In this East Side Kids entry, the gang get mixed up with a flying ambulance which is later revealed to be a front for some enemy plans. I guess most of the comedy was supposed to come out of various malapropisms said by the gang but I didn't think much of that was funny. The one scene I really thought earned a laugh was the one after Ernie "Sunshine Sammy" Morrison had inhaled some gas and then got off the plane and started to basically "dance" in slow motion! I also liked a scene where Peewee (David Gorcey, brother of Leo) saved Leo Gorcey and his friend's life though he himself got injured. Oh, and seeing the car turn over at the beginning-which turned out to be real and not planned-was also good for a thrill. In summary, Flying Wild is not too bad especially during the chase at the end.
8 Reviews
The East Side Kids: A Slight Case of Sabotage
lugonian9 May 2023
FLYING WILD (Monogram, 1941) directed by William West, marked the fifth installment to the "East Side Kids" series featuring regulars Leo Gorcey, Bobby Jordan, Sunshine Sammy Morrison, David Gorcey, Donald Haines, Eugene Francis and Bobby Stone in leading roles. Though basically a Gorcey-Jordan story, it plays more like a chaptered serial minus the "To be continued next week" title card, along with some humor and suspense added.
After a brief image of the neighborhood streets in New York City, Mugs McGinnis (Leo Gorcey) calls out his friends, Skinny (Donald Haines), Danny Graham (Bobby Jordan) Pee-Wee (David Gorcey), Algy (Eugene Francis) and Scruno (Sunshine Sammy Morrison) so he can drive them to work at the Reynolds Aviation Company outside the city limits. Algy's father, Mr. Reynolds (Herbert Rawlinson), who has hired the boys at his advice, wonders about Mugs, who feels he doesn't need to work and is quite satisfied just hanging around the plant while the other boys make good earning a living. Because plans and blueprints are being stolen, and Mugs believing a series of "accidents" could be sabotage from within the company, Reynolds selects Danny to act as decoy to expose the ring leader. Though Mugs has his suspicions, both he and Danny are abducted and left tide up upside down in a barrel. With the help of Tom Larson (Dave O'Brien), the pilot of the flying ambulance, and Helen Munson (Joan Barclay), the flight nurse, the boys go undercover for further investigation. Co-starring George Pembroke (Doctor Richard Nagel III); Bobby Stone (Louie); Dennis Moore (George); Forrest Taylor (Mr. Forbes) and Mary Bovard (Maisie).
For its cast, it's interesting seeing former "East Side Kids" regular Dave O'Brien, who had played Danny's older brother and guardian, "Knuckles" Dolan in the first three 1940 installments (EAST SIDE KIDS, BOYS OF THE CITY and THAT GANG OF MINE) to continue in the series in a different role. Bobby Jordan, who had played Danny Dolan in two installments, is now Danny Graham. "Sunshine Sammy" Morrison returns as Scruno (who not part of the East Side Kids in PRIDE OF THE BOWERY), now back with the kids for comedy purposes. One scene has him smelling ether and running about in slow motion.
More drama than comedy, the only time the movie consists of airplane to be flying wild is when Mugs knocks out the pilot. Overall satisfactory entry, especially when spending more time at the aviation company than the local streets of the Bowery. Even though Gorcey's Mugs is the only one not working, he does more work through his sense of reasoning than with his hands. At 63 minutes, FLYING WILD sometimes suffers from poor editing and low-budget production values. It's interesting picking scenes and errors not scripted that remain in the final cut.
