{"id":31563,"date":"2013-05-21T17:35:25","date_gmt":"2013-05-22T00:35:25","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/?p=31563"},"modified":"2021-02-05T12:34:17","modified_gmt":"2021-02-05T19:34:17","slug":"wings-1927","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/?p=31563","title":{"rendered":"Wings (1927)"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><strong>&#8220;Jack Powell had always longed to fly&#8230; In every day-dream he heard the whir of wings.&#8221;<\/strong><\/p>\n<table>\n<tr>\n<td>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/05\/Wings-Poster.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/05\/Wings-Poster-198x300.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"198\" height=\"300\" class=\"alignleft size-medium wp-image-31565\" srcset=\"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/05\/Wings-Poster-198x300.jpg 198w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/05\/Wings-Poster-84x128.jpg 84w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/05\/Wings-Poster-675x1024.jpg 675w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/05\/Wings-Poster.jpg 990w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 198px) 100vw, 198px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p><strong>Synopsis:<\/strong><br \/>\nTwo aspiring aviators (Charles &#8220;Buddy&#8221; Rogers and Richard Arlen) in love with the same girl (Jobyna Ralston) become buddies when they join the American Expeditionary Forces during World War I; meanwhile, Rogers&#8217; neighbor (Clara Bow) &#8212; who harbors an unrequited crush on him &#8212; travels to France and attempts to keep an eye on him.\n<\/p>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td>\n<p>\n<strong>Genres, Themes, Actors, and Directors:<\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Airplanes and Pilots<\/li>\n<li>Clara Bow Films<\/li>\n<li>Gary Cooper Films<\/li>\n<li>Love Triangle<\/li>\n<li>Silent Films<\/li>\n<li>William Wellman Films<\/li>\n<li>World War I<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong>Response to Peary\u2019s Review: <\/strong><br \/>\nAs Peary notes, this &#8220;grand-scale silent classic&#8221; &#8212; directed by &#8220;former pilot William A. Wellman&#8221;, and winner of the first &#8220;Best Production&#8221; Academy Award &#8212; is &#8220;known for some truly spectacular dogfight sequences&#8221;, as well as &#8220;some amazing stunt work and aerial photography&#8221;. He points out that the &#8220;picture is beautifully filmed throughout&#8221; &#8212; particularly &#8220;Wellman&#8217;s revolutionary boom shot at the Paris cafe in which his camera zooms over several tables into a close shot of the drunk Rogers and Arlen with some French trollops&#8221; &#8212; and notes that &#8220;the sweeping final battle &#8212; on land and in air &#8212; is remarkable!&#8221; He argues that the &#8220;film&#8217;s major problem is that&#8230; the leads have little screen presence&#8221;, and that &#8220;today the film seems a little slow &#8212; but the brutality seen in the impressive war sequences keeps it timely&#8221;. In his <em>Alternate Oscars<\/em> book, Peary reigns back his enthusiasm a bit further, asserting that <em>Wings<\/em> &#8220;pales in comparison with [F.W. Murnau&#8217;s] <a href=\"http:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/?p=28386\"><em>Sunrise<\/em><\/a>&#8221; (which won an Academy Award for best &#8220;Artistic Quality&#8221;), as well as King Vidor&#8217;s &#8220;<a href=\"http:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/?p=28355\"><em>The Crowd<\/em><\/a> and Charles Chaplin&#8217;s unnominated <a href=\"http:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/?p=24357\"><em>The Circus<\/em><\/a>;&#8221; he argues that the film has &#8220;dated badly&#8221; given its &#8220;weak [lead] performances, an overly peppy Clara Bow, and long flight sequences in which you can&#8217;t tell friend from foe&#8221;. <\/p>\n<p>Actually, the points made in both of Peary&#8217;s assessments ring true. While the storyline itself remains as simplistic and cliched as that found in (far too) many silent films, Wellman&#8217;s overall craftmanship can&#8217;t be denied &#8212; and the aerial sequences are undeniably stunning. Knowing that all the stunts and effects were achieved in real life (no CGI to fall back on!), one simply marvels at the audacity of both Wellman&#8217;s vision and his intrepid crew (Rogers and Arlen actually learned to fly); viewing the 35-minute &#8220;making of&#8221; documentary on the recently restored DVD version of the film gives added insights into exactly how risky (and innovative) much of the filming was. Meanwhile, the non-aerial battle scenes are just as impressive, and rival those found in King Vidor&#8217;s <a href=\"http:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/?p=8788\"><em>The Big Parade<\/em> (1925)<\/a>. Regarding the lead actors, I actually find Rogers&#8217; performance adequately charismatic, and handsome Arlen&#8217;s appropriately subdued (especially given that he&#8217;s holding onto a powerful secret the entire time); poor Bow&#8217;s character is simply put through the ringer &#8212; but so it goes, I suppose, when you&#8217;ll do anything for your man. <\/p>\n<p><strong>Redeeming Qualities and Moments: <\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Truly amazing aerial camerawork<br \/>\n<a href=\"http:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/05\/Wings-Aerial.png\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/05\/Wings-Aerial.