''Now We're in the Air'' is a 1927 American silent

comedy film The comedy film is a film genre that emphasizes humor. These films are designed to amuse audiences and make them laugh. Films in this genre typically have a happy ending, with dark comedy being an exception to this rule. Comedy is one of the o ...

directed by Frank R. Strayer, starring the late-1920s intermittent comedy team of

Wallace Beery Wallace Fitzgerald Beery (April 1, 1885 – April 15, 1949) was an American film and stage actor. He is best known for his portrayal of Bill in '' Min and Bill'' (1930) opposite Marie Dressler, as General Director Preysing in '' Grand Hotel'' (1 ...

and

Raymond Hatton Raymond William Hatton (July 7, 1887 – October 21, 1971) was an American film actor who appeared in almost 500 motion pictures. Biography Hatton was born in Red Oak, Iowa. His physician father steered him toward a career in medicine. Howe ...

. In a supporting role,

Louise Brooks Mary Louise Brooks (November 14, 1906 – August 8, 1985) was an American film actress during the 1920s and 1930s. She is regarded today as an cultural icon, icon of the flapper culture, in part due to the bob cut, bob hairstyle that she helped ...

plays twins, one raised French and the other raised German. Wallace Beery and Louise Brooks worked together the following year in the taut drama ''

Beggars of Life ''Beggars of Life'' is a 1928 American part-talkie sound film that was directed by William Wellman. Although the film featured sequences with audible dialogue, the majority of the film had a synchronized musical score with sound effects. The fi ...

'', a well-received early sound film. Hatton also sometimes appeared paired in films with Beery's older brother

Noah Beery Noah Nicholas Beery (January 17, 1882 – April 1, 1946) was an American actor who appeared in films from 1913 until his death in 1946. He was the older brother of Academy Award-winning actor Wallace Beery as well as the father of characte ...

Plot

Wally (

) and Ray (

) are cousins whose grandfather, Lord Abercrombie McTavish ( Russell Simpson), is an aviation enthusiast who wanted to sign up as a pilot in the war. Wally and Ray are intent upon getting the fortune of their Scottish grandfather, and decide to show him that they are just as interested in aviation. Wally and Ray enlist in the

United States Army Air Service The United States Army Air Service (USAAS)Craven and Cate Vol. 1, p. 9 (also known as the ''"Air Service"'', ''"U.S. Air Service"'' and before its legislative establishment in 1920, the ''"Air Service, United States Army"'') was the aerial warf ...

, and are caught up in the aerial battles over the

World War I World War I or the First World War (28 July 1914 – 11 November 1918), also known as the Great War, was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War I, Allies (or Entente) and the Central Powers. Fighting to ...

front lines. When the duo flies over the enemy lines in a runaway balloon, through a misunderstanding, they are honored as heroes of the enemy forces. The Germans send the aviators back to the U. S. lines as spies for the

Kaiser Kaiser ( ; ) is the title historically used by German and Austrian emperors. In German, the title in principle applies to rulers anywhere in the world above the rank of king (). In English, the word ''kaiser'' is mainly applied to the emperors ...

. Here they are captured and almost shot, but everything ends happily. Along the way, Wally and Ray fall in love with twin sisters, Grisette and Griselle (both played by

, one loyal to the French, the other to the Germans).

Cast

as Wally *

as Ray * Russell Simpson as Lord Abercrombie McTavish *

as Griselle and as Grisette *

Emile Chautard Emile or Émile may refer to: * Émile (novel) (1827), autobiographical novel based on Émile de Girardin's early life * Emile, Canadian film made in 2003 by Carl Bessai * '' Emile: or, On Education'' (1762) by Jean-Jacques Rousseau, a treatise o ...

as Monsieur Chelaine *

Malcolm Waite Malcolm Ivan Waite (May 7, 1892 – April 25, 1949) was an American film actor. Biography Malcolm Waite appeared in 31 films between 1923 and 1942, most notably as the oily "ladies' man" Jack in Charlie Chaplin's film classic ''The Gold Rush''; ...

as Prof. Saenger * Duke Martin as Top Sargeant * Richard Alexander as German officer (uncredited) *

Theodore von Eltz Julius Theodore von Eltz (November 5, 1893 – October 6, 1964) was an American film actor, appearing in more than 200 films between 1915 and 1957. He was the father of actress Lori March. Early life Born in New Haven, Connecticut, Von Eltz ...

as German officer (uncredited) *

Fred Kohler Fredrick Louis Kohler (April 20, 1888 – October 28, 1938) was an American actor. Career Fred Kohler was born in Kansas City, Missouri or in Dubuque, Iowa. As a teen, he began to pursue a career in vaudeville, but worked other jobs to suppor ...

(uncredited) * Charles Stevens as Knife Thrower (uncredited) * Mattie Witting as Madame Chelaine, mother of the twins (uncredited)

Production

With the working title of ''We're Up in the Air Now '', ''Now We're in the Air'' was the third in a series of war comedies starring Wallace Beery and Raymond Hatton. It followed on the heels of the popular ''

Behind the Front ''Behind the Front'' is the debut studio album by American hip hop group Black Eyed Peas released on June 30, 1998, through Interscope Records and will.i.am Music Group. Background Most of the tracks were demos for the '' Grass Roots'' album ...

