Flying High

Thus is a 2 reeler short film which looks to have some remade-for-sound scenes top and tailing the silent mid section. It stars 'the Collegiates' who seem to be a Universal Pictures rah-rah team with antics set on a campus in LA. Charming he men jocks, the group nerd (Doc) and a fat guy and other gals and college guys make up a 1928 Bowery Boys gang -- or even a twenty- something group like The Big Rascals: hence The Collegiates. Whether this was a series I do not know but it seems to be. In this episode, one of the guys somehow is a pilot of a jalopy plane and he gets his pal to pretend to be him because his dad would not like him to do something as dangerous as flying. Doc saves the day by inventing some automatic flying device. It is all very flapper and jock 20s cute with handsome men and dizzy dames running about supposedly on a University campus. An un-billed young Andy Devine makes an appearance as a pal at the window. It is probably what you'd want to see from a 1920s teen talkie full of peppy boys and girls. The sound scenes are light years ahead of the silent scenes and add a lot to the fun of the film. It seems to go flat when the silent footage abruptly starts...complete with title cards.