Too many fans seem to be blown away

A Disappointing Continuation

I think this is a new genre that they're all sort of working their way through it and haven't got all the kinks worked out yet but it's a genre that works for me.

One of the film's great tricks is that, for a time, you think it will go down a rabbit hole of unrealistic glorification.

Originally hearing with deep disappointment that the many exciting sounding titles on the label could only be brought on the US exclusive website,I was thrilled to recently discover that Amazon UK had put up a good number of titles from the Warner Archive label onto its own site,which would give the opportunity for non-US citizens such as myself to take a look at the "burred" titles being dug up by the label.With being keen on choosing an intro title to the label that was at a mid-level price,I was pleased to stumble upon a 1931 Comedy going at a surprisingly cheap price on Amazon UK,which would hopefully allow me to enter the Archive world at its Pre-Code Comedy best.The plot:Attending an air show where inventors display their inventions in the hope of attracting people willing to invest in "the world of tomorrow",slick businessman Sport Wardell hears about a creation that is getting laughed out of the building.Pushing aside all of the other businessmen howling with laughter,Wardell discovers that the cause of their laughter is a aero-copter invented by Emil "Rusty" Krouse.Taken by Rusty's nervous and overly excited manner about his creation,Sport decides to take a roll of the dice by investing money in Emil's "mad" invention,and also promises to find more people who will be happy to invest in the project.A few days later:Struggleing to get any fellow businessmen interested in investing,and also finding questions of "loan repayment" starting to be asked for the cash he has put into Krouse's invention,Wardell begins to remember a waitress (named Pansy Potts) who he met near by the air show,who said that she would pay good money to anyone that agreed to get married to her.View on the film:Along with showing an ahead of its time slickness in riffing pop culture icons, (from Sport making Pansy believe that she will soon be getting married to Clark Gabel thanks to him showing a pic of her new "husband",to Potts calling Rusty Scarface!) the screenplay by A.P. Younger,Robert E. Hopkins,lyric writer Dorothy Fields and co- writer/director Charles Reisner , (based upon the stage musical by Lew Brown,Buddy G. DeSylva,Ray Henderson and John Mcgowan) strikes a terrific balance of free-falling,delightful Screwball moments, (such as Rusty messing everything up on his first meeting with Wardell,to Rusty almost falling out of a window when attempting to escape from Pansy's wedding night plans) with a real sense of "World Fair" wonderment which was going on at the time.With the writers also cleverly making sure,that no matter how many times he messes up,the centre of the movie stays on Rusty getting his invention to work,which leads to the viewer rooting for Rusty to set his aero-copter into the air right to the end.Directing 2 songs for the movie,Busby Berkly gives an early preview of what he was to become famous for in a few years time,with each of Berkly ultra-stylised showing immense precision,with a particular highlight being Berkly creating multiple spinning circles,just by having the extremely talented dancers move what looks to be pieces of wood in different directions.Whilst Berkly goes full flow for his distinctive moments,the directing by Charles F Riesner initially appears surprisingly detached,with Resner shooting a good amount of the films opening from wide shoots,which make the film feel very "stagey" and also leads to the film not fulling being able to pull the viewer into the story.Shortly after the films first 30 minutes,a noticeable amount of skin and double entoundras begin to get exposed,which thankfully leads to Riesner waking up from his slumber and delivering an ending,that whilst funny is also pretty nailbitting.Reconising the sound of Rusty's voice,I quickly began to relies that the person who was bringing Rusty to life here,was also the actor who would bring The Cowardly Lion rawing to life in The Wizard of Oz.Showing in his debut performance that he had a real sharpness with slap-stick, (with a great highlight being Rusty trying to get away from Potts at every turn) Bert Lahr also gives Rusty a big heart,with his interest in his invention being a success changing from just wanting it to work for himself,to Lahr showing Rusty desperately trying to make Sport's roll of the dice on him pay off.Working in a wonderful double team with Lahr,Charlotte Greenwood (who beat Lahr to the world of Oz by having a large role in the L.Frank Baum co-written play The Tik-Tok Man of Oz) impressively keeps Pansy from becoming a grating character,by showing Potts to be someone who is offbeat,but also keen in ending her search of finding Mr.Right,so that she and Mr.Right can go on flying high adventures together in life.

The 1930 musical comedy Flying High was a Broadway hit for comedian Bert Lahr, singer Kate Smith and the crack songwriting team of DeSylva, Brown & Henderson. Unfortunately when MGM filmed it, too many dandy DBH songs were thrown out and not enough others (by Dorothy Fields and Jimmy McHugh) were substituted to offset the deadening effects of the silly, contrived book and the unfunny vaudeville routines that may have left audiences howling with laughter on the Great White Way but left them yawning in movie theatres. Replacing the rotund Kate Smith with the lanky Charlotte Greenwood also did not work because Greenwood isn't extreme enough in her ungainliness to justify Lahr's deep reluctance to mate with her. I won't even bother to discuss why. The idiotic plot takes place in and around an aviation school and involves Greenwood's pursuit of Lahr, the inventor of an "aerocopter," a machine that goes up but apparently not sideways.One thing MGM did do right was to engage Busby Berkeley for two of the dance numbers: "Happy Landing" and "We'll Dance Until the Dawn." His trademark geometric patterns, line- ups, transitions and in-camera tableaux are all in place even in this early effort; all would reappear in more polished and extravagant form over the next several years at Warner Bros. and beyond. Two fine DBH songs, "Without Love" and "Wasn't It Beautiful While It Lasted" are served up sparingly as instrumental underscoring in a nightclub scene. Charles Winninger as the school's doctor tries but fails to rescue a half-baked recitative sequence in which he examines scantily clad female aviation students. Lahr and Greenwood get some laughs exercising their prodigious physical talents in the rowdy "The First Time for Me."Lahr's performance in this film is often criticized for being too broad for film; that is correct, especially the "gnong-gnong-gnong" moments, but the material doesn't exactly lend itself to subtlety. Hedda Hopper appears briefly as a concerned mother. Her line readings and general bearing never changed from film to film; she talks like an elocution teacher at a microphone, a technique that served her well in her later career announcing Hollywood gossip on radio. In supporting roles Kathryn Crawford sings sweetly if off-key and Pat O'Brien remains lifeless throughout.

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)

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.