Available on both video cassette and DVD formats, FLYING WILD was one of the many "East Side Kids" entries to broadcast on Turner Classic Movies (TCM premiere: September 13, 2004) during its "East Side Kids" movie marathon. Next installment: BOWERY BLITZKREIG (1941). (**)
After a brief image of the neighborhood streets in New York City, Mugs McGinnis (Leo Gorcey) calls out his friends, Skinny (Donald Haines), Danny Graham (Bobby Jordan) Pee-Wee (David Gorcey), Algy (Eugene Francis) and Scruno (Sunshine Sammy Morrison) so he can drive them to work at the Reynolds Aviation Company outside the city limits. Algy's father, Mr. Reynolds (Herbert Rawlinson), who has hired the boys at his advice, wonders about Mugs, who feels he doesn't need to work and is quite satisfied just hanging around the plant while the other boys make good earning a living. Because plans and blueprints are being stolen, and Mugs believing a series of "accidents" could be sabotage from within the company, Reynolds selects Danny to act as decoy to expose the ring leader. Though Mugs has his suspicions, both he and Danny are abducted and left tide up upside down in a barrel. With the help of Tom Larson (Dave O'Brien), the pilot of the flying ambulance, and Helen Munson (Joan Barclay), the flight nurse, the boys go undercover for further investigation. Co-starring George Pembroke (Doctor Richard Nagel III); Bobby Stone (Louie); Dennis Moore (George); Forrest Taylor (Mr. Forbes) and Mary Bovard (Maisie).
For its cast, it's interesting seeing former "East Side Kids" regular Dave O'Brien, who had played Danny's older brother and guardian, "Knuckles" Dolan in the first three 1940 installments (EAST SIDE KIDS, BOYS OF THE CITY and THAT GANG OF MINE) to continue in the series in a different role. Bobby Jordan, who had played Danny Dolan in two installments, is now Danny Graham. "Sunshine Sammy" Morrison returns as Scruno (who not part of the East Side Kids in PRIDE OF THE BOWERY), now back with the kids for comedy purposes. One scene has him smelling ether and running about in slow motion.
More drama than comedy, the only time the movie consists of airplane to be flying wild is when Mugs knocks out the pilot. Overall satisfactory entry, especially when spending more time at the aviation company than the local streets of the Bowery. Even though Gorcey's Mugs is the only one not working, he does more work through his sense of reasoning than with his hands. At 63 minutes, FLYING WILD sometimes suffers from poor editing and low-budget production values. It's interesting picking scenes and errors not scripted that remain in the final cut.
Available on both video cassette and DVD formats, FLYING WILD was one of the many "East Side Kids" entries to broadcast on Turner Classic Movies (TCM premiere: September 13, 2004) during its "East Side Kids" movie marathon. Next installment: BOWERY BLITZKREIG (1941). (**)
Time for the Bowery Boys to take down some Nazi's!
mark.waltz5 February 2014
Warning: Spoilers
While it is never really clarified, it is obvious that the spies trying to sabotage a medical airplane are really Nazi's in this "East End" kids programmer from their early years at Monogram. The malapropisms fly as fast as the airplanes do in this action comedy where the boys (especially Leo Gorcey) do their bit, all the while coming off as lazy, even if they really aren't. It is obvious from the get-go who the villains are because they all are extremely thin, wear glasses and never smile. Some of the flight sequences are ridiculously over the top (no man, even with a strong stomach, could take so many somersaults on a plane let alone survive without being strapped in) and at times the comedy is obviously forced. But these kids have come along way from their days under the Queensborough Bridge and their "Dead End" and as tough as they are, you know that huge hearts of gold lie underneath their Brooklyn drawls. Gorcey doesn't really give the others much of a chance to stand out (with later fellow lead Huntz Hall noticeably absent) but Bobby Jordan, Donald Haines and even Leo's own brother, David, really try. "Sunshine" Sammy Morrison proves once again that even in a small part as their black side-kick, he was capable of stealing even the smallest of scenes, particularly when he does a dance that was obviously slowed down for comic impact.
Its Few Merits Are Owed To Unplanned Action.
