"Wings - 1927 " Topic

L to R: Charles "Buddy" Rogers, Clara Bow, and Richard Arlen

Wings is a 1927 silent film, directed by William Wellman. It stars Charles "Buddy" Rogers, Richard Arlen, and Clara Bow. It is the story of two young aviators fighting in the first World War. It was also the recipient of the first Academy Award for Best Picture.

The movie tells the sort of story that still forms the template for a lot of war movies today. Two young men from different backgrounds go to war; they begin as enemies but end up as friends. They are vying for the affections of the same woman. All in all, it's a bit like Top Gun, but without Tom Cruise.

Director William Wellman was the real deal. Wellman had served as an aviator in the Lafayette Flying Corps in 1917-18. The film was shot around San Antonio, Texas, a feat that consumed nine months and $2 USD million. There was also substantial support from the U.S. Army Air Corps. Although there are some genuine Fokker D.VIIs and SPADs in the film, they are mostly used for close-ups; in the main, the Germans are flying Curtiss P-1 Hawks and the Americans Thomas-Morse MB-3s. The climactic battle scene also features a number of Renault FT-17 tanks.

Paramount Pictures restored the film in 2012. The new print is sepia tinted (except for night scenes, which are tinted blue) and is quite stable and clear.

Overall, I liked Wings a lot. Today the plot is clichéd (I suspect that it was in 1927, too); but the spectacular flying sequences redeem the show. There are none of the rear-projection shots one expects in older flying films; those men are really in the cockpit! The camera work is also a lot more lively than one might expect from a ninety year old film. Romance, adventure, spectacle; Wings has it all.

Ron

They're not only really in the cockpit, the actors are really flying the planes. One star was already a pilot; the other was given lessons. Both flew their planes during the sequences with pilot closeups.
As for the dogfights, they're all real, too (well, except for the bullets). Combat pilots flew the planes engaging in simulated combat, while other planes mounted with cameras filmed the action. No miniatures or double exposures involved. The smoke and flames of "hit" planes were created by devices attached to the planes.

Oh, and yes, they flew, dropped bombs from, and crashed a surplus German Gotha bomber!

Watch it for the battles and the appearance of a young Gary Cooper in a supporting role.

Re: Parzival

Richard Arlen (David in the film) had flown with Canadian forces during the war. Evidently, Buddy Rogers (Jack) didn't like flying, and would become sick before going up. A stunt pilot did the crashes (in real aircraft!) and suffered a broken neck during the shoot.

I used to hold up The Blue Max (dir. John Guillermin, 1966) as the gold standard for Great War flying films, but I think it just got dethroned. Three cheers for "Wild Bill" Wellman!

Ron

P.S. Now I want a model of the Curtiss Hawk.

"Wings" has never been equaled. Period. CGI hardly counts, since it defies the laws of physics with the aircraft.

The original 1WW aircraft (D7, Spad) were junk, and I read an anecdote from the stunt pilot who crashed the D7 that it was a pleasure to kill that piece of crap.

The "making of" stuff on the DVD is actually more fascinating than the film itself. In actual value of dollars at the time, "Wings" is still the most expensive movie ever made. Not all of it was paid for, of course, since value was donated by the US military. They had tons of ordnance to use up! But you have to count the worth of everything used in the making of the film when comparing what it would cost to make an equally lavish production since then, and "Wings" tops the list….

…And how many pilots died filming it? Six?….I prefer CGI.

According to Wikipedia one Army pilot died during the filming, however no reference to this death is supplied, nor are any details. Stunt pilot extraordinaire Dick Grace suffered a broken neck, but fully recovered.

A quick google search by me has turned up no details regarding a pilot death in the filming of Wings, though pilots did die making other films (typically in the course of highly elaborate stunts). However, In the case of Wings, if a death occurred, while the pilot's loss would indeed have been a tragedy, it's hard to fault the film as causing it, especially given the era and the planes of the day. Keep in mind that as an Army pilot, he would have been doing simulated combat training anyway. Did the fact that a film was being made cause the accident? Without details, we really can't say. As it is, I don't have any evidence aside from the notoriously unreliable Wikipedia that even one death occurred. Anybody have an actual source for the claim?

