Wings

WINGS (PG)

D: William A. Wellman

Paramount (Lucien Hubbard)

US 🇺🇸 1927

111 mins (restoration version: 144 mins)

War/Drama

W: Hope Loring, Louis D. Lighton & John Monk Saunders

DP: Harry Perry

Ed: E. Lloyd Sheldon

Charles ‘Buddy’ Rogers (Jack Powell), Richard Arlen (David Armstrong), Clara Bow (Mary Preston), Jobyna Ralston (Sylvia Lewis), El Brendel (Herman Schwimpf)

The first ever winner of the Best Picture Oscar, Wings may be dated in the fact that it is a silent film, but it has some production values, especially in its direction and cinematography that hold up nearly a century later.

The story sees a pair of men, both vying for the romantic interests of the same woman, fighting alongside each other during the First World War.

Whilst the story is quite standard & has some slapstick comedy moments that feel slightly out of place, the film does utilise some camera movements and aerial choreography that feel decades ahead of the period in which the movie was filmed, especially when it comes to the cinematography & the framing of many shots.

It’s understandable why the Academy Awards bestowed their inaugural honour upon this film, even if it wasn’t the best film of the year (Metropolis was), but I’d still consider this among the better silent films of the time & there really is a lot of fine work on display here to admire.

8/10