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| A battle on the ground and in the air. |
Release Date: Aug. 12, 1927. Running Time: 144 minutes. Screenplay: Hope Loring, Louis D. Lighton. Titles: Julian Johnson. Producer: Lucien Hubbard, Adolph Zukor, Jesse L. Lasky, B. P. Schulberg, Otto Hermann Kahn. Director: William A. Wellman.
THE PLOT:
When the U. S. officially enters The Great War, small town American boys Jack Powell (Charles "Buddy" Rogers) and David Armstrong (Richard Arlen) rush to enlist as combat pilots. Despite differing backgrounds and a long-standing rivalry, the two become close friends - a friendship that carries over when they are transferred to France. Surviving early dogfights, Jack and David emerge as gifted combat aces.
As the Allies begin to gain ground on the German forces, the pilots are called upon to participate in "The Big Push," an all-out offensive. When David is shot down behind enemy lines, he must rely on his wits, stealing a German plane to make his way back to camp - with Jack all too eager to attack the first German he sees, to take revenge for the friend he believes is dead!
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| Jack (Charles "Buddy" Rogers) worries over an injured David (Richard Arlen). |
CHARACTERS:
Jack: Once the credits end, the movie's opening seconds inform us that he has always dreamed of flying. He constructs a fast car, which girl-next-door Mary (Clara Bow) dubs "The Shooting Star" - a moniker Jack carries over to his combat flights. It's clear that Mary adores him, but he's oblivious; all his attentions are focused on David's girlfriend, Sylvia (Jobyna Ralston). He comes across as emotionally immature throughout, which allows us to see his growth at the story's end.
David: It was a wise choice to make the immature Jack the lead and David the support. Over the course of the film, Jack grows up; David's pretty much already there already. Despite coming from the richest family in town - which is usually movie shorthand for "conceited jerk" - David shows decency at every turn. Arguably too much decency; certainly, he is more tolerant of Jack's (unwanted) attentions toward Sylvia than he should be. David's efforts to spare Jack's feelings end up causing the melodramatically required rift between the two late in the picture, with Jack sarcastically saying to David that "friendship sure means a lot to you, doesn't it?"
Mary: Clara Bow was "The It Girl," a massive movie star... which is why she is top-billed, though it's clear even before Jack and David reach flight school that her role is decidedly a supporting one. Bow was evidently aware of this too, complaining that she was "just the whipped cream on top of the pie." Her performance is... well, I found it rather over-the-top even by silent movie standards. She appears to have picked up on the cues that Mary is enthusiastic and bubbly and run with them, to the point where she is overemoting in almost every scene. Her overacting leaves her seeming less authentic than her male co-stars, making it just as well that she isn't actually in very much of the movie.
Herman Schwimpf: Wings doesn't do subtlety in either its drama or its comedy. This is particularly clear in the case of "funny foreigner" Herman Schwimpf (El Brendel). When he enlists, he is challenged over his Germanic name, leading him to (repeatedly) demonstrate his patriotism via the American flag tattooed onto his bicep. In flight school, he gets punched out for "hilarious" effect several times in a row, before being made the centerpiece of a weak bit of slapstick involving a salute and a water hose (which ends with him being punched out yet again).
Cadet White: The movie's first Act is largely light-hearted in tone, with most of the small-town and military training scenes played for comedy. The shift to drama occurs during Gary Cooper's single scene as Cadet White. Clearly more experienced than Jack or David are, White lends them a few words of encouragement before heading off to "do a flock of figure eights before chow." He exits by telling the new arrivals, "luck or no luck, when your time comes, you're going to get it!" What happens next goes without saying - the movie doesn't even pretend not to telegraph it - but it makes an effective division. From here on out, save for a comedy relief scene in Paris, the movie is fundamentally serious, and occasionally quite grim.
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| Mary (Clara Bow) reunites with Jack: Blind drunk and on the arm of another woman. |
THOUGHTS:
The first winner of the Academy Award for Outstanding Motion Picture, Wings soars when it is in the air, presenting sequences that remain visually stunning and exciting more than 90 years after its initial release. It was a mammoth production, with director William A. Wellman taking a full nine months to realize every sequence as perfectly as possible. This in an era that tended to churn out movies in a matter of weeks.
The technical achievement shows throughout: Soldiers march in vast columns toward a projection of images of war. Planes circle each other like wasps in a mating dance. Cameras were strapped to the fronts of planes to film the pilots in the air, including the films' stars (Richard Arlen had been a pilot in the war). When a plane is hit, we see flames, colored in frame-by-frame to draw the eye as they descend. Even non-combat scenes offer striking visual moments: David and Sylvia are introduced sharing a swing, with the camera on the swing and the background them moving; when Jack goes to a Paris nightclub, we are introduced to the setting via an elaborate tracking shot across multiple tables.
This was, in all respects, a blockbuster, playing as a first-run engagement even as the era of talking pictures began. However, like many a blockbuster, its technical achievements outstrip its story. The subplot involving romantic jealousy between Jack and David feels strained, a glaring contrast with the authenticity of most of their interactions.
The same can be said for the relationship between Jack and Mary. After Jack and David head to Europe, Mary enlists as an ambulance driver... largely to justify Clara Bow's presence in a protracted Paris sequence that sees a series of misunderstandings end with her in a compromising position. Some visual inventiveness involving champagne bubbles, both real and imaginary, help offset the hackneyed dramatics - but even that wears out its welcome long before the scene ends.
Thankfully, the film takes back to the air almost immediately afterward, and remains quite gripping from that point to its conclusion. The final battle is brilliantly staged and edited, with scores of extras charging, dodging, and in some cases falling to explosions as planes fly overhead. The tech credits outstrip those of many modern blockbusters. Still, it's clear why the movie is remembered more for its technical sophistication than for its storytelling. Howard Hughes dismissed the script as "sudsy" at the time, and it's hard to argue with that assessment.
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| A German plane is shot down - with the flames painstakingly colored frame-by-frame. |
OVERALL:
1927's Wings remains a visual stunner, its lengthy and expensive production showing in almost every frame. Though much of the ground-based melodrama was cliched even at the time of release, the technical sophistication gives much of this a remarkably modern feel. Even now, close to a century after its release, the combat scenes remain tense and exciting, and there's a genuine sense of let alone now, the excitement of the combat scenes and the sense of camaraderie between the two leads that transcends some of the hackneyed material.
This was my second time watching Wings. I had previously seen the 1985 VHS release. The 2012 restoration is a stark contrast with that scratchy, damaged print. Each frame has been meticulously repaired. The original color tinting (most of it in sepia, some of it in blue) has been restored as well, along with the full orchestral score and a recreation of the synchronized sound effects that had been prepared for road show engagements. All of this enhances the sense of this as a modern product - and the sound effects are a reminder that this was, in many was, a final bow for silent cinema.
SCORE:
A quick note about scoring: Given the nature of reviewing films that have been named the Best Pictures of their respective years, tighter scoring is necessitated here than, say, when reviewing disaster movies or episodes of television shows. As such, I will tend toward the stingy with my scores.
Wings is historically noteworthy, and still stands up as genuinely engaging entertainment. With its strong visuals and well-mounted action scenes, it makes a good "first Silent Picture" for those wary of the old format. Still, it's impossible to miss that the visual and technical achievements are often in service of a shopworn story. I still rate this pretty highly... But I can't quite put it in my top tier of Best Picture Winners.
Overall Rating: 7/10.
Unique and Artistic Picture - 1927/1928: Sunrise - A Song of Two Humans
Outstanding Picture - 1928/1929: The Broadway Melody
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