Going Wild

Going Wild is a 1930 Warner Brothers Pre-Code comedy film, based on the 1910 play The Aviator by James Montgomery, and directed by William A. Seiter. The film stars a bevy of musical stars in addition to the three comic stars, Joe E. Brown, Frank McHugh and Johnny Arthur. The flying sequences are the highlight of the film.

Plot

Rollo Smith (Joe E. Brown) and his friend Jack Lane (Lawrence Gray) are down on their luck and have stowed away on a train, finding a place in the compartment of ace pilot and writer Robert Story (Arthur Hoyt). The conductor (Fred Kelsey) tosses the pair off the train just where the famous writer is supposed to arrive, with Rollo being mistaken for Story.

Peggy Freeman (Laura Lee) and May Bunch (May Boley) both vie for Rollo's attention, believing that he is a famous pilot. The two freeloaders get free room and meals at the Palm Inn and everything is going well until Story is invited to fly in an air race, facing a real aviator, "Ace" Benton (Walter Pidgeon), and a chance to win a $25,000 wager. The only problem is that Rollo has never even been in an aircraft. With the girls betting on him, and Peggy disguised as his mechanic and smuggling aboard an aircraft, he somehow makes it into the air, but then everything becomes harried as he can barely control the aircraft. Ferguson (Max Wagner), the real pilot who Peggy had locked in a closet, shows up, but Rollo continues to put on an aerial show, forcing Ace to abandon the race.