Flying High

A slightly unscrupulous promoter hopes to be FLYING HIGH after selling stock in a half-crazed inventor's aerocopter.

The rather bizarre humor of comic Bert Lahr is showcased in this fast-moving little comedy. Rather an acquired taste, Lahr's antics will either delight or depress the viewer, who should not be expecting to see an early version of the Cowardly Lion. Lahr's style of humor might be best described as moronic and those who enjoy laughing at the feebleminded should find him quite amusing.

What helps to ameliorate Lahr's antics is his teaming for much of the film with the great Charlotte Greenwood, who excelled in deadpan physical comedy. With her long legs and horsy features, Greenwood makes her man-crazy character into a real source of fun. Whether it's chasing Lahr around an airport, enduring a riotous Wedding Morning, or flailing about in his contraption thousands of feet in the air, Miss Greenwood never fails to pack in the laughs.

Pat O'Brien seems rather uncomfortable as Lahr's straight man and his romantic scenes with spunky Kathryn Crawford are somewhat less than enthralling. Charles Winninger catches the viewer's attention as a naughty, pre-Code doctor interested in examining a bevy of young aviatrixes. Cherubic Guy Kibbee & stately Hedda Hopper do credit to their short screen time as Miss Crawford's parents.

Movie mavens will recognize an uncredited Clarence Wilson as Greenwood's bad-tempered lunch counter boss.

Busby Berkeley has provided some fairly decent dance sequences whose sole motivation seems to be to reveal as much feminine flesh as possible, but the overhead kaleidoscopic shots are pleasant harbingers of the classic work he would perform a few years later at Warner's.

Lahr's aerocopter, which may or may not be technically feasible, is based on the gyrocopter or Autogiro, both of which actually did fly but have now been almost completely superseded by the helicopter.

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.

This was Lahr's first starring feature film. It is based on his stage hit of the same name. He is completely over the top. This wild stage persona can also be seen in his shorts for Educational, but by the time he made "The Wizard of Oz", he had begun to calm down. Charlotte Greenwood plays the role originally done by Kate Smith on Broadway. She and Lahr make a fine combination. This film includes a doctor's office sketch which is quite risqué and is of questionable taste. Lahr keeps the film from being boring, but his energy can become very tiring. The De Sylva, Brown and Henderson musical numbers from the original show have been deleted, but there are a couple of new Dorothy Fields-Jimmy McHugh songs, with Busby Berkeley style "choreography", and of course, Lahr gets a musical number to show his stuff. All fans of the Cowardly Lion should check out this film.

This is the rarest of beasts - a musical comedy film from 1931. Hardly any were made in either 1931 and 1932 due to the bad reputation the earliest musicals had earned in 1929 and 1930. However, almost all of the American musical films made in 1931 and 1932 featured the choreography of Busby Berkeley, and indeed this one does too.

Pat O'Brien is the best known of the three stars here, but he basically plays a supporting role in this one, prior to his recruitment by Warner Bros. first as a smart guy in the precode era and then as a father figure after the code. Sport Wardall (O'Brien) rescues Rusty Krouse (Lahr) from a group of bullies. The two team up with Wardall looking for financial backing for Rusty's aerocopter, a flying machine that ascends straight up. Ultimately Wardall finds backing from homely but man-hungry waitress Pansy Potts (the lanky Charlotte Greenwood). Her fee for the needed five hundred dollars - marriage to Rusty sight unseen.

If you've seen Greenwood chasing Buster Keaton in "Parlor, Bedroom, and Bath" or Eddie Cantor in "Palmy Days" you've seen this act before, but it's always funny. What must have seemed very odd to the audiences of 1931 was Lahr's brand of humor. Here he is carrying on just exactly like the cowardly lion in "Wizard of Oz" right down to his voice and mannerisms, so modern audiences will probably not be put off by his performance since most people today are familiar with Lahr in that part.

I rate this 4/5 for fans of the early talkies and precodes, but if you are a modern film fan you just might not appreciate this one that much.

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.