The Oscar Project

Wings (1927)

A Paramount Famous Lasky Corporation Production, distributed by Paramount Pictures.

Wings (1927) is a pretty significant film historically. It’s the first ever Best Picture winner and, prior to this year, was the only silent film to ever win that same Oscar. It features the first same-sex kiss on film and is one of the first films to show nudity (this being Clara Bow’s rather lovely top half). In this way, it’s a remarkable piece of cinema.

The story though is not exceptional. It’s about two young men’s journey into becoming fighter pilots during the First World War. There’s a subplot or two – mostly romantic. The two men are competing initially over the same woman, Sylvia (Jobyna Ralston), and through a mishap she ends up declaring herself to the wrong one, Jack (Charles ‘Buddy’ Rogers), instead of the one she actually loves, David (Richard Arlen). At the same time, Jack’s neighbour, Mary (played wonderfully by original ‘it-girl’, Clara Bow) struggles with getting Jack to see her romantically, and ends up following him out to war as an ambulance driver.

The first thing to know about Wings is that it’s a long film. It stands at almost two and a half hours and feels every bit as long as that. There’s a scene mid-way through where Jack gets pretty wasted and the film kind of goes on a tangent about bubbles. It’s weird (I mean, really).  The film as well seems to jump between exceptionally sombre melodrama, slapstick and long fight scenes, in other words, a lot of chest clutching and a lot of mishaps – including the aforementioned topless Clara Bow scene which, whilst you don’t actually see a whole lot of anything (at least not by today’s standards), feels like a direct draw on her sex-symbol status.

For me though, the film’s remarkabilities stem from some solid performances by Bow and Arlen and a wonderful cameo from a future movie star in Gary Cooper, but mostly with the production values of the film. At 84 years old, the flight scenes are still impressive, the cinematography expansive and the battles tense.

I didn’t love this film, honestly. There were parts of it I loved – Mary’s decision to enter the war and then rescuing Jack from expulsion at her own expense was great, the climactic flight scenes were exciting and David and Jack’s reunion at the end is moving to say the very least. That said, there are a lot of other things happening. The love triangle (square?) feels tacked on, with next to no closure happening with poor Sylvia (who is grossly underused), the male-bonding is drawn out and the film is just long and doesn’t necessarily always manage to keep you there with it. It’s a solid film though, and as the original Oscar winner, it’s worth the watch.

Rating: 7/10

Director: William A. Wellman

Writers: John Monk Saunders, Hope Loring & Louis D. Lighton

Producer: BP Schulberg

Cast: Clara Bow, Charles ‘Buddy’ Rogers & Richard Arlen

Nominations: Best Effects, engineering effects (winner) & Best Picture, Production (winner)