''The Flying Fool'' is a 1929

aviation Aviation includes the activities surrounding mechanical flight and the aircraft industry. ''Aircraft'' includes fixed-wing and rotary-wing types, morphable wings, wing-less lifting bodies, as well as lighter-than-air craft such as hot air ...

-themed film produced and distributed by

Pathé Exchange Pathé Exchange, commonly known as Pathé, was an American film production and distribution company, largely of Hollywood's silent era. Known for its groundbreaking newsreel and wide array of shorts, it grew out of the American division of the ...

as both a

silent film A silent film is a film with no synchronized recorded sound (or more generally, no audible dialogue). Though silent films convey narrative and emotion visually, various plot elements (such as a setting or era) or key lines of dialogue may, when ...

and

sound film A sound film is a motion picture with synchronized sound, or sound technologically coupled to image, as opposed to a silent film. The first known public exhibition of projected sound films took place in Paris in 1900, but decades passed before ...

just as

Hollywood Hollywood usually refers to: * Hollywood, Los Angeles, a neighborhood in California * Hollywood, a metonym for the cinema of the United States Hollywood may also refer to: Places United States * Hollywood District (disambiguation) * Hollywood, ...

was transitioning to filming with sound.

Tay Garnett William Taylor "Tay" Garnett (June 13, 1894 – October 3, 1977) was an American film director and writer. Biography Early life Born in Los Angeles, Garnett attended the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and served as a naval aviator in Wo ...

directed and William Boyd,

Russell Gleason Russell Gleason (February 6, 1908 – December 25, 1945) was an American actor who began his career at the very beginning of the talking film era. Born into an acting family, one of his earliest roles was in the 1930 classic film, ''All Quiet on ...

and

Marie Prevost Marie Prevost (born Marie Bickford Dunn; November 8, 1896 – January 21, 1937) was a Canadian-born film actress. During her 20-year career, she made 121 silent and sound films. Prevost began her career during the silent film era. She was d ...

starred.

Plot

After an World War I aerial battle over French lines, Bill Taylor ( William Boyd) is honoured as an ace. After the war, he continues flying as a barnstormer, known as the "Flying Fool". His kid-brother, Jimmy (

), is one of his crew. Jimmy falls in love with a nightclub singer, Pat Riley (

). His older-brother worries that Jimmy may be involved with the wrong kind of girl. Bill decides to check on Pat out and he finds she is a sweet and home-loving daughter working to provide for her mother. To his surprise, he also falls for her, and this upsets Jimmy. Both brothers take to their aircraft to decide which of them will win Pat. After a thrilling air "battle," Bill and Jimmy land safely. Pat decides she loves Bill, and Jimmy transfers his affections to another pretty girl.

Cast

* William Boyd as Bill Taylor *

as Pat Riley * Tom O'Brien as Tom Dugan *

as Jimmy Taylor *

Kate Bruce Kate Bruce (February 17, 1860 – April 2, 1946) was an American actress of the silent era. She appeared in more than 280 films between 1908 and 1931. She was born in Columbus, Indiana and died in New York City. In 1885, Bruce left Boone, I ...

as Mrs. Riley, Pat's Mother * Dan Wolheim as Airport Manager *

Dorothy Ward Dorothy Ward (26 April 1890 – 30 March 1987) was an English actress who specialised in pantomimes, playing the principal boy roles, while her husband Shaun Glenville would play the dame roles. She had a successful 52 year career and played i ...

as Mae Hopper

Production

According to her journal entry for 1929,

aviatrix An aircraft pilot or aviator is a person who controls the flight of an aircraft by operating its directional flight controls. Some other aircrew members, such as navigators or flight engineers, are also considered aviators, because they a ...

Pancho Barnes Florence Lowe "Pancho" Barnes (July 22, 1901 – March 30, 1975) was a pioneer aviator and a founder of the first movie stunt pilots' union. In 1930, she broke Amelia Earhart's air speed record. Barnes raced in the Women's Air Derby and was a m ...

flew in ''The Flying Fool''. Noted stunt pilot Frank Clarke along with his friends, Leon Nomis, Roy Wilson and Dick Rinaldi, also flew in the film.Santoir, Christian
"Review: 'The Flying Fool'."
''Aeromovies'', April 5, 2012. Retrieved: July 3, 2019. The shooting locale was the Metropolitan Airport in

Los Angeles Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the largest city in the state of California and the second most populous city in the United States after New York City, as well as one of the world' ...

where two

Travel Air 4000 The Travel Air 2000/3000/4000 (originally, the Model A, Model B and Model BH were open-cockpit biplane aircraft produced in the United States in the late 1920s by the Travel Air Manufacturing Company. During the period from 1924–1929, T ...

aircraft (one painted white with "The Flying Fool" on its fuselage) were flown.

Reception

Aviation film historian Stephen Pendo, in ''Aviation in the Cinema'' (1985) noted ''The Flying Fool'' was an "all dialogue" (another catch phrase for a

or "

talkie A sound film is a motion picture A film also called a movie, motion picture, moving picture, picture, photoplay or (slang) flick is a work of visual art that simulates experiences and otherwise communicates ideas, stories, percep ...

". He also wrote, "noted cameraman

Arthur Miller Arthur Asher Miller (October 17, 1915 – February 10, 2005) was an American playwright, essayist and screenwriter in the 20th-century American theater. Among his most popular plays are '' All My Sons'' (1947), ''Death of a Salesman'' ( ...

lensed the film." Aviation film historian James Farmer in ''Celluloid Wings: The Impact of Movies on Aviation'' (1984) considered ''The Flying Fool'', an example of a film that benefitted from "... excellent aerial sequences."Farmer 1984, p. 308.

References

Notes

Citations

Bibliography

* Farmer, James H. ''Celluloid Wings: The Impact of Movies on Aviation'' (1st ed.). Blue Ridge Summit, Pennsylvania: TAB Books 1984. . * Paris, Michael. ''From the Wright Brothers to Top Gun: Aviation, Nationalism, and Popular Cinema.'' Manchester, UK: Manchester University Press, 1995. . * Pendo, Stephen. ''Aviation in the Cinema''. Lanham, Maryland: Scarecrow Press, 1985. .

External links

* * *
The Flying Fool
available for free download a
Internet Archive
{{DEFAULTSORT:Flying Fool, The 1929 films Films directed by Tay Garnett Pathé Exchange films American aviation films 1929 comedy films Silent American comedy films American black-and-white films 1920s American films