Wings

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Wings (film)

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Wings (film)
Wings
early film poster
Directed by William A. Wellman
Produced by
Lucien Hubbard
Adolph Zukor
Jesse L. Lasky
B. P. Schulberg
Otto Kahn
[1]

[2]
Written by Story:
John Monk Saunders
Screenplay:
Hope Loring
Louis D. Lighton
Titles:
Julian Johnson
Starring Clara Bow
Charles "Buddy"
Rogers
Richard Arlen
Gary Cooper
Music by Uncredited:
J.S. Zamecnik
Cinematography Harry Perry
Editing by E. Lloyd Sheldon
Uncredited:
Lucien Hubbard
Distributed by Paramount Pictures
Release date(s) August 12, 1927
Running time 141 minutes
Country United States
Language Silent film
English intertitles
Budget US$2,000,000 (est.)
Wings (1927) is a silent film about World War I fighter pilots, produced by Lucien Hubbard, directed by William A.
Wellman and released by Paramount Pictures. Wings was the first film, and the only silent film, to win the Academy
Wings (film)
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Award for Best Picture.
[3]
Wings stars Clara Bow, Charles "Buddy" Rogers, and Richard Arlen. Gary Cooper
appears in a role which helped launch his career in Hollywood and also marked the beginning of his affair with Clara
Bow. Ironically, out of all of the lead performances in the film, it was Gary Cooper's supporting role which would
shoot him to stardom.
[4]
Plot
Clara Bow as Mary Preston in Wings
Jack Powell (Rogers) and David Armstrong (Arlen) are rivals in
the same small American town, both vying for the attentions of
pretty Sylvia Lewis (Ralston). Jack fails to realize that "the girl
next door", Mary Preston (Bow), is desperately in love with him.
The two young men both enlist to become combat pilots in the Air
Service. When they leave for training camp, Jack mistakenly
believes Sylvia prefers him. She actually prefers David and lets
him know about her feelings, but is too kindhearted to turn down
Jack's affection.
Jack and David are billeted together. Their tent mate is Cadet
White (Gary Cooper), but their acquaintance is all too brief; White
is killed in an air crash the same day. Undaunted, the two men
endure a rigorous training period, where they go from being
enemies to best friends. Upon graduating, they are shipped off to
France to fight the Germans.
Mary joins the war effort by becoming an ambulance driver. She later learns of Jack's reputation as an ace and
encounters him while on leave in Paris. She finds him, but he is too drunk to recognize her. She puts him to bed, but
when two Military Police barge in while she is innocently changing from a borrowed dress back into her uniform in
the same room, she is forced to resign and return to America.
The climax of the story comes with the epic Battle of Saint-Mihiel. David is shot down and presumed dead.
However, he survives the crash landing, steals a German biplane, and heads for the Allied lines. By a tragic stroke of
bad luck, he is spotted and shot down by Jack, who is bent on avenging his friend. When Jack lands to pick up a
souvenir, he becomes distraught when he learns what he has done, but before David dies, he forgives his comrade.
With the end of the war, Jack returns home to a hero's welcome. When he returns David's effects to his grieving
parents, David's mother blames the war, not Jack, for her son's death. Then, Jack is reunited with Mary and realizes
he loves her.
Cast
Clara Bow as Mary Preston
Charles "Buddy" Rogers as Jack Powell
Richard Arlen as David Armstrong. Arlen met co-star Ralston on the set and married her in 1927.
Jobyna Ralston as Sylvia Lewis
El Brendel as Herman Schwimpf, a cadet who washes out and becomes an air force mechanic
Richard Tucker as Air commander
Gary Cooper as Cadet White
Gunboat Smith as Sergeant
Henry B. Walthall as David's father
Roscoe Karns as Lieutenant Cameron
Julia Swayne Gordon as David's mother
Wings (film)
3
Arlette Marchal as Celeste
Hedda Hopper as Jack's mother (uncredited)
George Irving as Jack's father (uncredited)
Production
The film, completed with a budget of $2 million, was the first film to win the Academy Award for Best Picture (then
called "Best Picture, Production") for the film year 1927/1928 (and was the only silent film to win), and won a
second Academy Award for Engineering Effects. Primary scout aircraft flown in the film were Thomas-Morse MB3s
and Curtis PW-8s.
The film was written by John Monk Saunders (story), Louis D. Lighton and Hope Loring and edited by Lucien
Hubbard, and was produced by Lucien Hubbard, directed by William A. Wellman, with an original orchestral score
by John Stepan Zamecnik, which was uncredited. The movie was shot at Kelly Field, San Antonio, Texas between
September 7, 1926 and April 7, 1927.
[5]
A sneak preview was shown on May 19, 1927 at the Texas Theater on
Houston Street in San Antonio. The Premier was held at the Criterion Theater, in New York City, on August 12,
1927.
[6]
The film is one of the first to feature a male-on-male kiss a fraternal one in the death scene near the end. It is also
one of the first widely released films to show nudity.
