Wings (1927) - There were moments of greatness and there were moments of mediocrity

Review No. : 0010

Title : Wings

Year : 1927

Director : William A. Wellman

Country : United States

World’s Verdict : Rotten Tomatoes – 95%; IMDB – 7.8 out of 10.0; Academy Award - Outstanding Picture, Best Engineering Effects.

My Verdict : 2.5 out of 5.0.

I got to admit that part of my movie bucket list is to watch Wings, the first recipient of the Academy Award for Best Picture (Outstanding Picture at that time).  I’m glad that I am doing the Oscar Challenge it forces me to watch these old movies that are in the backburner.

Wings is a story of two young men who enlisted in the American Army during the First World War.  They started as rivals fighting for the heart of one woman but soon became best of friends in the army camp.  They both shared glorious moments as fighter pilots during the war and realized that no woman can destroy their friendship.

What Went Right

• Shock value – When you watch this classic you will see a half-a-second breast exposure of Clara Bow.  You will see a General kissing the neck of the soldiers as a sign of appreciation.  You will see men embracing and almost kissing each other on the lips.  You will see adult men kissing their mothers on their lips and I’m not talking about a simple smack, I’m talking about passionate kiss (gladly without tongue).  The last one was the one that shocked me the most because I never saw any other film that shows that kind of affection.  You will wonder if that was the kind of world a century ago. 

• Richard Arlen – He was the best performer in this film.  He gave the right amount of performance.  Charles “Buddy” Rogers did good, too, but his goofy character almost crossed the line of annoyance.

• Action scenes – The scenes in the skies with the flying and falling airplanes were very impressive.  The shots of the airplanes crashing down were also amazing and very believable.
  

What Went Wrong

• Mixed genre – This film is a romantic comedy, an action and a drama rolled into one long movie.  Bow and Rogers scenes were comical that sometimes I felt that it does not fit in the overall theme.  Or probably Wings was really a comedy film that the serious action and dramatic scenes were the ones that didn’t fit.  I just did not see the cohesiveness of the film.  It’s like I watched three films because the three genres did not gel together.

• Long boring parts – There were scenes that were too long that I wished I could fast forward the film.  Most of these were the action scenes.  Major cause was that it is a silent film and there was a need to narrate the action sequences.

• Inconsistency - Wings is a film that projects polarizing experience.  There are moments that you will laugh because it’s funny but there are times that you will find scenes to be too corny.  There are moments that you will be so much impressed with the action stunts and there are times that you will wish it to stop because it is just too long and boring.  There are times that you will find the cinematography beautiful but there are times that you will find it to be mediocre.  There are times that you will cringe with the melodrama but there will be a time that you will experience goosebumps and teary eyes.

• Editing is bad – I’m not talking about how the scenes were tailored to form a story.  I’m referring to obvious amateur cuts like when you see a man talking with his arms raised up and the next close-up shot you will notice that his arms are now on his side.  I caught a couple of this type of mistakes in this film.

Would I ever watch this film again?  I don’t have any plans to watch it again but I am recommending this film for all the cinephiles out there.