# Wings (1927) **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [January 22, 2004, 5:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wings-1927/225645 "2004-01-22T17:01:09Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Ilsa\_Lund](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/a6a055/32.png) [@Ilsa\_Lund](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ilsa_Lund)\ **Post date:** [January 22, 2004, 5:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wings-1927/225645/1 "2004-01-22T17:01:09Z")
The first film to win Best Production at the 1929 Academy Awards, _Wings_ is an marvelous film that defined how war pictures would be made for the next 75 years. A simple tale of neighbors who go to fight in a war, as well as the stories of the women who love them, it contained some of the most radical battle scenes ever filmed. Not bound by the constraints of sound equipment, all the flight scenes were filmed _in the air_ in real planes. Real bombs were used, as well as real Army equipment. The Army allowed filming on base in Texas, and provided oversight, expertise and equipment. The film also has some of the most moving images of the horrors of war ever filmed, second maybe to _All Quiet On The Western Front_ or _Soldaat Van Oranje_. _Saving Ryan’s Privates_ can’t come close. Clara Bow is luminous, as always; but the performance of the young Gary Cooper caught many an eye. Overall, a wonderful cinematic experience. ---
**Author:** ![Ilsa\_Lund](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/a6a055/32.png) [@Ilsa\_Lund](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ilsa_Lund)\ **Post date:** [January 22, 2004, 5:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wings-1927/225645/2 "2004-01-22T17:03:22Z")
> [@Ilsa\_Lund](#): > > The first film to win Best Production at the 1929 Academy Awards, _Wings_ is an marvelous film that defined how war pictures would be made for the next 75 years. > > A simple tale of neighbors who go to fight in a war, as well as the stories of the women who love them, it contained some of the most radical battle scenes ever filmed. Not bound by the constraints of sound equipment, all the flight scenes were filmed _in the air_ in real planes. Real bombs were used, as well as real Army equipment. The Army allowed filming on base in Texas, and provided oversight, expertise and equipment. > > The film also has some of the most moving images of the horrors of war ever filmed, second maybe to _All Quiet On The Western Front_ or _Soldaat Van Oranje_. _Saving Ryan’s Privates_ can’t come close. > > Clara Bow is luminous, as always; but the performance of the young Gary Cooper caught many an eye. > > Overall, a wonderful cinematic experience. That should read “to fight in World War I.” ---
**Author:** ![Interrobang](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/interrobang/32/17463_2.png) [@Interrobang](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Interrobang)\ **Post date:** [January 22, 2004, 6:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wings-1927/225645/3 "2004-01-22T18:47:19Z")
> [@Ilsa\_Lund](#): > > Overall, a wonderful cinematic experience. Really? A Seattle theater ran _Wings_ for the 75th anniversary last year, and I have to say it was one of the least successful silent films I’ve seen. By no means terrible, mind you, but it doesn’t hold a candle to the _other_ first Best Picture winner, _Sunrise_. I thought Clara Bow was pretty awful in a part that’s not very well written, and the drunk scenes in Paris were just embarrassing. The aerial scenes are pretty terrific, though, and Gary Cooper’s short appearance packs a punch. ---
**Author:** ![Johnny\_L.A](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnny_l.a/32/1084_2.png) [@Johnny\_L.A](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_L.A)\ **Post date:** [January 22, 2004, 7:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wings-1927/225645/4 "2004-01-22T19:34:25Z")
I’ll have to disgree with **Interrobang!?** and agree with **Ilsa\_Lund**. I thought _Wings_ was a wonderful movie! (Of course, I’m nuts about aircraft.) Now, if I could only find my copy of it… ---
**Author:** ![Eve](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/9e8a1a/32.png) [@Eve](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eve)\ **Post date:** [January 22, 2004, 7:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wings-1927/225645/5 "2004-01-22T19:37:57Z")
I liked it . . . But it’s not in my Top 10, or even my Top 50. Other 1927 films I think were as good—or better—than _Wings_ include _Chicago_ (brilliant performance by Phyllis Haver, good, dark script); _It_ (already discussed elsewhere); _The Lodger_ (early Hitchcock); _Love_ (Garbo & Gilbert’s silent “Anna Karenina,” better than her talkie); _Metropolis_ (yowza!); Abel Gance’s _Napoleon_; _Seventh Heaven_ (great tearjerker); _Sunrise_ . . . . . . sadly, talkies showed up just as the silent screen was at its apex as an art form . . . ---
