Luck or no luck, when your time comes, you're going to get it!
Wings (1927) - watched 6/29/24
Director: William A. Wellman
Writers: Hope Loring, Louis D. Lighton
Starring: Clara Bow, Charles “Buddy” Rogers, Richard Arlen, Gary Cooper
Available to watch on Tubi, Kanopy, Hoopla
First Time Watch? Yes
We’ve come to the end of the first Academy Awards—an easy feat, considering only three films were nominated for Best Picture.1 Out of the three nominees, Wings came out on top. The film also, for reasons that will become very obvious, won for Best Engineering Effects, a category that would only last for the first year of the Academy Awards. You’ll find that the Academy is constantly changing things up from one ceremony to the next, consistency be damned.
I’ll start with the million-dollar question: Did the Academy get it right? Let’s ignore the fact that this is impossible for me to say, considering I haven’t seen every eligible film that was released in 1927/1928, but going off of the three nominations this year, I would say that the Academy started things off on the right foot by awarding Wings its highest honor. I had my apprehensions with this one—it’s a nearly two and a half hour long silent movie about war. Multiple things going against it, there. But I found myself enjoying Wings way more than I thought I would, and that’s a credit to its compelling story and astounding, inventive visuals.
Am I a little bummed to see the silent film era go? Kinda, yeah! Look at that, I’m surprising myself already, becoming a silent film enjoyer. That’s called growth, sweeties. That said, I’m so looking forward to watching how films evolve in the decades to come. We’re on the precipice of the revolutionary early films of the 1910s and 20s, crossing over into the golden age of the 1930s and 40s, and I think Wings is the perfect bridge to help us cross over.
Hello Yank, welcome to a very merry little war! And now how about a wee drop for the King and Uncle Sam?
Jack Powell (Charles “Buddy” Rogers) and David Armstrong (Richard Arlen) are total haters living in the same small town. David is a rich pretty boy, Jack is a middle class pretty boy. Both are in love with Sylvia (Jobyna Ralston), a baddie from the city. Jack, in very typical oblivious male fashion, doesn’t realize that the absolutely cute and charming Mary (Clara Bow) is completely enamored with him, instead focusing his attention on Sylvia.
Both men enlist to become fighter pilots in World War I. When the time comes to leave for training camp, Jack mistakenly takes a photo of Sylvia in a locket, which she meant for David. She doesn’t have the heart to tell Jack that this token wasn’t meant for him, and so he leaves with the locket, under the assumption that Sylvia is madly in love with him.
Jack and David eventually become good friends during their training, and conveniently end up in the same living quarters together as they serve. They meet Cadet White (Gary Cooper), who is also bunking with the boys, and less than ten minutes later he is dead after crashing his plane. It’s meant to be a somber moment, but I honestly found it so funny how quickly the character of Cadet White came and went. Oh, and right after they find out about Cadet White’s death? Jack and David take off to run their own flight drills. America, bay-bee!!
Mary, too, joins the war effort, driving an ambulance around during a war just so she can stalk her oblivious crush. Mary, please, get it together. The men go on leave in Paris after receiving some medals from the French military (in this scene, the French general or whatever awarding the medals gives the pilots two sweet little neck kisses each. I loved this part. What war movies need more of is gentle neck kisses), and Jack in particular gets heavily drunk off champagne and enjoys the company of some hot Parisian babes. Mary runs into Jack there, but he’s too drunk to recognize her and he, of course, hurts her feelings.
Undeterred by Jack’s clownery, Mary takes him back to his room and puts him to bed. While changing back into her uniform, two officers barge into the room. Mary is half-dressed, so the situation appears… precarious. Mary is forced to resign after this incident and she returns to the US.
Back at war, David and Jack are sent out to fight in the Battle of Saint-Mihiel. David’s plane is shot down, and he is presumed dead. David miraculously survives the crash, however, and narrowly escapes being captured by the Germans. He ends up hijacking one of their planes, and tries to fly back to base. Turns out, this was a very stupid thing to do. Jack, determined to shoot down another “Heinie” in David’s honor, sees the enemy aircraft and shoots it down, unaware that David is flying the plane. David’s plane crashes, and while he survives, he doesn’t have much time.
The people who live on the land where David crashed bring him inside and comfort him in his final moments. Jack, while peeling the insignia off of the plane as a souvenir, is encouraged to come inside. Once he sees that it’s David who he shot down, Jack is distraught, and in denial over David’s condition. David, absolutely wasting his final breaths on this murderous jerk, comforts Jack and forgives him for killing him. All this while knowing Jack wanted to steal his girl! Could never be me!
After the war, Jack comes home and is celebrated as a hero, because of course he is. Jack visits David’s grieving parents to return David’s belongings, including a teddy bear from his childhood that he kept on his person as a good luck charm. Jack begs David’s parents for forgiveness—which they provide, telling Jack that it was the war that killed David, not him. Alright, fair, I guess.
