User Reviews

Wheeler and Woolsey make their final joint film appearance in a last hurrah, a final farce with a few more funny gags than normal which return them to racier material. Dorothy Lee is gone, replaced by classy Marjorie Lord and adding in quite a different style of leading lady-the formidable Lupe Velez, aka The Mexican Spitfire. The plot concerns two clowns who end up at Paul Harvey and Margaret Dumont's estate, searching for missing jewels and outwitting a group of thieves. Velez adds her usual amount of malapropisms, basically playing Carmelita as a maid and the boys in place of Leon Errol. She is terrific here, having an energy and vitality that shows why she was a fan favorite for years, The three play very well off each other and are aided by a cute little jack russell pooch who gets a great visual gag at the end.

Initially seen working at a carnival in an odd looking flying machine, the boys are at first idiotic saps used for their stupidity but prove like smoke followed by fire that stupidity is usually hiding a sense that geniuses can't understand. Dumont (complete with crystal ball) and Harvey add amusing elements to their uppity rich folk while Jack Carson is his usual cynical wise-cracking self. Harvey is particularly funny as he expects a few policemen to show up, and he ends up with practically the whole force. His slow burn when one final single policeman comes into the room is a classic moment of silent anger.

Obviously filmed on standing art deco sets usually used for either musicals or screwball comedies, this is Wheeler and Woolsey's most lavish looking film since 1934's Hips Hips Hooray! A cute little pool set dance number, "Keep your head above Water", is another highlight. Velez gets a show-stopping number, imitating her rival, Dolores Del Rio, complete with sneer, and Shirley Temple. Unlike other Wheeler and Woolsey films, this is lacking in their usual verbal wit, but the physical comedy makes up for it.

Directed by Edward F. Cline, and written by Bert Granet, Byron Morgan, and Benny Rubin from a play by Victor Mapes, this (Burt) Wheeler & Woolsey B movie was the comedy duo's last; the bespeckled Robert Woolsey died the year after this film was released.

The cast includes: Lupe Velez, Marjorie Lord, Margaret Dumont, Jack Carson, and Paul Harvey (among others). The two comedians (in the title roles) play carnival sideshow performers - they operate a mechanical airplane ride - that unknowingly get mixed up with jewel smugglers (led by Carson) whose plan is to steal some valuable diamonds from a rich family. Of course, the smugglers don't realize they've hired a couple of goof balls (the Wheeler and Woolsey characters) either; hence, the humor in the story. If you are unfamiliar with this duo's work, this one should serve as a pretty good introduction to their combined and/or separate styles and talents. Wheeler, the younger of the two by almost seven years, does a credible Charlie Chaplin (and a black-face) routine while Woolsey "sings" (not like only Groucho Marx could) and dances with Velez while he tosses out one-liners and chomps on his unlit cigar.

Wheeler plays Jerry Lane, who's learned to fly by reading books, and Woolsey plays Pierre Potkin, who's a two time loser that doesn't want to get caught up in anything illegal nor miss an appointment with his parole officer for fear of being jailed. Jewel thief Dave Hanlon (Carson) has been schmoozing the wealthy Arlene Arlington (Lord) to get an inside track on when her father Horace (Harvey) will be receiving the matching diamonds he's been collecting overseas for his wife Martha (Dumont). Pretending to be a reporter, Hanlon hires small time carnival vendors Jerry and Potkin, whom he thinks really are pilots, for $500 (!) ostensibly to pick up some photographs needed for a story, by seaplane from the yacht that's really carrying Mr. Arlington's solitaires. Though the theft is successful, Jerry and Potkin discover what they're really carrying shortly before crashing the plane (ironically) on the Arlington estate! Velez plays Maria Juanita Rosita Anita Moreno del Valle, the Mexican Arlingtons' maid (Soledad Jiménez appears uncredited as her Auntie, the cook). Lots of stereotypical (foreign) language confusions ensue. Horace rushes to the accident site where he assumes that the duo are undercover police officers; Hanlon had provided them with a seaplane stolen from the police, who had shot down the plane precipitating the crash. Horace offers Jerry and Potkin every convenience, including his place to stay, which they're more than happy to accept especially when Potkin eyes Maria.

Meanwhile, Hanlon is in trouble with his foreign-born benefactors (Charles Judels, Lucien Prival, and Herbert Evans) who want the now missing stolen jewels. Fortunately for him, he learns from a phone call with Arlene that, per her description, Jerry and Potkin are on the estate. Thinking quickly, he advises her that the pair have actually just escaped from a mental institution and that she and her family will be O.K. until he gets there as long as they humor them. Maria ends up conveying the message to the Arlingtons (Velez either badly imitates Gloria Swanson, Katharine Hepburn and even Shirley Temple or I couldn't even figure out whom she was attempting to copy). Herbert Clifton plays the family's butler named Stone. Arlene ends up being entertained by Jerry's Chaplin routine and, as mentioned previously, Potkin sings & dances with Maria. When Hanlon and company, pretending to be psychiatrists, arrive, the hijinks continue, especially when the diamonds are fetched and then buried by the Arlington's dog that, unbeknownst to everyone except the audience, has been taking and burying similar objects throughout the movie.

Maria, Arlene, and virtually everyone else in the household finally call the police (George Irving plays the chief), who arrive in droves, causing Horace a headache. This final third is the film's weakest - it involves everyone, criminal and police officer alike, digging up the estate grounds looking for the buried treasure - and most predictable (Woolsey & Wheeler get their gals).

Lupe Velez ( Juanita) simply steals this picture from Wheeler ( Jerry) and Woolsey ( Pierre). You see what a brilliant comedienne she was with her impressions of Delores Del Rio and Shirley Temple. They were absolutely spot on. She also did a very good song and dance routine with Woolsey. I read that RKO brought her in to save the movie ( probably because of the illness of Woolsey which killed him a year later), and her presence made High Flyers ( at least for me) a 8/10 star movie instead of a 3/10 star movie. I am not saying that Lupe was the entire movie ( Wheeler did an excellent Charlie Chaplin impersonation and his learning to fly a plane by reading reminded me of Gert Frobe learning to fly by trading German training manuals in those Magnificent Men In Their Flying Machines)), but she certainly was the best ( then the kleptomaniac dog followed by Wheeler). Between Wheeler and Woolsey, it is definitely Wheeler that ends up on top ( despite being saddled with non comic actress Marjorie Lord ( heiress Arlene Arlington). Watch the Chaplin sketch and you see how she really does not contribute), while an obviously sick Robert Woolsey was able to keep up with Lupe Velez in one scene, he needed her and Wheeler ( especially in the plane) to carry him through. Spoilers ahead: Wheeler does end up with Marjorie and Woolsey with Lupe, but ignore the plot and just focus on Lupe. She is the reason to watch. 8/10 stars.