''Going Wild'' is a 1930

Warner Brothers Warner Bros. Entertainment Inc. (commonly known as Warner Bros. or abbreviated as WB) is an American film and entertainment studio headquartered at the Warner Bros. Studios complex in Burbank, California, and a subsidiary of Warner Bros. D ...

pre-Code Pre-Code Hollywood was the brief era in the American film industry between the widespread adoption of sound in film in 1929LaSalle (2002), p. 1. and the enforcement of the Motion Picture Production Code censorship guidelines, popularly known ...

comedy film based on the 1910 play ''The Aviator'' by James Montgomery and directed by William A. Seiter. The film stars many musical stars along with Joe E. Brown,

Frank McHugh Francis Curry McHugh (May 23, 1898 – September 11, 1981) was an American stage, radio, film and television actor. Early years Born in Homestead, Pennsylvania, of Irish descent, McHugh came from a theatrical family. His parents, Edward A ...

and

Johnny Arthur Johnny Arthur (born John Lennox Arthur Williams; May 20, 1883 – December 31, 1951) was an American stage and motion picture actor. Early years Born in Scottdale, Pennsylvania, Arthur was a veteran of twenty-five years on stage before he made ...

. A print is held in the

Library of Congress The Library of Congress (LOC) is the research library that officially serves the United States Congress and is the ''de facto'' national library of the United States. It is the oldest federal cultural institution in the country. The libra ...

collection.

Plot

Rollo Smith and his friend Jack Lane are down on their luck and have stowed away on a train, finding a place in the compartment of ace pilot and writer Robert Story. The conductor ejects Rollo and Jack from the train just where the famous writer is supposed to arrive, and Rollo is mistaken for Story. Peggy Freeman and May Bunch both vie for Rollo's attention, believing that he is a famous pilot. The girls receive free room and meals at the Palm Inn. Rollo, who has never flown, is invited to fly in an air race as Story against a real aviator, "Ace" Benton, with a chance to win a $25,000 wager. After he somehow lifts the plane off the ground, Rollo can barely control the aircraft. Ferguson, the real pilot whom Peggy had locked in a closet, appears, but Rollo continues to unwittingly perform an aerial show, forcing Ace to abandon the race. When Peggy accidentally pulls her parachute ring, Rollo joins her as they safely float to earth and he proposes.

Cast

* Joe E. Brown as Rollo Smith *

Lawrence Gray Lawrence Gray (July 28, 1898 – February 2, 1970) was an American actor of the 1920s and 1930s. Biography Born in San Francisco in 1898, Gray served during World War I in the U. S. Navy and gained a commission. After the war he began i ...

as Jack Lane * Ona Munson as Ruth Howard *

Walter Pidgeon Walter Davis Pidgeon (September 23, 1897 – September 25, 1984) was a Canadian-American actor. He earned two Academy Award for Best Actor nominations for his roles in '' Mrs. Miniver'' (1942) and ''Madame Curie'' (1943). Pidgeon also starred in ...

as "Ace" Benton * Laura Lee as Peggy Freeman *

as "Ricky" Freeman *

May Boley May is the fifth month of the year in the Julian and Gregorian calendars and is the third of seven months to have a length of 31 days. May is a month of spring in the Northern Hemisphere, and autumn in the Southern Hemisphere. Therefore, May ...

as May Bunch *

Anders Randolf Anders Randolf (December 18, 1870 – July 2, 1930) was a Danish American actor in American films from 1913 to 1930. Biography Anders was born in Viborg, Denmark, where he became a professional soldier in the Danish army and a world-class swo ...

as Edward Howard * Arthur Hoyt as Robert Story *

as Simpkins *

Fred Kelsey Frederick Alvin Kelsey (August 20, 1884 – September 2, 1961) was an American actor, film director, and screenwriter. Kelsey directed one- and two-reel films for Universal Film Manufacturing Company. He appeared in more than 400 films betw ...

as The Conductor * Harvey Clark as Herndon Reamer *

Max Wagner Max Wagner (November 28, 1901 – November 16, 1975) was a Mexican-born American film actor who specialized in playing small parts such as thugs, gangsters, sailors, henchmen, bodyguards, cab drivers and moving men, appearing more than 400 ...

as Ferguson

Production

''Going Wild'' was filmed in

Glendale, California Glendale is a city in the San Fernando Valley and Verdugo Mountains regions of Los Angeles County, California, United States. At the 2020 U.S. Census the population was 196,543, up from 191,719 at the 2010 census, making it the fourth-larges ...

at the

Griffith Park Griffith Park is a large municipal park at the eastern end of the Santa Monica Mountains, in the Los Feliz neighborhood of Los Angeles, California. The park includes popular attractions such as the Los Angeles Zoo, the Autry Museum of the ...

