‘Wings’ (1927) Blu-ray Review: Today’s Filmmakers Can Learn Much from This 85-Year-Old Classic
by John NolteDirected by the great William Wellman, “Wings” is the not only the first film to win the Academy Award for Best Picture (it was technically declared “Best Production“), it’s also the only silent movie to ever hold that honor (though “The Artist” could very well bookend that honor this year).
Back in 1927, “Wings” delivered spectacular aerial photography that must have blown the customers out of their seats. But in 2012, thanks to over a decade of Hollywood’s over-produced CGI, you’re still going to be blown out of your seat. To experience, in high-definition, no less, the spectacular in-camera flight and battle scenes, is a wonder to behold. The aerial shots are nothing short of spectacular, as are the expertly choreographed sequences involving armies and explosions. If “Wings” were produced today in the exact same fashion, people would marvel at the achievement.
“It Girl” Clara Bow, a star so popular in the mid-to-late twenties there’s no actor working today who compares (think Marilyn Monroe in 1959), is listed as the film’s star, but she’s really a supporting player — a crucially important one, though. For she symbolizes all that is pure and decent and why our young, brave men fought and died in World War I.
All Jack Powell (Charles Rogers) has ever wanted was to fly, and all Mary Preston (Bow) has ever wanted was Jack. In their small, very American town, Jack and Mary live next door to one another, but Jack only sees Mary as a friend, a pal. You see, Jack’s in love with the more sophisticated Sylvia (Jobyna Ralston), but unfortunately for him, she’s in love with David (Richard Arlen). It’s a complicated love rectangle, further complicated by class distinctions. Jack is working class, Davis is wealthy, and it will take the outbreak of a long and heartbreaking war to sort it all out.
Though rivals for the same girl, Jack and David both want to be combat pilots and end up in the same squad together. Soon they become friends, the very best of friends in the knowledge (brought to them by a shockingly young and undeniably charismatic Gary Cooper) that the very real prospect of death is a constant companion.
Not for a moment does Wellman allow “Wings” to shy away from the horrors of war. The price these young men pay to do their duty hangs over every frame of film and plants a sense of dread deep in your gut. At the same time, Wellman also doesn’t shy away from that which terrifies Hollywood today, the reasons why America is worth fighting and dying for. This isn’t done through speechifying for the preach, it’s expertly done through story and subtext and humor.
Some of the film’s most memorably funny moments come from a character who can hardly speak English, which means his patriotism is constantly called into question. That is, until he proudly reveals the stars and stripes tattooed on his bicep. Moreover, the class difference between our two protagonists dissolves completely, for Wellman’s message is simple and poignant and American: e pluribus unum — out of many, one.
In other words, Obama would hate “Wings,” Because Obama hates anything that might remind Americans that our differences pale in comparison to all that we share in common. And if that’s not reason enough to buy it…
Though advertised as a silent feature, this gorgeous transfer does include two music scores (your choice) and a number of sound effects, especially during the battle scenes. This has all been expertly engineered and result enhances the viewing experience tremendously.
Admittedly, I’m not a big fan of silent pictures. For the most part, I find them lovely to look at but pretty dull (there are notable exceptions). “Wings” isn’t a gripping story; there are more than a few lulls, but it’s an interesting one that catches you by surprise, especially in the third act, which is undeniably moving.
Before I close, I do want to reinforce the point the point about CGI. It is extraordinary to realize that a mere 15 years short of a century ago, infant Hollywood had the skills to make exciting, tense, realistic battle scenes that should embarrass anyone responsible for the phony, poorly choreographed, shaky-cammed, hyper-edited junk that dominates about 90% of what’s being produced today.
My god, what’s happened to the movie industry?
“Wings” is available at Amazon.
Email this to a friend | Print |
Share on Facebook
| Tweet this
| 
Follow Us on Twitter
Subscribe via RSS
Got a Tip?
41 Comments
I will still put the final 10 minutes of Steamboat Bill, Jr. up against any CGI produced today. KNOWING that what you see is real is part of the amazement and awe. It becomes harder to suspend disbelief when you see the strangely "clean" worlds of CGI in modern film — it's the difference between the Mos Eisley of Star Wars vs. the "updated" version in SW:TPM.
"wings '75 Today’s Filmmakers Can Learn Much from This 85-Year-Old Classic."
Just how sad conservative movie goers and fans must be. between pining jingoistic crap from the 80's, reminiscing and hating on 99% that is current in pop culture they got nothing.
