Now We're in the Air (1927)

During the late '20s, Wallace Beery and Raymond Hatton made a series of comedies for Paramount. Although the studio hyped them quite a bit, there was nothing really special about the pairing, and the two actors (Beery especially) had better success apart in the long run. This picture was made along the same lines as two other Beery/ Hatton films, Behind the Front and We're in the Navy Now, but it wasn't as successful. Wally (Beery) and Ray (Hatton) are cousins whose grandfather, McTavish (Russell Simpson), is an aviation fanatic. To win favor with him, they join the U.S. Flying Corps when they enlist to fight in World War I. The two men wind up in a runaway balloon that sets them down behind enemy lines. But instead of being captured as prisoners of war, Wally and Ray are mistakenly considered heroes by the Germans, who send them back to U.S. lines as spies. They are captured by Allied forces, who really believe they are spies, and they're almost executed. Along the way, Wally and Ray fall in love with twin sisters, Grisette and Griselle, one loyal to the French, the other to the Germans (both played by Louise Brooks). In spite of a dual role, Brooks doesn't have much to do -- Moving Picture World felt that "any intelligent extra girl" could have handled the part. ~ Janiss Garza, Rovi