Aerodrome using

California National Guard The California National Guard is part of the National Guard of the United States, a dual federal-state military reserve force. The CA National Guard has three components: the CA Army National Guard, CA Air National Guard, and CA State Guard. ...

hangars, with additional scenes shot at the Warner Bros. studios. A Travel Air B-4000 (c/n 1323, NC688K) appearing as the Blue Star is the same aircraft that appears in the ''

Tailspin Tommy ''Tailspin Tommy'' was an air adventure comic strip about a youthful pilot, " Tailspin" Tommy Tomkins (sometimes spelled Tompkins). Originally illustrated by Hal Forrest and initially distributed by John Neville Wheeler's Bell Syndicate and then ...

'' film series (1934) and ''

Wings in the Dark ''Wings in the Dark'' is a 1935 film directed by James Flood and starring Myrna Loy and Cary Grant and focusing on a daring woman aviator and an inventor thrust into a desperate situation. ''Wings in the Dark'' was produced by Arthur Hornblow, J ...

'' (1935). The character of Ace Barton flies a Travel Air 9000/4000 (c/n 381, NC4421) named the Zoom, later appearing in ''

Skyway A skyway, skybridge, skywalk, or sky walkway is an elevated type of pedway connecting two or more buildings in an urban area, or connecting elevated points within mountainous recreational zones. Urban skyways very often take the form of enclo ...

'' (1933). The film was originally intended as a musical, but only one song, "My Hero Mine," is featured, sung by Joe E. Brown and Laura Lee. Several other musical numbers are heard in the background throughout the film. The press sheet for the film did not mention "My Hero Mine."Barrios 1995, p. 330. During production, many cuts to the film were made, including all of the original music. Two other films featuring Brown, '' Top Speed'' (1930) and ''

Sit Tight ''Sit Tight'' is a 1931 American Pre-Code musical comedy film, directed by Lloyd Bacon, written by Rex Taylor, edited by James Gibbon, and produced and distributed by Warner Bros. It was originally intended as a full musical, but due to the ba ...

'' (1931), met the same fate. A French version titled ''L'aviateur'' was released in 1931.

Reception

In a contemporary review for ''

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...

'', critic

Mordaunt Hall Mordaunt Hall (1 November 1878 – 2 July 1973) was the first regularly assigned motion picture critic for ''The New York Times'', working from October 1924 to September 1934. Aviation-film historian Stephen Pendo has noted that ''Going Wild'' contains a similar theme to that of '' The Aviator'' (1929).Pendo 1985, p. 36.

Preservation status

''Going Wild'' survives only in the edited version that was released in late 1930 by Warner Bros. The complete film was released intact in countries outside the United States, but it is unknown whether a copy of this full version still exists. The edited version has been released on DVD through the

Warner Archive Collection The Warner Archive Collection is a home video division for releasing classic and cult films from Warner Bros.' library. It started as a manufactured-on-demand (MOD) DVD series by Warner Bros. Home Entertainment on March 23, 2009, with the inten ...

References

Notes

Citations

Bibliography

* Barrios, Richard. ''A Song in the Dark: The Birth of the Musical Film''. New York: Oxford University Press, 1995. . * Pendo, Stephen. ''Aviation in the Cinema''. Lanham, Maryland: Scarecrow Press, 1985. . * Wynne, H. Hugh. ''The Motion Picture Stunt Pilots and Hollywood's Classic Aviation Movies.'' Missoula, Montana: Pictorial Histories Publishing Co., 1987. .

External links

* * * * {{William A. Seiter 1930 films First National Pictures films Warner Bros. films 1930s English-language films Films directed by William A. Seiter American black-and-white films American aviation films 1930 musical comedy films American musical comedy films 1930s American films