Wings - 1927 Silent Movie

[NigelS]

Just been listening to a review on local radio of the recently released restoration of the 1927 silent movie 'Wings' on DVD in the UK. Apparently it was the first &, until the more recent 'The Artist' , the only silent movie to get an Academy Award for 'Outstanding Picture' ('Best Picture' today) Wikipedia & the IMDb give a number of other interesting facts about the film amongst which are that for years it was considered as having been lost. (I like the Clara Bow quote given by Wikipedia "Wings is...a man's picture and I'm just the whipped cream on top of the pie".)

Not a film - least that I can remember - I've ever seen, but the radio reviewer said it was well worth a watch, as does this one Click.

Apologies if this has already been mentioned recently - if it has it's passed me by

NigelS

[David Ridgus]

Thanks for this Nigel, I certainly hadn't seen anything on its resurrection.

A friend of mine who is an aviation nut always raves about it. I also remember reading somewhere (and I'm sure it's apocryphal but would just love it to be true) that when it was filmed the climactic scene (although supposedly choreographed) was something like the third biggest dog fight that had ever happened up until that point in aviation history! I think they were allowed to claim it as a dogfight for the grisly reason that two people died in its filming. Probably all rubbish but a great story!

David

[Martin Feledziak]

Having done a search this appears to be relevant on this thread.

The video is 1.46 in length.

The comments suggest that it was made for the 1927 film Wings.

Here is the Utube link.

I would be interested in any of your views.

Martin

[Moonraker]

Apparently some of the aerial footage found its way into the 1929 talkie "Flight",  available on

 

 YouTube  where the copy is remarkably fresh. (Sobering to think that it's more than 90 years old.)

 

IMDB

 

The film has a hackneyed plot of two buddies falling out over a girl, but then one crashes in hostile territory in Nicaragua. Will his ex-friend rescue him? (What d'you think?)

 

Some of the aviation scenes look authentic (including beleaguered ground troops communicating with airmen using tape), but the USMC sergeant refers to a corporal as "soldier", and as any fule knos marines aren't soldiers.

 

Those who like such things may be interested in Ralph Graves' toupee which is completely missing in one fight scene and flips up in another (which ends with a cringe-worthy homo-erotic spanking).

 

OK, not WWI but I quite enjoyed the film (apart from the three-way romance - and the spanking) and the connection with "Wings" gave me an excuse to mention it here.