bkoganbing 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.

mukava991 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.

lugonian 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)

Ron Oliver 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.