[7]
Clara Bow's breasts can be seen for a second during the Paris
bedroom scene when army men barge in as she is changing her clothes. In the Enlistment Office, nude men
undergoing physical exams, can be seen from behind, through an open door, which is opened and closed. This film
was released a few months before the MPPDA list of "Don'ts and Be Carefuls" was established.
[8]
Producer Lucien Hubbard hired director Wellman because of his World War I aviator experience. Arlen, Wellman,
and John Monk Saunders had all served in World War I as military aviators. Arlen was able to do his own flying in
the film and Rogers, a non-pilot, underwent flight training during the course of the production, so that, like Arlen,
Rogers could also be filmed in closeup in the air. Lucien Hubbard offered flying lessons to all, and despite the
number of aircraft in the air, only two incidents occurred, one involving Dick Grace, a stunt pilot and the other was a
fatal crash of a United States Army Air Corps pilot.
[9]
The original Paramount release was color tinted and had some sequences in an early widescreen process known as
Magnascope, also used in the Paramount film Old Ironsides (1926). Some prints had synchronized sound effects and
music, using the General Electric Kinegraphone (later RCA Photophone) sound-on-film process.
[10]
Reception
Wings was an immediate success, premiering on August 12, 1927 at the Criterion Theatre in New York and playing
63 weeks before being moved to second-run theaters. One of the reasons for its resounding popularity was the public
infatuation with aviation in the wake of Charles Lindbergh's transatlantic flight.
[11]
The critical response was equally
enthusiastic as the critic of the New York Times noted that the realism of the flying scenes was impressive.
[12]
Academy Awards
On May 16, 1929, the first ever Academy Award ceremony was held at the Hotel Roosevelt in Hollywood to honor
outstanding film achievements of 1927 and 1928. Wings was entered in a number of categories but in contrast with
later awards, there was no Best Picture award. Instead, there were two separate awards for production, the Most
Artistic Quality of Production, won by Sunrise: A Song of Two Humans (1927) and the Most Outstanding
Production, won by Wings as well as Best Effects, Engineering Effects for Roy Pomeroy.
The following year, the Academy instituted a single award called Best Production, and decided retroactively that the
award won by Wings had been the equivalent of that award, with the result that Wings is often listed as the winner of
a sole Best Picture award for the first year. The title of the award was eventually changed to Best Picture for the
Wings (film)
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1931 awards.
Legacy
For many years, Wings was considered a lost film until a print was found in the Cinmathque Franaise film archive
in Paris and quickly copied from nitrate film to safety film stock.
[10]
It was again shown in theaters, including some
theaters where the film was accompanied by Wurlitzer pipe organs.
[13]
In 1997, Wings was selected for preservation in the United States National Film Registry by the Library of Congress
as being "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant".
In 2006, director William A. Wellman's son, William Wellman Jr., authored a book about the film and his father's
participation in the making of it, titled The Man and His Wings: William A. Wellman and the Making of the First
Best Picture.
DVD
Wings is the only Best Picture winner that is not officially available on DVD in Region 1 (Cavalcade was released in
late 2010).
[14]
References
Notes
[1] Kevin Brownlow and David Gill, Hollywood: A Celebration of American Silent Film (13 part television documentary series). New York:
HBO Home Video, 1980.
[2] Wellman, William on production of Wings in episode Hollywood Goes to War where he stated Otto Kahn was a financier on Wings visiting
the production on location in Texas.
[3] "Dorothy Wellman dies at 95." (http:/ / www. variety.com/ article/ VR1118008823. html?categoryId=25& cs=1) Variety Magazine,
September 17, 2009. Retrieved: September 20, 2009.
[4] "Notes for Wings (1927)." (http:/ / www. tcm.com/ tcmdb/ title. jsp?stid=504086& category=Notes) Turner Classic Movies, 2009. Retrieved:
September 20, 2009.
[5] Stenn 2000, p. 300.
[6] Thompson 2002, p. 25.
[7] Mast 1982, pp. 213214.
[8] "Complete list of the 36 'Don'ts and Be Carefuls' of 1927." (http:/ / teaching. arts. usyd. edu. au/ history/ hsty3080/ 3rdYr3080/ 3080site/
don'ts:2fbe carefuls) University of Sydney Arts and Sciences. Retrieved: March 29, 2011.
[9] Lusier, Tim. "Daredevils in the Air: Three of the Greats, Wilson, Locklear and Grace." (http:/ / www. silentsaregolden. com/ articles/
aviationstuntmen.html) Silents Are Golden, 2004. Retrieved: September 20, 2009.
[10] "Wings (1927)." (http:/ / www. silentera. com/ PSFL/ data/ W/ Wings1927. html) SilentEra. Retrieved: September 20, 2009.
[11] Farmer 2006, p. 14.
[12] Hall, Mourdant. "Wings (1927), The Screen: The Flying Fighters." (http:/ / movies. nytimes. com/ movie/
review?res=9805E6D9163CEE3ABC4B52DFBE66838C639EDE) The New York Times, August 13, 1927. Retrieved: September 20, 2009.