**Author:** ![Ilsa\_Lund](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/a6a055/32.png) [@Ilsa\_Lund](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ilsa_Lund)\ **Post date:** [January 22, 2004, 10:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wings-1927/225645/6 "2004-01-22T22:54:27Z")
> [@Eve](#): > > I liked it . . . But it’s not in my Top 10, or even my Top 50. Other 1927 films I think were as good—or better—than _Wings_ include _Chicago_ (brilliant performance by Phyllis Haver, good, dark script); _It_ (already discussed elsewhere); _The Lodger_ (early Hitchcock); _Love_ (Garbo & Gilbert’s silent “Anna Karenina,” better than her talkie); _Metropolis_ (yowza!); Abel Gance’s _Napoleon_; _Seventh Heaven_ (great tearjerker); _Sunrise_ . . . > > . . . sadly, talkies showed up just as the silent screen was at its apex as an art form . . . I didn’t mean that is one of the top films, I meant that it’s a top _war film_. Those others are better than _Wings_ but due to the appearance of talkies haven’t had quite as much influence. ---
**Author:** ![Ilsa\_Lund](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/a6a055/32.png) [@Ilsa\_Lund](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ilsa_Lund)\ **Post date:** [January 22, 2004, 10:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wings-1927/225645/7 "2004-01-22T22:58:54Z")
> [@Ilsa\_Lund](#): > > I didn’t mean that is one of the top films, I meant that it’s a top _war film_. > > Those others are better than _Wings_ but due to the appearance of talkies haven’t had quite as much influence. Other than _Metropolis_ and _It_. of course. :o ---
**Author:** ![Eve](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/9e8a1a/32.png) [@Eve](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eve)\ **Post date:** [January 23, 2004, 12:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wings-1927/225645/8 "2004-01-23T00:30:01Z")
I don’t mean to sound like I don’t like _Wings_ . . . Guess I am playing Devil’s Advocate . . . But _Hearts of the World_ and _The Big Parade_ are better silent war films in my book . . . ---
**Author:** ![Ilsa\_Lund](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/a6a055/32.png) [@Ilsa\_Lund](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ilsa_Lund)\ **Post date:** [January 23, 2004, 12:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wings-1927/225645/9 "2004-01-23T00:44:49Z")
> [@Eve](#): > > I don’t mean to sound like I don’t like _Wings_ . . . Guess I am playing Devil’s Advocate . . . But _Hearts of the World_ and _The Big Parade_ are better silent war films in my book . . . Haven’t seen them. I should be getting the big parade soon, though. ---
**Author:** ![vivalostwages](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/d07c76/32.png) [@vivalostwages](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/vivalostwages)\ **Post date:** [January 23, 2004, 3:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wings-1927/225645/10 "2004-01-23T03:53:11Z")
Good movie. And the only silent I own. ---
**Author:** ![Ilsa\_Lund](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/a6a055/32.png) [@Ilsa\_Lund](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ilsa_Lund)\ **Post date:** [January 23, 2004, 1:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wings-1927/225645/11 "2004-01-23T13:23:22Z")
> [@vivalostwages](#): > > Good movie. And the only silent I own. Tsk, tsk. 😉 ---
**Author:** ![Eve](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/9e8a1a/32.png) [@Eve](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eve)\ **Post date:** [January 23, 2004, 2:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wings-1927/225645/12 "2004-01-23T14:53:02Z")
> [@Ilsa\_Lund](#): > > I should be getting the big parade soon, though. If you don’t weep buckets at John Gilbert’s homecoming scene . . . ---
**Author:** ![lieu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/c2a13f/32.png) [@lieu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lieu)\ **Post date:** [January 23, 2004, 3:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wings-1927/225645/13 "2004-01-23T15:35:22Z")
When my wife and I were first dating, I mentioned that I enjoyed watching _Wings_, in fact referring to the Discovery Channel series on the history of aircraft. She replied “Oh me too, that Robyn Bernard is so cute.” ---
