Wheeler * Woolsey RKO Comedy Classics Collection. Disc 4, High Flyers

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Originally released as a motion picture in 1937.
Bert Wheeler, Robert Woolsey, Lupe Velez.
Two men are hired to pick up what they think are photos for a reporter. Actually, they are retrieving stolen diamonds.
DVD, full-screen 4x3 (1.37:1), Dolby digital, mono.

COMMUNITY REVIEWS

I'll call it a hidden treasure... adding a caveat submitted by Kristy Rawson on March 18, 2014, 8:05pm High Flyers is an example of what was known in the 1930s as a "series programmer." It was along the lines of what we think of as a B-movie, the lighter film proceeding the main attraction. What made it a *series* programmer was the fact that the top-billed stars of the film, Bert Wheeler and Robert Woolsey, were well known for their partnership in a series of comic screen antics. They were not A-list actors by any means but, make no mistake, they were very popular stars. Their films were known, anticipated, and very broadly enjoyed.

I didn't come to this film, though, because I was so interested in Wheeler and Woolsey (not that they aren't interesting). I discovered the film owing to my interest in the third-billed star, the Mexican Hollywood actress, Lupe Vélez. Vélez got her start in the silent era (her debut was opposite Douglas Fairbanks in the 1927 film, The Gaucho). For a variety of reasons – including but not limited to her Mexican accent – Vélez's career in the 1930s had proven difficult to sustain. Vélez had thus embarked on a theater career on Broadway, which led her to London, which led her to two British films. This film, High Flyers, represented her return to Hollywood after three years away. For me, as a Lupe Vélez fan, the most delightful aspect of the film takes place when Vélez performs the musical segments that give her the opportunity to showcase the talents that brought her such popularity on Broadway and London stages. About halfway through the film Vélez performs the song, "I Always Get My Man," which takes her into impersonations of three very significant film stars at the time: Dolores del Rio, Simone Simon, and Shirley Temple. The impersonations are hilarious and perfect, and they represent the first time that Vélez was able to immortalize her popular stage antics on film. For that reason alone, High Flyers is of significant historical interest. Her second musical segment in this film, when she performs a delightful tap-dance number, "I'm a Gaucho," with Robert Woolsey, represents a somewhat similar intertextual reference. The "I'm a Gaucho" number can be seen to refer ironically to Vélez's own illustrious historical debut in the Fairbanks film, The Gaucho.

*Black-face Warning*
Now for the caveat, which I take very seriously and which keeps me from whole-heartedly endorsing this film.
Impersonation is definitely a thing in this movie. Towards the end of the fim, Bert Wheeler embarks on a lovely Chaplin imitation. From there, though, the Chaplin conceit devolves rather inexplicably into a black-face performance that some fan discourses refer to as an "homage" to Bill Robinson. I can't really see it that way. While Wheeler and Woolsey did have history with Bill Robinson (Dixiana, 1930, also from RKO), there's nothing about this Bert Wheeler performance that brings Bill Robinson's dance or screen persona to mind. In fact, and more to the point, the Wheeler black-face performance descends into a racist caricature that is played for comedy and is designed to exploit – for racializing humor – a narrative moment involving fear, guilt and impending capture.

So, in the final analysis. my feelings about High Flyers are strong and are deeply mixed. I do believe it is an historically important film. And a lot of the humor (including, but not limited to the Vélez performances, even as she is, after all, a maid in the film) is interesting and fun. On the other hand, it's a clear product of its time. In the context of racial and ethnic inclusion, the 1930s were a slide back from the '20s. Thus High Flyers needs to be understood as a film doing *some* progressive work, but on a very limited scale. It falls very far short of what one might hope a progressive film might have represented in 1937. High Flyers stands as a representation of the promises and limitations of the industry in its era. For that, I would say that it is worth a critical watch.