Jack and Mary reunite at Jack’s home, exactly where the movie began. Except this time Jack decides he actually loves Mary. Well, isn’t that convenient? Mary, a fool, gladly accepts Jack’s affection and they get to live happily ever after, their lives and their relationship somehow unscathed by the senseless brutality of the war.
Life marched at double-quick in those feverish days of '17. Drums beat... bugles called... everywhere feet were hurrying, lips were pressed to lips in parting...
I’m going to have to watch roughly 75 war movies for this project. I know because I just counted them up, which is a normal thing to do. Wings is the first of those 75 war flicks, and honestly it set a pretty high bar. Only vaguely knowing the plot, I went into this movie fully expecting it to be a pro-war, military propaganda movie. I was pleasantly surprised that I was wrong—mostly!
I think movies from a certain time period—say, pre-Vietnam war—can’t help but valorize war and the military in some way. Sure, war is brutal and has its horrors and consequences, but these are necessary horrors and consequences. In the name of freedom!!! You’re a hero, son, not a mere pawn! You are certainly not a bag of meat that we can ship off to a foreign land, unprompted, for you to get blown apart beyond recognition!
Anyway. Wings has a bit of that going on—especially in the first act, when Jack and David are just a couple of young flyboys having a ball doing their cunty little maneuvers in the air, Top Gun style. A lot of the patriotism and sense of duty to the war effort is implied in the actual story, but laid on super thick in the title card narration. The film opens with a somber dedication “To those young warriors of the sky, whose wings are folded about them forever.”
The vibe takes a sharp turn after the sudden death of Cadet White. He’s only on screen for a couple of minutes, tops, but the impact of his shocking death is felt throughout the rest of the film, a dark foreshadowing of what’s to come for our main characters. I appreciate the film’s acknowledgement of the tragedy of war, even though it doesn’t really go far enough. This could have otherwise been more of an America-Fuck-Yeah, pro-war romp with a love triangle thrown in (or rectangle, if you count Mary’s unrequited love for Jack), but thankfully the story is given more much-needed nuance.
The story is compelling enough on its own, but it’s really the innovative visuals and effects that made this movie special for me. This is not at all a new observation, but holy shit, the things they were able to do with this movie in 1927 are astounding—from the aerial shots to the impeccably staged battle scenes, this movie was more than ahead of its time. There’s a brief shot during a battle scene where a soldier is crushed by a tank—it’s an impressive effect that mainly involves clever editing, but it was a scene that left me absolutely slackjawed. You can see this film’s influence clear as day in more modern war films—the famous opening scene of Saving Private Ryan comes to mind. And they were able to accomplish such impressive stunts and effects without the use of CGI! Take that, perverted AI-loving dorks! Long live practical effects, baby!!
And then there’s the iconic, gorgeous tracking shot that takes us to a cafe in Paris. I mean, you can’t help but swoon watching this shot. I’m a real fiend for a good tracking shot, and this one is the platonic ideal. After looking into how they achieved this shot back in 1927, I am both in awe of the scale and pissed off that Wings didn’t end up with a nomination, let alone a win, for cinematography (that honor went to Sunrise which, while I hate the story, does have some delicious visuals for the time, so, fair). This movie looks so good, not “just” for its time, it looks good PERIOD. I found myself getting lost in several scenes, nodding slowly in approval, thinking to myself, “Yes… exactly… good…”
My only major gripe with Wings was that I wanted better for our girl, Mary. Introduced as the sweet girl-next-door type with a hopelessly unrequited crush on Jack, Mary is an immediately endearing and sympathetic character, played with charm and vulnerability by THE It Girl, Clara Bow. Time and time again throughout the film, Jack proves that he really kinda sucks. Once she had to pack up and head home from France, I wanted her to have a whirlwind romance with a wealthy widower in her hometown who was sensitive and respectful and would treat her the way she deserves. Then Jack would come home from the war, already Going Through It after David’s death, and realize that he’s in love with Mary, only to find out she’s married to another, hotter, richer man and extremely happy! It’s what they deserve!! And, frankly, it’s what I deserve.
Remember - I saw the war, too, Jack! And I can't blame - anyone - for anything! What happens from now on is all that matters, isn't it, dear?
Quick Facts:
Nominated for two Academy Awards, won both (Including Best Picture)
The only 100% silent movie to win Best Picture
The Battle of Saint-Mihiel scene involved 3500 (real!) soldiers and dozens of planes and was shot in one take that lasted five minutes.
Iconic costume designer Edith Head’s first film
My Rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Next Up: Alibi (1929)
Technically, there were three more movies nominated for “Best Unique and Artistic Picture.” Sunrise won this award, but after this category was discontinued for all future ceremonies, the Academy determined that the “Outstanding Picture” category that included Wings, The Racket, and 7th Heaven, was the highest honor possible.