'' and '' We're in the Navy Now'' (both released in 1926)."Catalog: 'Now We're in the Air'."
''Catalog.afi.com'', 2019. Retrieved: July 16, 2019. Most of the footage in ''Now We're in the Air'' features Beery and Hatton creating mayhem around a World War I airfield. Along with original aerial scenes, the aerial battle footage was left over from ''

Wings A wing is a type of fin that produces both lift and drag while moving through air. Wings are defined by two shape characteristics, an airfoil section and a planform. Wing efficiency is expressed as lift-to-drag ratio, which compares the bene ...

'' (1927) and intercut into the action. Frank Tomick was hired as the stunt pilot to create additional scenes. He operated out of Griffith Park air field where

Paramount Paramount (from the word ''paramount'' meaning "above all others") may refer to: Entertainment and music companies * Paramount Global, also known simply as Paramount, an American mass media company formerly known as ViacomCBS. **Paramount Picture ...

had leased the airfield and the National Guard

Curtiss JN-4 The Curtiss JN "Jenny" is a series of biplanes built by the Glenn Curtiss Aeroplane Company of Hammondsport, New York, later the Curtiss Aeroplane and Motor Company. Although the Curtiss JN series was originally produced as a training aircraft ...

"Jennies" stationed there.

Reception

The film was widely reviewed and performed well at the box office across the United States. At a time when most new releases played only one week, it enjoyed an extended run in New York City and ran for a month in San Francisco. It also opened simultaneously in five theaters in Boston, where one reviewer wrote that the audience “was so moved by mirth that they were close to tears.” Writing in the ''New York American'', critic Regina Canon stated “Miss Brooks is the brightest spot in ''Now We’re in the Air'', for she may be always depended upon to be interesting, trig and snappy.” ''Now We're in the Air'' was popular in its time, although not as well received as the earlier military farces from the Beery/Hatton team. The aerial scenes were an interesting aspect of the production. In a modern re-appraisal, however, reviewer Janiss Garza commented: "In spite of a dual role, Brooks doesn't have much to do; ''Moving Picture World'' felt that 'any intelligent extra girl' could have handled the part."

Preservation: 23 Minutes

''Now We're in the Air'' was long believed to be a

lost film A lost film is a feature film, feature or short film in which the original negative or copies are not known to exist in any studio archive, private collection, or public archive. Films can be wholly or partially lost for a number of reasons. ...

. Three fragments were discovered in 2016 in a Czech archive: most of the surviving material was incomplete and badly deteriorated but approximately 23 minutes of the original 6 reel film was able to be preserved to the point of crystalline clarity, including a lengthy sequence in which Louise Brooks wears a black tutu. The print was found in Prague at the

Národní filmový archiv The National Film Archive (, abb. NFA) is a film archive located in Prague, Czech Republic. It was established in 1943 (From 1943 to 1945 known as Filmový archiv, from 1945 to 1989 Československý filmový ústav, then from 1990 to 1992 Český f ...

(the Czech Republic’s National Film Archive) by film preservationist Robert Byrne. "When Byrne inspected the elements for ''Rif a Raf, piloti'' (the Czech title for ''Now We’re in the Air''), he found the film had only partially survived in a state which also showed nitrate decomposition. Additionally, the surviving scenes were found to be out of order, and there were Czech-language titles in place of the original American titles. Byrne spent more than eight months reconstructing the surviving material, including restoring the film’s original English-language intertitles and original tinting."Gladysz, Thomas
"Long missing Louise Brooks film found."
''Huffington Post'', October 23, 2017. Retrieved: July 16, 2019. The preserved print of the restored fragment of ''Now We're in the Air'' was shown premiered at the

San Francisco Silent Film Festival The San Francisco Silent Film Festival is a film festival first held in 1996 and presented annually at the Castro Theatre in San Francisco, California, United States. It is the largest silent film festival in the United States, although the largest ...

on June 2, 2017.Gladysz, Thomas
" 'Now We're in the Air' travels the world."
''San Francisco Silent Film Festival program'', June 2, 2017. Retrieved: July 15, 2019.

References

Notes

Citations

Bibliography

* Brooks, Louise. ''Lulu in Hollywood''. New York: Knopf, 1982. . * Farmer, James H. ''Celluloid Wings: The Impact of Movies on Aviation''. Blue Ridge Summit, Pennsylvania: Tab Books Inc., 1984. . * Gladysz, Thomas. ''Now We're in the Air''. New York: PandorasBox Press, 2017. . * Paris, Barry. ''Louise Brooks''. New York: Knopf, 1989. . * 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. . * Wynne, H. Hugh. ''The Motion Picture Stunt Pilots and Hollywood's Classic Aviation Movies''. Missoula, Montana: Pictorial Histories Publishing Co., 1987. .

External links

*
''Now We're in the Air''
filmography page at

Louise Brooks Society The Louise Brooks Society is an online archive devoted to the silent film star Louise Brooks (1906–1985). The Louise Brooks Society, or LBS, was started in 1995 and launched on the web that same year. The stated goals of the LBS are to promote a ...

"Long Missing Louise Brooks Film Found"; Huffington PostFan tribute & forum''Now We're in the Air'' (restored version)
at vimeo.com {{DEFAULTSORT:Now We're in the Air 1927 films 1927 comedy films 1927 lost films 1920s American films 1920s English-language films American aviation films American black-and-white films American silent feature films American World War I films English-language comedy films Films directed by Frank R. Strayer Lost American comedy films Lost silent American films Paramount Pictures films Silent American comedy films