Humorous Flights (1929) User Reviews

Fair Comedy, Does Have Some Good Material

[Snow Leopard · 19 December 2005]

Donald Ogden Stewart was a fine writer (movie fans need only to remember his screenplay for "The Philadelphia Story" to be convinced of that), and he was understandably chosen to try to duplicate the success of Robert Benchley's short comedic movies. But Stewart's style of presentation doesn't usually work as well as Benchley's does. As a result, this short comedy is only fair, although it does have some good material.

Stewart appears as a lecturer presenting a talk on birds to a Women's Club (exactly the kind of format that Benchley used so effectively). The material seems well-written, but a different style - or perhaps a different, flatter voice - might have made it work better. It probably would also have worked rather well in print.

In any case, Stewart's vocal inflections and delivery style call too much attention to the offbeat nature of the material, and thus stop it from having the maximum effect. Benchley's readings, on the other hand, make odd material even funnier by making it seem reasonable to accept it at face value.

Everybody loves birds. Just don't flip one.

[mark.waltz · 2/10 · 14 November 2016]

Droll Donald Ogden Stewart stands in for Robert Benchley in this one reel short where Stewart speaks at a ladies auxiliary meeting, hopefully serving coffee because he is the most boring speaker. It's laughably boring, rather painful to try and stay awake to. How Stewart gets through this without putting himself to sleep. I've always considered bird watchers, mimes, and accordion players among the most boring professions, but now bird watchers have painfully moved to the top of that list. If you are ever suffering from insomnia, put this one on for a minute. You'll be sleeping by the time he's mentioned the first bird.

It Makes Benchley Look Like Chaplin

[Michael_Elliott · 1 May 2011]

Humorous Flights (1929)

* (out of 4)

If you don't know the name Donald Ogden Stewart then that's okay because most people have forgotten him. If you want to see an example of his work then you can check out this short, which is included as an extra on the Kino disc of Robert Benchley shorts. It's worth noting that this is an extra just so those who bought the Benchley disc can see some of his impersonators. This film has Stewart playing a speaker at a women's club who is there to talk about birds yet right from the start he messes one thing up and it just continues from there. Fans of Benchley will know that he made a couple early films for Fox where he's basically just giving a speech but getting laughs from messing up. This film follows that mode and in fact rips off the setting of Benchley's THE SEX LIFE OF THE POLYP. This short is a complete misfire for a number of reasons but you can start with Stewart who doesn't appear to have a comic bone in his body. Perhaps he was nervous or perhaps he just didn't go on film too well but his timing is off and every laugh he goes for falls flat on its face. It's worth noting that I didn't enjoy this routine when Benchley was doing it but Stewart is ten times worse and there's really no point in anyone sitting through this thing.