Must be tough hating on actors, directors, comedians and offer no alternative.
Huh?
Keaton rocks!
He did not do well in "reading and comprehension" classes.
"Just how sad conservative movie goers and fans must be. between pining jingoistic crap from the 80's, reminiscing and hating on 99% that is current in pop culture they got nothing."
So in your mind we should never look to the past for inspiration in entertainment? The only entertainment we should ever view and admire is something made within the last three decades? I truly pity people that think that what is currently popular is all is important. They constantly strive to be current, cool, hip or whatever the modern equivalent is and if they are any older than 25 all they do is look ridiculous.
Witness how pathetic all of the aging actors and actress look who talk, dress and wear their hair done up in a manner favored by the young. They don't look current, they look foolish. I get a kick out of listening to my teenage nephew when he talks about how stupid he thinks they look. In their cruel honesty kids can be very wise sometimes.
Oh and FYI, as the article points out "Wings" came out 85 years ago, in 1927, not the 1980s. You don't even use the correct decade in your sad attempt to insult us.
Not generally a fan of silent pictures? You are missing out Mr. Nolte. One question regarding the musical scores. Are they orchestral pieces akin to the original scores, or techno-synth crap (as heard on some silent restorations)?
I'd put Keaton's entire body of work up against any CGI produced today.
Thank you, thank you, thank you!!!
John Nolte dissin' the Great Buster Keaton?!
Are you kidding me?
It is sheer joy to watch his films!
PS: check out this Buster Keaton homage, if you haven't already seen it: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eG3NBZCETh4&fe...
And usually, they tell us not to focus on the past, but don't they adore Bob Dylan and think the '60s were the greatest years for the country?
Hey!
I like my Giorgio Moroder "Metropolis" just fine, thank you!
Oh, give the guy a break. His VHS copy of "The Way We Were" just ate itself.
Nolte never mentioned Keaton, he was talking about silent films in general.
" If “Wings” were produced today in the exact same fashion," …….lawyers, union reps, and government regulators would be lining up for the lawsuits, fines, workers comp cases and possible jail time for those who produced this film. It wouldn't be possible, or even legal, to make such a film today.
I have a DVD I made from a TCM airing. I can't imagine a Blu-Ray being much better. It is a truly remarkable movie and shows hollywood what can be done when real talent is available. Unfortunately, there is precious little talent of any kind anymore – especially in hollywood, where they think a computer and a few hack "actors" who hate America can do anything substantial.
Like classical music and great art, whose time came and went and is no more, the glory days of hollywood are gone forever. There is no reason to believe that hollywood is exempt from the changes that occur in the world. There are no more like Beethoven, no more Stradivarius, Amati, Da Vinci, Gershwin, Bird, Prez and no more Capras, no more Jimmys Cagney or Stewart, no Bogies, Bacalls, etc.
What we have today is a talentless group of people who watch each other's movies. Pansy leftwingers who think they are gods when in reality these "emperors" have no clothes on whatsoever. And Obammy is just one more of these banal ignoramuses who worship Ba'al and hate the country that gave them the riches that they have.
I have about as much faith in hollywood ever returning as I do in a Paganini or Liszt springing up, or a Charlie Parker appearing on the scene. The world runs in cycles and the cycle of hollywood is over.
Your "name" should be auto_handjob.
Watched a Chaplin full length the other day that featured the score written by Chaplin and recorded in the 1980's {88 I think) and set to the film. Outstanding.
Yep, more than a few people died during filming. {Like "The Longest Day."}
I actually saw "Wings" on the big screen a few years ago. A couple of things stood out:
1. In what I remember as a two-minute cameo Gary Cooper absolutely steals the whole movie.
2. The last kiss of the movie is doubly heart-breaking as it reminds you of a time when American was so blissfully innocent. If you've seen it, you'll know what I'm talking about.
Love Wings and many, many other silents. TCM holds a silent film night every week if you enjoy watching.
Surprising how many people don't like silent movies. I've never understood it, but there it is.
Don't you like John Ford? Many of his best movies were silents: The Iron Horse, 3 Bad Men, Hangman's House, which featured an extra named Marion Morrison. What about King Vidor's amazing movies: The Crowd, The Big Parade (a better war movie than Wings, much!). What's funnier than Buster Keaton's movies: One Week, Our Hospitality, and speaking of war movies, what Civil War movie ever made matches The General for authenticity of detail? Heck, even WC Fields was funny in silents: So's Your Old Man was much funnier than the sound version, You're Telling Me.
