Flying Wild

This article is about the 1941 film. For the 1996 film, see Fly Away Home. For the 2011 TV series "Flying Wild: Alaska", see Flying Wild Alaska.
Flying Wild

VHS cover
Directed by William West
Produced by Sam Katzman
Written by Al Martin
Starring Leo Gorcey
David Gorcey
Bobby Jordan
'Sunshine Sammy' Morrison
Donald Haines
Distributed by Monogram Pictures Corporation
Release dates
 March 10, 1941
Running time
 64 minutes
Language English

Flying Wild is a 1941 film and the fifth installment of the East Side Kids series with location scenes shot at the Alhambra, California airport.

Plot

While pals Skinny (Donald Haines), Danny Graham (Bobby Jordan), Peewee (David Gorcey), Algy Reynolds (Eugene Francis), and Scruno (Sunshine Sammy Morrison) all work at the Reynolds Aviation Company, which is run by Algy's father (Herbert Rawlinson), Muggs (Leo Gorcey) is the only one of the kids who refuses to work though he rides the gang to work in his jalopy. Once at the aviation company, he spends his time flirting with a flight nurse named Helen (Joan Barclay). Helen, though, is in love with her test pilot boyfriend Tom (Dave O'Brien).

One day, when Tom's plane crashes onto the plant airstrip, Reynolds suspects that the crash may have been the work of saboteurs. Later, on the airfield tarmac, Muggs jokingly appoints himself as the new operator of Dr. Richard Nagel (George Pembroke)'s flying ambulance plane and gives his pals a tour of the aircraft. Their playful games are soon brought to a halt by Nagel, the secret leader of a spy ring, who catches the boys on his plane and angrily orders them off.

Mr. Reynolds, certain that spies are working at the plant, asks Danny to act as a decoy so that the spies can be identified, and has him deliver to a downtown office a fake set of plans for a new bomb site. As Reynolds predicted, Nagel's men ambush Danny on his way to the office, but the plan goes awry when the detectives sent to trail Danny lose him. Danny eventually turns up unharmed some time later. When Muggs reports to Reynolds his suspicions that Nagel is behind the espionage ring, Reynolds dismisses the accusation as a product of the boy's imagination.

Not convinced by Reynolds that Nagel is innocent, Muggs and Danny begin their own investigation into Nagel, starting with a visit to the doctor on the pretext of a fake ailment. The visit turns up nothing, however, and when Danny and Muggs return to the hangar, a suspicious "accident" that was apparently meant to harm them leaves Peewee injured. While Peewee recovers at the hospital, Tom nearly loses his life when he is unable to make contact with the control tower for a landing. The controller is later found bound and gagged in the tower, prompting the kids to resume their investigation in earnest.

Helen provides the gang with further clues when she confirms that the ambulance plane was being flown on many unusual trips to Mexico, supposedly to deliver patients. When Helen tells the East Side Kids that a man named Forbes is the next "patient" to be transported, they rush to his house, where they find secret plans hidden in his head bandage. Disguising Danny as the transportee, the kids send Danny and Muggs on the flight to learn who is behind the espionage ring. Danny and Muggs soon find themselves in trouble, however, when Nagel, having found Forbes locked in his closet, tries to warn the pilot of the boys' ruse.

Meanwhile, Tom learns of the dangerous mission and goes after the ambulance plane in his own plane. Tom arrives in Mexico in time to save Danny and Muggs, and all the spies are arrested. Back at the plant, Reynolds rewards Muggs for his heroism by giving him a job as his driver, but his stint there is short-lived as he is soon distracted by a pretty woman and crashes the car with Reynolds in it.

Cast and characters

The East Side Kids

Additional Cast

Production

Re-release

The film was re-released twice, once in 1949 by Favorite Films and again in 1952 by Savoy Films Corporation.

Home Media

As this film is in the public domain, there have been several releases from a variety of companies over the years.

References

    External links

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