Going Wild (1930)

As Good As It Gets

If the ambition is to provide two hours of instantly forgettable, popcorn-munching escapism, it succeeds.

True to its essence, the characters remain on the same line and manage to entertain the viewer, each highlighting their own distinctive qualities or touches.

Through painfully honest and emotional moments, the movie becomes irresistibly relatable

Humorous, but not out and out funny. This is Joe E. Brown in one of his earlier films...before he had really formed his on screen persona. Perhaps the best bit in the film is the segment where he is being medically tested...again, humorous, but you're not going to laugh out loud.The basic plot is that two down-and-out newspaper reporters get roped into their own lies, with Brown letting people believe he is a famous pilot.The casting is interesting. Brown was still in a formative period. Lawrence Gray as a fellow newspaper reporter was decent, and certainly much better than Jack Whiting in another of Brown's 1930 films. Ona Munson is the female lead here (her first starring role). Never heard of her? Yes you have -- Belle Watling in "Gone With The Wind"! Walter Pidgeon is rather dashing here as the opposing pilot...although he had appeared in several films when this film was produced. Frank McHugh is around again, and does somewhat nicely here, though clearly he had not develop his screen persona yet, either. Interestingly, this was made as a musical, but all but one musical number was cut from the American release since audiences had soured on musicals. No known full prints exist with the musical numbers intact. The finale -- an air race -- had potential, but wasn't realized. How can no one fly a plane and remain in the air that long???This film is better for Joe E. Brown fans. His better films are yet to come.

My least favorite Joe Brown film. I LOVE Frank McHugh and Waldo Pidgeon, but the bad jokes, bad acting, and bad script are just all too silly. The first time I saw this, I wondered why no director was credited, and now we now why. And another thing. Why do all the women talk in that screechie high pitched voice in films from the 1930s?? Was that really the rage during the 1930s? I'm sure I sound like a grumpy old man by this point, but it really is pretty lame. Interesting piece of spinning equipment when they are giving "Rollo" the exam up on the roof. Was that some real testing equipment, or had they just come up with something silly for the film. You can tell talkies were relatively new.. they still use title cards in this one. Most of the film is like a three stooges scene. Ah well. They can't all be great. It's just "okay. There were a couple fun and funny scenes here and there, so it wasn't a total washout. just my three and a half cents.

There were several Joe E. Brown movies in the early 30's that weren't funny and this is one of them. He had yet to hit his stride which seems to me occurred from "Elmer The Great" (1933) onward. The screenplay and the script are at fault here and the film was badly in need of a gag writer, and someone who could create funny situations and dialogue to go along with them. Scene after scene falls flat as a pancake with unfunny sight gags and rejected Vaudeville punch lines.Wasted in this carnage is Frank McHugh who for some reason is forced to play his role in an inebriated state throughout the picture. Also left in the lurch are Ona Munson, Walter Pigeon and Fred Kelsey. I caught this one on TCM, in a rare lapse of judgment for this normally dependable station.

Other than in SOME LIKE IT HOT, I have never been a huge fan of the comedies of Joe E. Brown. A few are amiable enough but none of them seem all that funny or memorable. This film manages to be a little less likable and interesting than most. Now if you ARE a rabid fan of Brown, then consider this as you read my review.Brown and his friend (who have almost no chemistry together as partners) wander into a town where everyone is expecting a famous author to arrive by train. However, the author inexplicably doesn't want all the adulation and the two guys are mistaken for the author. Why they decide to do this isn't at all clear--I guess they just read it in the script, as I could see no other reason for their going on this elaborate and later very dangerous ruse. For a while the two guys eat a lot of free meals and chase women and there seems to be no real direction for the film or laughs. However, in the end, Brown is convinced to enter an air race (even though he has no idea how to fly) and he somehow wins AND gets the girl--though NONE of this makes any sense at all and is accompanied by a lot of cheesy special effects (i.e., a rear projected screen)! The bottom line is that this is a time-passer and nothing more. If you are looking for laughs, you might find more in the average Boris Karloff film!