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"720\" height=\"540\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-31566\" srcset=\"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/05\/Wings-Aerial.png 720w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/05\/Wings-Aerial-128x96.png 128w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/05\/Wings-Aerial-300x225.png 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 720px) 100vw, 720px\" \/><\/a><\/li>\n<li>The impressively shot battle sequences<br \/>\n<a href=\"http:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/05\/Wings-Battle.png\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/05\/Wings-Battle.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"720\" height=\"540\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-31567\" srcset=\"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/05\/Wings-Battle.png 720w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/05\/Wings-Battle-128x96.png 128w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/05\/Wings-Battle-300x225.png 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 720px) 100vw, 720px\" \/><\/a><\/li>\n<li>Fine overall direction by Wellman<br \/>\n<a href=\"http:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/05\/Wings-Direction.png\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/05\/Wings-Direction.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"720\" height=\"540\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-31568\" srcset=\"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/05\/Wings-Direction.png 720w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/05\/Wings-Direction-128x96.png 128w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/05\/Wings-Direction-300x225.png 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 720px) 100vw, 720px\" \/><\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong>Must See? <\/strong><br \/>\nYes, for its historical relevance and for its still-stunning aerial sequences. <\/p>\n<p><strong>Categories<\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Historically Relevant<\/li>\n<li>Oscar Winner or Nominee<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong>Links: <\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><a href=\"http:\/\/www.imdb.com\/title\/tt0018578\/\">IMDb entry<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/archive.nytimes.com\/www.nytimes.com\/packages\/html\/movies\/bestpictures\/wings-ar.html\">NY Times Original Review<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"http:\/\/www.reelviews.net\/php_review_template.php?identifier=1846\">Reelviews Review<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"http:\/\/www.dvdtalk.com\/dvdsavant\/s3774wing.html\">DVD Savant Review<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"http:\/\/www.qnetwork.com\/index.php?page=review&#038;id=2699\">Q Network Review<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.tcm.com\/tcmdb\/title\/504086\/wings\/#articles-reviews?articleId=188845\">TCM Article<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"http:\/\/www.timeout.com\/london\/film\/wings\">Time Out Capsule Review<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/table>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>&#8220;Jack Powell had always longed to fly&#8230; In every day-dream he heard the whir of wings.&#8221; Synopsis: Two aspiring aviators (Charles &#8220;Buddy&#8221; Rogers and Richard Arlen) in love with the same girl (Jobyna Ralston) become buddies when they join the American Expeditionary Forces during World War I; meanwhile, Rogers&#8217; neighbor (Clara Bow) &#8212; who harbors an unrequited crush on him &#8212; travels to France and attempts to keep an eye on him. Genres, Themes, Actors, and Directors: Airplanes and Pilots&#8230;<\/p>\n<p class=\"read-more\"><a class=\"btn btn-default\" href=\"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/?p=31563\"> Read More<span class=\"screen-reader-text\">  Read More<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-31563","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-responses-to-peary"],"aioseo_notices":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/31563","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=31563"}],"version-history":[{"count":13,"href":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/31563\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":68935,"href":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/31563\/revisions\/68935"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=31563"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=31563"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=31563"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}