Going Up on AllMovie

This farce was based on the musical comedy by Otto A. Harbach and Louis A. Hirsch, which was adapted from the play The Aviator by James H. Montgomery. Douglas MacLean -- who was especially good at farce comedy -- plays the lead, Robert Street. Street is an author whose novel about aviation, Going Up, is a best seller. The only catch is that he has a horror of flying and the one time he was in a plane, he swore never to fly again. But when he escapes to a summer resort, he finds that everyone there knows his name thanks to his pal, Hopkinson Brown (Hallam Cooley). He decides to leave, but then he meets and falls in love with Grace Douglas (Marjorie Daw). Not only does she convince him to stay, but she inspires his courage -- and he needs a lot of that because his romantic rival, Jules Gaillard (Francis McDonald), is the best aviator in France. Gaillard has dared him into competing, and in spite of all of Steele's efforts --and those of his friends -- he has no choice but to take flight. In spite of everything, Street is a complete success in the air, and back on the ground he wins Grace's heart. A very boyish looking Mervyn Leroy -- many years away from his fame as a director -- had a bit part as a bellboy.