**Author:** ![DesertDog](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/desertdog/32/11503_2.png) [@DesertDog](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DesertDog)\ **Post date:** [January 24, 2004, 12:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wings-1927/225645/14 "2004-01-24T00:49:56Z")
Around 1980 or so a film club I belonged to showed _Wings_. There was an old guy in his eighties who was a theater organist back in the silent era and he had the score for the movie in his collection. The plan was to bring in a portable organ and have him play a live accompaniment that Saturday. Unfortunately, he wasn’t feeling enough that evening and we had to make do with a recorded score he had taped a few years earlier. Still, it was nice seeing it on the big screen with the same music the audiences enjoyed when it was first released. I think the impact of the movie is much greater then, than on video DD ---
**Author:** ![Slithy\_Tove](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/slithy_tove/32/18248_2.png) [@Slithy\_Tove](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Slithy_Tove)\ **Post date:** [January 24, 2004, 1:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wings-1927/225645/15 "2004-01-24T01:34:15Z")
William Wellman, who directed “Wings,” had been a pilot in the war, and thirty years later made the melodrama “Layfayette Esquadrille” portraying his younger self as a side character. I’ll have to side with the others here with “The Big Parade” being the better film. Probably unfairly, since I put every war movie to the litmus test of being accurate to both historical events and actual human nature, even when its virutes for storytelling and technical mastery are supurb. But, consider that the Iraq War II has gone on approximately as long as the Battle of Verdun in 1916. Over that 300 days an American soldier or Marine has been killed every 14 hours, on average. France lost a soldier _every 80 seconds_ for this same period of time. The least we can do is tell the story of their war truthfully, not just use it as a backdrop for a jaunty romp. Of course, movie producers can’t afford such sensibilites, and demanded things like more shots of the mascot lion cub, and less dwelling on a pilot’s life expectancy of 20 hours. ---
**Author:** ![vivalostwages](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/d07c76/32.png) [@vivalostwages](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/vivalostwages)\ **Post date:** [January 24, 2004, 8:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wings-1927/225645/16 "2004-01-24T20:00:12Z")
> [@Ilsa\_Lund](#): > > Tsk, tsk. 😉 You are absolutely right. I said it with a twinge of shame, not pride. I was thinking of getting **M** , with Peter Lorre; or perhaps a Valentino. Which silents should be in my collection? ---
**Author:** ![Ilsa\_Lund](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/a6a055/32.png) [@Ilsa\_Lund](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ilsa_Lund)\ **Post date:** [January 24, 2004, 8:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wings-1927/225645/17 "2004-01-24T20:45:52Z")
> [@vivalostwages](#): > > You are absolutely right. I said it with a twinge of shame, not pride. > > I was thinking of getting **M** , with Peter Lorre; or perhaps a Valentino. > > Which silents should be in my collection? _M_ is a talkie… _La Passion d’Jeanne d’Arc, Sunrise, It, Metropolis, Nosferatu, The Phantom Of The Opera, Intolerance, Biograph Shorts, The Gold Rush, City Lights, The General, etc._. The first are the most important. ---
**Author:** ![Llama\_Llogophile](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/49beb7/32.png) [@Llama\_Llogophile](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Llama_Llogophile)\ **Post date:** [January 24, 2004, 9:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wings-1927/225645/18 "2004-01-24T21:49:30Z")
Ooooh, gonna have to get this one soon! Haven’t seen it in years. But… damn! Netflix doesn’t have it. This might be a purchase. ---
**Author:** ![vivalostwages](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/d07c76/32.png) [@vivalostwages](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/vivalostwages)\ **Post date:** [January 24, 2004, 11:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wings-1927/225645/19 "2004-01-24T23:28:33Z")
Oops, **M** is in the Foreign section of Movies Unlimited. Yes, **Metropolis and Nosferatu** would be great. Thanks. ---
**Author:** ![Ilsa\_Lund](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/a6a055/32.png) [@Ilsa\_Lund](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ilsa_Lund)\ **Post date:** [January 25, 2004, 12:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wings-1927/225645/20 "2004-01-25T00:20:26Z")
> [@vivalostwages](#): > > Oops, **M** is in the Foreign section of Movies Unlimited. > > Yes, **Metropolis and Nosferatu** would be great. > > Thanks. Not as good as _The Passion of Joan of Arc_ or _Sunrise_.