Flying High (1931)

Director:

Charles Reisner

Writers:

Buddy G. DeSylva (book) &
Lew Brown (book) ...

Release Date:

14 November 1931 (USA)

Genre:

Comedy | Musical | Romance

Plot:

Plot Keywords:

Male Female Relationship | Air Show | Aviator | Bad Check | Chorus Girl

Cast

Bert Lahr	...	Emil 'Rusty' Krouse
Charlotte Greenwood	...	Pansy Potts
Pat O'Brien	...	Sport Wardell
Kathryn Crawford	...	Miss Eileen Smith
Charles Winninger	...	Dr. Brown
Hedda Hopper	...	Mrs. Smith
Guy Kibbee	...	Mr. Fred Smith
Herbert Braggiotti	...	Gordon
Gus Arnheim	...	Himself, the orchestra leader
Gus Arnheim and His Orchestra	...	Themselves

Also Known As:

George White's Flying High
Happy Landing (UK)

Runtime:

80 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono (Western Electric Sound System)

Certification:

USA:Passed (National Board of Review)

Company:

Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM)

Trivia:

There was considerable pressure from the Hays Office to remove the examination scene from the movie, but MGM held firm, claiming they paid $100,000 for the rights to the play just for that particular scene. Eventually some aspects of that scene was removed when some exhibitors rejected the film. The TCM print contains the scene, but it may be the abbreviated version.

Movie Connections:

Featured in Memories of Oz (2001) (TV)

Soundtrack:

Happy Days Are Here Again

Pansy is the one!

This seems like an opened-out play. The opening out is fine. There are some highly entertaining Busby Berkeley dance routines and Pat O'Brien is always fun.

Bert Lahr is an acquired taste never acquired by me. But Charlotte Greenwood is utterly delightful in this, as the spinster who sets her sights on him as her last best chance for marriage.

Her physical, somewhat self-mocking comedy is a precuser to that of Joan Davis a decade of so later. Both are treasures.