As I watched this film, my wife sat nearby and made MANY comments about why she hated this movie. Among the many things she said about the film, words like subtle and entertaining were NOT among them! And, in hindsight, she was right--this is an awfully bad film.
Originally, "Flying High" was a stage production put on by George White. Much of the staginess remains--along with some bizarro song and dance numbers where no audience could have possibly seen the choreography. Like so many films of the day, there are lots of Busby Berkeley-style overhead shots--and they are all pretty ridiculous. Only two years later, RKO also made an airplane theme musical, "Flying Down to Rio" and although it's also totally ridiculous, these over the top dance numbers were fun. In "Flying High" they become a bit tedious.
The plot is slight. Sport (Pat O'Brien) has built an 'aerocopter' (an early type of helicopter) and is trying to get the money to market it. So, in a last-ditch effort, he gets his subhuman friend, Rusty (Bert Lahr) to romance Patsy (Charlotte Greenwood) because she has some money to invest. Unfortunately, all of Sport's contributions to the plot are minor and the main focus on the film is on Lahr and Greenwood. I say unfortunately because Lahr is simply awful most of the time--making nonsense noises like Curly from the Three Stooges and over-acting incredibly. Greenwood comes off a bit better as the man-crazy spinster--but they aren't the least bit interesting as a couple. Combine this with the god-awful use of rear projection in the amazingly unfunny 'funny' finale and you've got a film that is just tedious in every way.
By the way, the only interesting thing about this film is its pre- code sensibilities. In the doctor skit there is some risqué language and later, there are some double-entendres about sex in some of the scenes with Greenwood and Lahr. This doesn't necessarily make the film good...but at least it is interesting to hear words like asinine and narcotics--words you simply wouldn't have heard in films post mid- 1934.
Originally, "Flying High" was a stage production put on by George White. Much of the staginess remains--along with some bizarro song and dance numbers where no audience could have possibly seen the choreography. Like so many films of the day, there are lots of Busby Berkeley-style overhead shots--and they are all pretty ridiculous. Only two years later, RKO also made an airplane theme musical, "Flying Down to Rio" and although it's also totally ridiculous, these over the top dance numbers were fun. In "Flying High" they become a bit tedious.
The plot is slight. Sport (Pat O'Brien) has built an 'aerocopter' (an early type of helicopter) and is trying to get the money to market it. So, in a last-ditch effort, he gets his subhuman friend, Rusty (Bert Lahr) to romance Patsy (Charlotte Greenwood) because she has some money to invest. Unfortunately, all of Sport's contributions to the plot are minor and the main focus on the film is on Lahr and Greenwood. I say unfortunately because Lahr is simply awful most of the time--making nonsense noises like Curly from the Three Stooges and over-acting incredibly. Greenwood comes off a bit better as the man-crazy spinster--but they aren't the least bit interesting as a couple. Combine this with the god-awful use of rear projection in the amazingly unfunny 'funny' finale and you've got a film that is just tedious in every way.
By the way, the only interesting thing about this film is its pre- code sensibilities. In the doctor skit there is some risqué language and later, there are some double-entendres about sex in some of the scenes with Greenwood and Lahr. This doesn't necessarily make the film good...but at least it is interesting to hear words like asinine and narcotics--words you simply wouldn't have heard in films post mid- 1934.