pansy Potts (Charlotte Greenwood), a tall, homely waitress having just inherited $1600 from her late uncle, by promising her a would-be husband in that of Rusty (by using a photo of Clark Gable!!).  With additional tunes by Jimmy McHugh and Dorothy Fields, the motion picture soundtrack is as follows: "Happy Landing" (sung by Kathryn Crawford); "It Will be the First Time for Me" (sung by Charlotte Greenwood and Bert Lahr); "Examination" (recited by Charles Winninger and female patients); "Dance Until the Dawn" (sung by Kathryn Crawford) and "Happy Landing" (reprise/cast).

Kathryn Crawford, no relation to Joan, (though slightly resembling vocalist Kitty Carlisle), sings two songs choreographed by Berkeley. "Happy Landing" contains some of the best Berkeley ingredients, including overhead camera shots of the chorus resembling airplanes and spelling out the names of great aviators of Byrd, Hawks, Lindy in formation. "Dance Until the Dawn," which comes a half hour later, is another Berkeley highlight, with chorus in dance formations with airplane propellers. Portions of this sequence were used in the theatrical documentary of THAT'S DANCING (1986), with the commentator concluding that, "Flying High never really got off the ground."  Although portions of this 80 minute feature tends to drag, it's brought to life by its lively tunes, for the most part are as forgotten as the film itself.

Notable comedy highlights belong to Bert Lahr. Aside from he being chased around by Greenwood (having some experience going through the motions with Eddie Cantor), and his unusual medical examination by the doctor (played by a young looking Charles Winninger), he gets his chance to demonstrate his "aerocopter" at the air show by flying high enough to be out of this world. Other participants in the cast include Hedda Hopper; Gus Arnheim and his Orchestra; Clarence Wilson and Tom Kennedy (as the bully who picks on Rusty).

Rarely seen on commercial television since the 1960s, and never distributed on video or DVD, look for FLYING HIGH the next time it tail spins on Turner Classic Movies cable station. (** landing gears)

As a huge fan of pre-codes, I was disappointed with FLYING HIGH. Bert Lahr's performance was way over the top. Yes, as other reviewers have noted, Bert's 'act' pretty much foreshadows his role of a lifetime as the Cowardly Lion in THE WIZARD OF OZ. But still, I did not find him funny at all. He was rather annoying actually.

Pat O'Brien is great in the straight man role and Charlotte Greenwood is her usual awkward self. Even these decent performances can't save this one.

As far as controversial pre-code scenes, I found the 'It'll Be the First Time for Me' duet to be one of the most suggestive pieces of film around.

One last thing. Is it just me, or does Bert Lahr's schtick seem patterned after Curly Howard of the Three Stooges? It feels at times like Bert is doing a spot on impersonation of Curly. I used to think that Bert as the Cowardly Lion flat out stole Curly's routine. But given that FLYING HIGH was released before Curly, Moe, et al. made it big, now I wonder who copied who.