Review: Wings


Two rivals (Charles Rogers, Richard Arlen) for the same girl (Jobyna Ralston) end up bonding whilst serving in WWI as pilots. Meanwhile, Clara Bow plays a girl who has a thing for Rogers, who is oblivious. Bow ends up joining the war effort driving an ambulance. That’s a young (but not young-looking) Gary Cooper as a fellow soldier in a mere cameo.



This 1927 William A. Wellman (“The Story of G.I. Joe”, “The High and the Mighty”, “The Ox-Bow Incident”) silent picture is remembered today for one thing: The trivia titbit that it was the first film to be awarded Best Picture at the Academy Awards. Well I’m here to tell you that it’s also better than just being a piece of trivia. It doesn’t seem to get a lot of good reviews, but I actually rather enjoyed this one. In fact, it’s really only gross length that holds me back from liking it even more. Scripted by Hope Loring and Louis D. Lighton (a husband and wife screenwriting team), it’s the kind of sweeping romantic war epic that Hollywood (and admittedly British cinema, too) would rip-off time and time again over the years, as “Pearl Harbour” in particular owes a lot to this one, I reckon.



Although some of the silent movie acting is pretty poor in places, the three lead performances by Charles Rogers, Richard Arlen, and Clara Bow are pretty good. Bow in particular excels in a role that isn’t just a mere prop or weak woman, she’s quite pro-active for the period of both the film and the subject within the film. Meanwhile, late in the film we get a scene between the two male leads that is more tender ad dare I say ‘romantic’ than a lot of movies with similar themes involving a man and a woman. The film starts in fairly typical silent era romantic comedy style with some silliness involving a car. That’s cute, and we also get a funny bit where a Dutchman proves he’s as American as anyone by his American flag tattoo on his flabby arm. Yeah, this is borderline propaganda flick at times, but it’s too innocuous really, to take offence at the blatant rah-rah patriotism. The fact that it’s so funny (especially the first half) also helps.



I said that some of the acting has dated, but I must say plot-wise this really is an indication of things to come, you really can see film narrative in a state of evolution here. The flying footage is excellent for its time and even rather graphic, too.



Is this a great film? Nope, it’s far too long for that. However, it is indeed an important and influential film, and I rather liked it. A solid film for its time that is still worth a look today. It’s a bit underrated, actually. 



Rating: B-

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Review: Hellraiser (2022)

Recovering junkie Odessa A’zion accompanies scuzzy boyfriend Drew Starkey on a break-in where all they find is a weird puzzle box. A’zion later opens the box and after some weird shit happens, A’zion and Starkey figure it might be a good idea to learn more about this messed up trinket. Goran Visnjic plays a millionaire who possessed the box before our protagonist nicked it.   Is there any point in remaking/rebooting “Hellraiser” when the 1987 adaptation of Clive Barker’s original text was written and directed by Barker himself? And is considered a horror classic? On evidence here, absolutely not. Directed by David Bruckner ( “The Signal” ) and scripted by Ben Collins ( “The Night House” ) and Luke Piotrowski (ditto) this is an entirely tedious affair. I took a long time to get on board with the 1987 “Hellraiser” , I have to admit. It was wildly imaginative and original, like a nightmare transplanted on to film. However, the characters were stone cold and left me similarly chilly t
Read more

Review: Cinderella (1950)

The story of poor young Cinderella (voiced by Ilene Woods), treated as a servant by her nasty stepmother (voiced by Eleanor Audley), and dismissed by her thoroughly rotten, ugly stepsisters. Her only friends are a group of mice, who are forever being menaced by a cat named Lucifer (or as I call him, Grumpy Cheshire Cat). The King (hoping to find a wife for his charming son) is throwing a ball and every available young woman is invited to attend, and Cinderella is most excited to go. However, her stepmother and stepsisters do all they can to prevent this from happening. But with help from the mice and one fairy godmother (voiced by Verna Felton) later, and Cinderella looks set to attend the ball. You know the rest, folks.   Lovely 1950 Disney animated movie from directors Clyde Geronimi ( “Peter Pan” , “Lady and the Tramp” ), Wilfred Jackson ( “Fantasia” , “Alice in Wonderland” , “Peter Pan” ) & Hamilton Luske ( “Pinocchio” , “Fantasia” , “Peter Pan” ), that is a bit too s
Read more

Review: Eugenie de Sade

Eugenie (Soledad Miranda) makes a deathbed confession to author/biographer (Jesus ‘Jess’ Franco himself), recounting the tale of how her depraved stepfather (Paul Muller) groomed her into a life of depravity, debauchery, and murder.   Not to be confused with the similarly titled “Eugenie…The Story of Her Journey into Perversion” (by the same director) or “Justine de Sade” (which is not to be confused with Franco’s own “Justine” for that matter), this 1973 Marquis de Sade adaptation from writer-director Jesus Franco ( “99 Women” , “A Virgin Among the Living Dead” ) is perhaps the perfect marriage of Franco, sleazy material, and actors. Basically this is what Franco’s “She Killed in Ecstasy” might’ve been like if it were based on a Marquis de Sade work. There’s a few slow spots here and there, but overall I actually think this is Franco’s best film. Yes, even better than my previous choice “Vampyros Lesbos” , and better than his more ‘respectable’ films like “Count Dracula” (a
Read more