CONSENSUS #44 - Wings (1927)

SYNOPSIS:  "Wings" is the granddaddy of all aerial combat movies.  It is the tale of two Americans (Charles Rogers, Richard Arlen) who go off to the Western Front to become pilots.  They start off enemies, but that changes.  They are joined by the girl next door (Clara Bow) for a romantic subplot.  There is plenty of aerial derring do.

BACK-STORY:  “Wings” was a movie that was loaded with firsts.  First aerial combat movie.  First male kiss.  First Best Picture (and the only silent movie until “The Artist”).  It set the template for future air combat movies.  The director was William “Wild Bill” Wellman (“Beau Geste”, “The Story of G.I. Joe”, “Battleground”) who had been a pilot with the Lafayette Escadrille in WWI.  Sadly, he is one of the few directors who were not even nominated for his Best Picture efforts.  The movie was filmed at Kelly Field in San Antonio with full cooperation of the U.S. military.  The planes provided were mainly Thomas-Morse MB-3s and Curtiss PW-8s.  The German fighters were played by Curtiss P-1 Hawks.  One stunt flier broke his neck in a crash and another was a fatality.

TRIVIA:  wikipedia, imdb, TCM

1.  It was filmed at Kelly Field in San Antonio, Texas.

2.  Director William Wellman had been in the Lafayette Flying Corps in WWI.  He flew Nieuport 24’s and chalked up three confirmed kills and five probables.  He was shot down and had a permanent limp from the incident.  He was awarded the French Croix de Guerre.  His wife and daughter played the mother and daughter of the farmhouse where the crash occurs.  Wellman himself has a cameo as a doughboy and has the line:  “Atta boy!  Them buzzards are good after all!”  Wellman was notoriously anti-infantry.

3.  The Battle of St. Mihiel took ten days of rehearsing.  The Pentagon provided 3,500 soldiers and five tanks.  It also cooperated with over 100 planes for the production.  300 pilots were used.  An Army Air Corps pilot was killed in a crash during the production.

4.  The entire score was written, composed, and recorded on a Wurlitzer Pipe Organ.

5.  It won the first Oscar for Best Picture (called Best Production back then) and was the only silent movie to win until “The Artist”.  It also won for Engineering Effects.

6.  he script was adjusted for Clara Bow.  She did not like the movie.  She complained that her uniform did not show off her curves enough.  She does flash a bit of nudity, but you have to be very good at pausing.  She had recently gotten engaged, but that did not stop her from having an affair with Gary Cooper during the production.

7.  Cooper was launched to stardom by his small role.  He was distraught with his performance and went to Wyler to ask for a reshoot because he had picked his nose in the scene.  Wyler told him to keep picking his nose because he was going to be a star.

8.  Main actors Buddy Rogers and Richard Arlen are actually flying their planes for closeups.  Their kiss was one of the first male kisses in film history.

9.  It has one of the earliest product placements – Hershey’s Chocolate Bar.

Belle and Blade  =  N/A

Brassey’s              =  5.0

Video Hound       =  3.8

War Movies         =  N/A

Military History  =  #11

Channel 4             =  no

Film Site                =  yes

101 War Movies  =  yes

Rotten Tomatoes  =  no 

OPINION:  “Wings” probably deserved the Best Picture award.  It is epic in scale and execution.  Wellman had access to 60 planes and 3,500 extras.  He also had a bevy of intrepid stunt men who were willing to risk life and limb to depict the thrills of air combat.  The acrobatics of the doomed planes are particularly impressive.  In this film even the planes ham it up.  The acting is problematical.  Clara Bow dominates when she is on screen.  I know our perceptions of what is hot has changed greatly from the 1920s, but she has “it” even in today’s climate.  Rogers and Arlen give typical silent movie overemoting performances.  The movie is melodramatic and patriotic, especially in the title cards, but not overly propagandistic.  It does not demonize the enemy.  The movie is justifiably famous for its aerial sequences.  They are among the best from that era.  Better than most, but not superior to “Hell’s Angels” (which was greatly influenced by it).  Amazingly, the trench sequences are actually stronger than the air combat and they get much more coverage than in similar films.   In conclusion, it is certainly a very important film, but it is not worthy of being in the top 50 war movies.