[13] "Datebook" magazine, San Francisco Chronicle
[14] Berardinelli, James. "Wings." (http:/ / www. reelviews. net/ php_review_template. php?identifier=1846) reelviews.net, October 24, 2009.
Retrieved: July 21, 2010.
Bibliography
Dolan, Edward F. Jr. Hollywood Goes to War. London: Bison Books, 1985. ISBN 0-86124-229-7.
Farmer, Jim. "The Making of Flyboys." Air Classics, Vol. 42, No. 11, November 2006.
Hardwick, Jack and Ed Schnepf. "A Viewer's Guide to Aviation Movies". The Making of the Great Aviation
Films, General Aviation Series, Volume 2, 1989.
Mast, Gerald, ed. The Movies in our Midst: Documents in the Cultural History of Film in America. Chicago: The
University of Chicago Press, 1982. ISBN 978-0226509792.
Orriss, Bruce. When Hollywood Ruled the Skies: The Aviation Film Classics of World War II. Hawthorne,
California: Aero Associates Inc., 1984. ISBN 0-9613088-0-X.
Wings (film)
5
Silke, James R. "Fists, Dames & Wings." Air Progress Aviation Review, Volume 4, No. 4, October 1980.
Stenn, David. Clara Bow: Runnin' Wild. New York: Cooper Square Press, 2000, First edition 1988. ISBN
978-0-8154-1025-6.
Thompson, Frank. Texas Hollywood: Filmmaking in San Antonio Since 1910. San Antonio, Texas: Maverick
Publishing Company, 2002. ISBN 978-1-893271-20-3.
Wellman, William Jr. The Man And His Wings: William A. Wellman and the Making of the First Best Picture.
Westport, Connecticut: Praeger Publishers, 2006. ISBN 0-275-98541-5.
External links
Wings (http:/ / www. imdb. com/ title/ tt0018578/ ) at the Internet Movie Database
Wings (http:/ / tcmdb. com/ title/ title. jsp?stid=504086) at the TCM Movie Database
Wings (http:/ / www. allrovi. com/ movies/ movie/ v54791) at AllRovi
Wings (http:/ / www. rottentomatoes. com/ m/ wings/ ) at Rotten Tomatoes
Wings at SilentEra (http:/ / www. silentera. com/ PSFL/ data/ W/ Wings1927. html)
DVD info on Wings at SilentEra (http:/ / www. silentera. com/ video/ wingsHV. html)
Article Sources and Contributors
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Article Sources and Contributors
Wings (film) Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?oldid=454710390 Contributors: Addit, Ageekgal, Ameliorate!, Andrzejbanas, Aswn, Before My Ken, Bobo192, Bovineboy2008,
BrokenSphere, Bzuk, Carl Logan, Cburnett, Chupon, Clarityfiend, Comar4, Cromwellt, D6, Danny, Delldot, Eaglestorm, EchetusXe, Eclecticology, Edwardx, Elvenscout742, Erik, Everything
Else Is Taken, FeanorStar7, Hayabusa future, Headbomb, Hmains, Hourick, Issac500, JaGa, Jean-Frdric, Joey80, John Vandenberg, Joseph A. Spadaro, KF, Kate, Katefan0, Kkmurray,
Koplimek, Koyaanis Qatsi, Lostkiwi, Lugnuts, Luigibob, Magioladitis, Mani1, Matlefebvre20, Maymay, McNeight, Michaellee4, Mlessard, Mr Hall of England, Mwltruffaut, N5iln, NWill,
Neddyseagoon, Niall Guinan, Noirish, Nv8200p, Ouch1234, Pagingmrherman, Parrotistic, Pearle, Philbertgray, Pittsburgh Poet, Plasticspork, RBBrittain, RadicalBender, Reedmalloy, Richard
Arthur Norton (1958- ), Rjwilmsi, Rossrs, Sallyrob, Scanlan, Skier Dude, Somercet, Stovelsten, StuartDouglas, Super-Magician, Supernumerary, Suruena, Syrthiss, TAnthony, Tassedethe,
Tbhotch, Ted Wilkes, The JPS, Thefourdotelipsis, Thismightbezach, Thumperward, Timc, Tjmayerinsf, Topbanana, Treybien, Truthiness Jones, UZiBLASTER7, Ummagumma23, Unyoyega,
Varlaam, Ventur, VolatileChemical, Werldwayd, Wilybadger, Wool Mintons, ZenCopian, Zephyrus67, Zoe, Zzyzx11, 84 anonymous edits
Image Sources, Licenses and Contributors
File:Wings_poster.jpg Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=File:Wings_poster.jpg License: Public Domain Contributors: Paramount Pictures
Image:Clara Bow in Wings trailer 2 crop.JPG Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=File:Clara_Bow_in_Wings_trailer_2_crop.JPG License: Public Domain Contributors: Trailer
screenshot
License
Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 Unported
//creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/

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