I'm inclined to agree with the positive reviewers about this film. After reading the most negative review, and then actually watching the film itself, I wonder what some of you expect from a comedy. Certainly, this is not a Marx Brothers film and Joe E. Brown is not Groucho Marx. So what? It is a LIGHT comedy, a screwy comedy, and a character story. What's wrong with that? I can't watch Three Stooges ALL the time! As it is, I agree with those who thought that this is a very funny movie; the exposition in particular had me practically clucking in pleasure at Brown's outrageous characterization. It does greatly help to see Joe E. movies in first-rate condition on a big screen. I saw the new DVD release from the Warner Brothers Archives, apparently struck right off the original negative or a safety negative, watched it on a 55" flat screen, and it came across very nicely. There are a lot of things to look at in such a pristine print of a film this old and this well made. The actual filmstock was different back then, a little more grainy but very clear, immediately giving the movie that ancient 'vintage' quality, which I find engaging (I associate it with my favorite films of my childhood black-and-white TV viewing). The styles of hair, dress, and architecture are very clear and interesting (the "heart test machine" is particularly quaint). The painted backgrounds are beautiful and perfect, and the rear projection during the rather hair-raising finale is EXCELLENTLY done (as is the rear projection in the train). This is a very high-quality, high-production-value film with loads of extras and great care taken of all the cinematic details.The flying bed and the unexpectedly bizarre physical exam are two highlights and both are very funny. No wonder there are no consequences for the main characters' charade—they are obviously not the only frauds in this story! AND, for those of us who want to see more of Brown's specialty acts, he DOES get a funny song!It's not a great film like a Chaplin film, or 'Duck Soup' or a wildly inventive W.C. Fields movie, but it is a COMPLETELY enjoyable Sunday-afternoon film, done up in perfect 1930s style, which I will rate 8 stars out 10. Not a film I'll look at over and over, but definitely a Keeper.

The same cast of 1929's "Top Speed" gets together for similar farcial fare in "Going Wild", a comedy about a nobody being mistaken for a famous pilot. Brown, of course, is the unfortunate nobody who must quickly train to learn how to fly. This leads to some hysterical sequences involving a murphy bed attached to a vacuum cleaner, an X-Ray machine, and a flying machine similar to the one used by Marie Dressler in 1932's "Emma". The flying sequence is similar to the boat sequence used in "Top Speed". There is one minor song between Joe E. Brown and Laura Lee which is tamer than anything they did in their previous film together. Lawrence Gray replaces Jack Whiting as the romantic lead, but Frank McHugh repeats his drunken supporting role. A few years away from stardom, Walter Pidgeon makes a memorable villain.

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!