What about Sunrise, or anything else by FW Murnau? Heck, The Passion of Joan of Arc, a French silent, was the best movie EVER made about the subject. How about Lulu? Broken Blossoms? Cabinet of Dr. Caligari? Not to mention Intolerance, Birth of a Nation, Ben Hur (starring Ramon Navarra), and, of course, Charles Chaplin and his little gems.
What about Lon Chaney: The Unknown, The Unholy Three, Phantom of the Opera, The Penalty. How about Greed, or Foolish Wives, even?
I haven't even scratched the surface of the silents that are available on DVD. It's rich ground. Seriously. You're missing a lot. Back then they didn't need dialogue. They had faces.
Me too! I think the mating of the score to the visuals is brilliant, it's one of my treasured possessions (and these days very hard to find)
Hollywood had become quite deft in the use of silent cameras by the late 1920s, where you could have spectacular visuals. It was the advent of sound that locked the cameras down for almost a decade and made the films the immediately followed so stationary, because the technology wasn't there (the corollary was the static nature of 30s films meant they put a premium on writing, which is why the dialogue in those movies is so memorable, while, in today's GCI obsessed Hollywood, most dialogue rarely rises above the banal, and films that are focused on words tend to be whiny liberal polemics).
It is truly sad and pathetic when con artists like the aptly named neo_conjob actually believes his own con job, and even sadder that he expresses his delusions in such a inept, incomprehensible fashion.
Wonder how many people are going to google Marion Morrison? =)
One of my favorite silents is Metropolis.
Good point. A lot of lefties (maybe even a majority) have long been stuck in a political time warp adoring the '60s as if the hippies were heroes. I think that a lot of them have felt left out since the movement was over before they were born. I suspect that that is the reason so many of them are so into the OWS nonsense; it gives them a chance to try to reenact what they think the hippies of the '60s were like.
To be fair, it wasn't a decade before talkies got back up to technical speed with the silents. 1933, 1934 at the latest (just watch Ernst Lubitsch's musicals from those years, e.g.). 1928-1934 = six years. Long enough to be pumping out technically imperfect movies, but not ten years.
Breaking it down, I would have said Hollywood pretty much had solved the sound problems on sound stages by 1933, but took a few more years to be able to freely move their cameras for sound-on-film exterior shots. That was where my "almost a decade" came from.
[Thinks back to the outdoor sound scenes in <cite>It Happened One Night</cite>]
All righty, fair enough.
You are adrift, sir, upon a sea of bitter grapes.
There is a new release of "Metropolis" now with ALL of the original scenes in it and the original score as well. It is from Kino International, and is a two disc special edition. I have a DVD of the movie before it was re-released and now have the new one. The new release is AWESOME!
I was struck by how similar the Wings story was to the Pearl Harbor movie … except that it didn't suck. There's also a lot of Top Gun in there.
Normally, I'd agree with you about the blu-ray being not much better than the DVD copy, but honestly, you have GOT to see this on blu-ray. I don't believe I've ever seen a silent look this good in any format on any screen. Paramount did a superb job restoring it, and to be honest, the transfer stacks up with the best transfers from modern films. It's a must see!
I know this may sound odd, but despite 'Wings' not being one of my favorite silents – although I do like it – I picked it up on blu-ray immediately to support studios restoring and releasing these silent classics on the new format. So happy I did – this blu-ray is stunning. It's a must-own for any serious film fan. I only hope other studios give this much attention and appreciation to their classics.
And Nosferatu is still the best vampire movie ever put on film.
They did a silent-film of "Call of Cthulhu" in 2005. That was pretty cool.
Agreed! There's a reason why most Hollywood fight scenes are so dull compared to what can be done in places not run by OSHA and the lawyers–Hong Kong, Thailand, etc. American stunt performers simply can't do those things because they are not allowed to. The difference is palpable and all the CGI and hi-tech can't make up for it.
Have ordered a copy, thanks for the tip!
My pleasure!
Clara Bow – OMG. When you look at pictures or movie footage of her, it's clear what "It" is. I've never seen anything like it.
I just posted about this on my blog here: http://classic-film-haven.posterous.com/classic-f...
Glad to see this is coming to DVD. I've never actually seen this one, so I'm looking forward to checking it out.
You must be logged in to post a comment.