rsoonsa6 June 2005
This is the fifth in the set of East Side Kids films that form the middle grouping of the three series wherein Leo Gorcey, playing here as Muggs McGinnis, gives the members of the mini-mob that he leads little peace, with this wartime effort having a familiar subject: patriotic East Sider engagement versus enemy agents. While the others of the gang have found employment in support of the war effort as aircraft assemblers at a local plant, indolent Muggs prefers to remain unemployed while giving aid to his pals by driving them to and from work in his battered topless jalopy, and then merely hanging about while the rest are at labour. As he is poking about near plane hangars, Muggs discovers a "Flying Ambulance" experimental craft, as well as a good-looking nurse who goes with it, Helen, played by Joan Barclay, and due to an overheard conversation, he is convinced that the physician/owner of the plane and his cohorts are spies responsible for a developing crisis involving domestic sabotage. Although Muggs is unsuccessful at an attempt to convince the factory owner that his plant is housing saboteurs, Muggs' fellow East Siders endorse his theory and the storyline arranges for a climactic conflict between them and a coterie of subversives, with test pilot Tom (Dave O'Brien), boyfriend of Helen, joining in to tangle with the Forces of Evil. A skimpy budget always worked nicely for producer Sam Katzman with his Monogram Pictures releases, but for this item, the original title of which was AIR DEVILS, dependence upon single takes gives it a threadbare look, although expressions of dismay upon the faces of Gorcey, Bobby Jordan and others in a well-known scene as the Muggs-steered jalopy unexpectedly tips completely over are well beyond value. The comical ad libbing that enhances later productions in the series, especially after the addition of Huntz Hall, is scarce during the affair but it is noteworthy that Gorcey introduces his unique malapropisms with this work that also includes an appearance in the cast of veteran B film director Robert Hill, the same who was at the helm of the first East Side Kids undertaking.
Stealing our aviation secrets
bkoganbing16 March 2014
We haven't gone to war yet and the kids are slightly too young for the armed services, but that doesn't mean the East Side Kids can't do their bit for the USA. They've gotten jobs at an aircraft factory and the closest to New York in those days was Farmingdale in Long Island where presumably this takes place in Flying Wild.
Before long the boys suspect enemy spies are at work stealing our aviation secrets and it's up to the East Side Kids to put a stop to them. Leo Gorcey suspects plant doctor George Pembroke of being head spy. He has to be because he shooed the kids away from his flying ambulance plane so therefore he's a meanie. That he happens to be the spy is just a bonus and its only the kids who figure it out.
Flying Wild is a pretty dated World War II era propaganda film. But believe me there would be better or worse to come depending on your point of view. Sometimes I don't think we'd have won the war without the East Side Kids and their home front efforts.
Before long the boys suspect enemy spies are at work stealing our aviation secrets and it's up to the East Side Kids to put a stop to them. Leo Gorcey suspects plant doctor George Pembroke of being head spy. He has to be because he shooed the kids away from his flying ambulance plane so therefore he's a meanie. That he happens to be the spy is just a bonus and its only the kids who figure it out.
Flying Wild is a pretty dated World War II era propaganda film. But believe me there would be better or worse to come depending on your point of view. Sometimes I don't think we'd have won the war without the East Side Kids and their home front efforts.
Pretty dreadful...
planktonrules7 August 2010
Warning: Spoilers
This is a rather sloppy and not particularly entertaining B-movie. It surprised me a bit, as the East Side Kids films were generally pretty decent--and a bit better than their later incarnation as the Bowery Boys in a long string of forgettable films.
The plot involves the gang getting jobs as an airplane plant where they are testing and designing new planes. Eventually, Muggs (Leo Gorcey) hits on the idea that the Doctor and his pals are spies and that their frequent trips in the company's hospital plane are really being done to sneak out secrets to 'the enemy'--an enemy that is not named, as the US was not yet at war and there actually was a law congress passed that prohibited films taking any sort of stand about the war raging in Europe. By 1941, some studios were ignoring the law (it WAS a clear violation of the First Amendment's right to free speech). Monogram Studios must have decided not to flaunt the law and so no mention is ever made of the most logical spies--Nazis.
In so many ways, this is just a very sloppy outing. The biggest problem was the writing. The film just had a very lackluster plot and the whole thing seemed fake and contrived--such as the low energy fight at the supposed climax. In addition, the stunts were god-awful. The worst was the sequence where the plane was flying without a pilot--making sharp turns that aren't even possible with a Harrier jet today! Ridiculous angles and the plane doing loops (while scene inside the plane show everyone barely being shaken) make this a dreadful sequence--like they really didn't care how it looked. In addition, although I understand that too often I am a nit-picker for accuracy in aviation films (often I spot planes changing into other similar model planes in films), here even Ray Charles could have possibly spotted the sloppy substitution. In one scene, a flat-sided and corrugated metal Ford Tri-Motor plane becomes a smooth-skinned airliner with a round fuselage! They just didn't care....