Clara Bow – what a gal!

(am I shallow? )

I haven't heard that any pilot died filming "Wings". The broken neck didn't stop the stunt pilot, he had the brace off not long afterward and kept flying. All of those guys were maniacs, which is probably the main reason why the flying sequences are so great….

Clara, had the talent, but evidently not the voice. Talkies did in her career. But, who the hell cares about the voice with eyes like that? Not to mention the rest of her….

Evidently, the film with multiple pilot fatalities was Hell's Angels (dir. Howard Hughes, 1930). Three (or possibly four – sources vary) pilots and crew were killed in separate incidents. Hughes almost added himself to the tally – he crashed while pulling out of a dive in one of the film's stunts.

Ron

My mistake, I was thinking of 'Hells Angels'.

I don't know if you guys are interested, but it looks like some or all of the episodes of the BBC drama "Wings" are on The Youtube. It has nothing in common with the movie, other than being about WW1 aviation.

It ran for two seasons (1977-78) and I remember being very fond of it as a kid; I was a strange kid. The series begins in 1915, which is perhaps why I still have a preference for the early War clunkers to this day.

The replica B.E.2, now restored, used in the show:

I think I've seen one episode of the TV series "Wings". You were a strange kid. It didn't grab me, and I love 1WW aircraft, all of them. Maybe I will try another episode and see what happens….

How weird, there is a TV series from the 90s called Wings too, on YouTube. Never heard of it before….

"The volunteer". Heh, I'm in. Start at the beginning, not in the middle, and it grabs you easily enough. Now I have to watch all of 'em….

One of my most favorite films! The very first time I saw it was on the old American Movie Classics channel, which was then hosted by Bob Dorian, back around 1993 or '94. Also, my research on old local movie theaters revealed that 'Wings' showed for one week at the then-brand new Worth Theater in downtown Fort Worth, from September 29 to October 5, 1928. Admission prices ranged from 15¢ to 60¢.

Oh, and Clara Bow? Yeah, she was DEFINITELY the "fox" of her day!

I watched Wings (the TV series) as well – and I recall liking it. Course I was reading my way through Biggles at the time (I was fairly young when it came out )

…there is a TV series from the 90s called Wings too…

This is not the TV series called Wings that you are looking for.

And who can forget "Schmidt",the German-American volunteer(played by El Brendel) who had a U.S. flag tattooed on him. Character washed out of flight training,but was accepted as a mechanic. And Gary Cooper's "Cadet White" ,who took the view that "when your time's up,it's up",then gets killed during a training session. And Irv,I know the series you're referring too;that one had actor Tim Daly in it,set at a small airport.

Or it may have been "Schwimpf".

…It has nothing in common with the movie, other than being about WW1 aviation.

I finished all 25 episodes earlier this week. Once I got into season two I couldn't stop. I watched the last five episodes all in one go.

There is one episode which gives a clear nod to "Wings" the 1927 silent film. Farmer steals an Eindecker and his flight commander, Cpt Triggers, shoots him down, despite Farmer gesticulating "it's me, it's me!", just like the two friends in Wings the movie, only not with the same tragic consequences.

The series gathers momentum right to the last episode, and then finishes with a kind of closure. The squadron is broken up and the survivors are soon to be merged into other squadrons, it is now late fall of 1915, the early air war phase is over, they've learned their lessons, and now the story will move into the middle phase of the air war, with real combat designs coming out to face the Germans, thus ending the "Fokker Scourge". All of that is in the "wings" so to speak. I only wish the series had continued on to show all of that too. Instead, we get a Sopwith Pup in one episode, in the role of the "Triggers Viper", a new design that Cpt Triggers test flies and denounces as a death trap, because pilots are not trained to fly such a combat machine and will kill themselves with it. I loved that episode particularly….