The audience gulped down the plot as conventional but reliable stuff, watched with waning interest while spinning, swerving, dodging planes grew into confused monotony against a background of unpicturesque ether.
Wings (1927)
Tomatometer
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Reviews Counted: 25
Fresh: 24
Rotten:1
Average Rating: 7.6/10
Consensus: Subsequent war epics may have borrowed heavily from the original Best Picture winner, but they've all lacked Clara Bow's luminous screen presence and William Wellman's deft direction.
Runtime: 2 hrs 19 mins
Genre: Action/Adventure
Synopsis: WINGS was the first film ever made that graphically captured the emotional combination of freedom and fear of flying in combat. Director William Wellman drew on his years in an elite flying... WINGS was the first film ever made that graphically captured the emotional combination of freedom and fear of flying in combat. Director William Wellman drew on his years in an elite flying squadron and pushed the cinematic technology of the day to its limit when he created this film's timeless aerial sequences. The story revolves around two young men, of different classes, who have both fallen for the same young woman before they head off to combat. Richard Arlen and Charles Rogers are well paired as they fight it out over both Clara Bow and enemy soil, and Gary Cooper makes a memorable cameo appearance, which launched his career. The emotional current created by the three stars is as intense as the film's special effects, and the result adequately reflects the lasting brutality of war. This drama won the very first Academy Award for Best Picture. [More]
Starring: Clara Bow, Charles "Buddy" Rogers, Gary Cooper, Richard Arlen
Starring: Clara Bow, Charles "Buddy" Rogers, Gary Cooper, Richard Arlen, Hedda Hopper, George Irving
Director: William Wellman
Director: William Wellman
Producer: Lucien Hubbard
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Reviews for Wings
The first Oscar winner for Best Picture was also the only silent film to win the Oscar.
There not being so much of Clara Bow in the picture, or a straining for her to turn on that 'it' personality, she gives an all around corking performance.
It won the first Academy Award for best picture back in 1927, establishing a tradition of silliness that hasn't been broken to this day, but there is some thrilling flying footage and impressively expensive spectacle.
Above par effects (for the time) matched with decent performances make for a modestly entertaining picture.
Long touted as a classic by cinema historians, and justifying almost every adjectival extravagance.
The first collaborative effort between Holywood and the Air Force, Wings enjoyed the administration's support on the condition that it projects a positive image of the military, emphasizing male camaraderie and heroism.
The classic war epic-meets-buddy-movie from which most others since have been derived.
An early buddies-go-to-war story that still echoes in today's movies.
The main attraction for this movie is the aerial fight sequences. They’re some of the most exciting combat scenes I’ve seen, and this is for a film that was made in 1927!
The airborne stunts, even to this day, are quite breathtaking and have rarely been surpassed; just as notable are the land-based war sequences, in particular a trench that collapses with devastating consequences.
Clara Bow and Buddy Rogers develop their characters and bring far more life to the screen than anyone in the forgettable Bruckheimer-Bay rip-off WWII love story
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