The film isn't worth writing as it really needed a re-write. Plus, making the baddies stereotypical Nazis would have also been better--as it's easy to hate a real enemy and what's scarier than Nazis?! 39 minute mark--wrong plane.
The plot involves the gang getting jobs as an airplane plant where they are testing and designing new planes. Eventually, Muggs (Leo Gorcey) hits on the idea that the Doctor and his pals are spies and that their frequent trips in the company's hospital plane are really being done to sneak out secrets to 'the enemy'--an enemy that is not named, as the US was not yet at war and there actually was a law congress passed that prohibited films taking any sort of stand about the war raging in Europe. By 1941, some studios were ignoring the law (it WAS a clear violation of the First Amendment's right to free speech). Monogram Studios must have decided not to flaunt the law and so no mention is ever made of the most logical spies--Nazis.
In so many ways, this is just a very sloppy outing. The biggest problem was the writing. The film just had a very lackluster plot and the whole thing seemed fake and contrived--such as the low energy fight at the supposed climax. In addition, the stunts were god-awful. The worst was the sequence where the plane was flying without a pilot--making sharp turns that aren't even possible with a Harrier jet today! Ridiculous angles and the plane doing loops (while scene inside the plane show everyone barely being shaken) make this a dreadful sequence--like they really didn't care how it looked. In addition, although I understand that too often I am a nit-picker for accuracy in aviation films (often I spot planes changing into other similar model planes in films), here even Ray Charles could have possibly spotted the sloppy substitution. In one scene, a flat-sided and corrugated metal Ford Tri-Motor plane becomes a smooth-skinned airliner with a round fuselage! They just didn't care....
The film isn't worth writing as it really needed a re-write. Plus, making the baddies stereotypical Nazis would have also been better--as it's easy to hate a real enemy and what's scarier than Nazis?! 39 minute mark--wrong plane.
Bowery Black Eyes
wes-connors15 March 2009
Loafing leader Leo Gorcey (as Muggs McGuiness) is unemployed, but Bobby Jordan (as Danny Graham), Donald Haines (as Skinny), David Gorcey (as Peewee), Bobby Stone (as Louie), and Ernest "Sunshine Sammy" Morrison (as Scruno) are figuratively "Flying Wild" with jobs at an aviation company. While at work, Mr. Jordan is recruited as a spy. Then, "The East Side Kids" get tangled up in a dangerous sabotage scheme. Soon, it will threaten to claim the life of an East Side Kid! - Don't miss the opening "car ride" to work; the car unexpectedly tips over on its side, after a sharp turn, and threatens to take the "real life" of several "East Side Kids". You may (not) want to hang in for the end "joke" (to see how a "black eye" might show up on Mr. Morrison's face).
** Flying Wild (3/10/41) William West ~ Leo Gorcey, Bobby Jordan, Eugene Francis, David Gorcey
** Flying Wild (3/10/41) William West ~ Leo Gorcey, Bobby Jordan, Eugene Francis, David Gorcey
substandard propaganda film
statmanjeff29 November 2022
Warning: Spoilers
Low budget with a threadbare plot. Needs a few upgrades to the script to bring this story to life. Too much action happens off-camera, namely Muggs and Danny being overcome by spies (not one iota of it seen), and Muggs' collision with the monument at the end (heard but not shown). Interior of the captain's airplane cabin looks like the inside of a cardboard box. Direction/script/editing is so poor (or rushed) that it is unclear whether Peewee's injuries come from actions of sabotage or a legitimate factory mishap - a significant plot point. Leo Gorcey, getting his lion's share of screen time, must have been recognized in his day for the ability to hold a movie together. There is some banter between Leo and Bobby (Muggs and Danny) but not enough to show any nuances of their friendship. Would like to see the gang at work, assembling planes with knowledge of their duties, working as a unit, being productive citizens in contrast to Muggs' stalwart indolence (who somehow owns a rundown car to take his pals to work yet never charges them for gas or repairs). Only a few malapropisms come into use that would later define Leo Gorcey's characters. Could well be the most disappointing story in the East Side Kids franchise.
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