WINGS

 

No not that "Wings". I'm talking about the first film that Won Best Picture in 1927...





Jack Powell (Charles "Buddy"Rogers ) and David Armstrong (Richard Arlen) are rivals in a small town in America because they're both in love with a girl named Sylvia Lewis (Jobyna Ralston). A girl who lives next door to Jack named Mary Preston (Clara Bow) is secretly in love with Jack. The two men are sent out to fight in World War 1 and the two become friends. As for Mary, she joins the war effort to be an ambulance driver.




Our main characters are likable. Jack and Dave do have a great friendship and I enjoy watching them together on screen, while at the same time feel bad about their struggles over a girl. Oh and how their friendship ends is one of the most saddest and tragic downfalls I ever seen. I guess my only criticism is I wish to see them actually develop their friendship and see more of their rivalry against each other in the beginning. With that said, their friendship is still treated in a very powerful way, and if it comes through as powerful, I guess that's good enough. Clara Bow as Mary, I like how she feels for Jack and I like some of her over the top moments as well. It’s not over dramatic acting, her character is actually all shooting stars for him and that's different compared to most women in silent films. However, she was marketed as the film’s star when actually Rogers and Arlen are the real stars. Aside from being a secret admirer to Jack; she's really more of the prize for Jack in the end (Minor Spoiler) then having a relationship developed. In fact, even Bow criticized her part in the film saying "I'm just the whipped cream on top of the pie". The film was actually rewritten for her to be in the film. She’s a likable character and Clara Bow gives a great performance with the stuff she’s given, but I don't think we spend enough time with her to make her an important character. Other characters I enjoyed in the film even if they show up for a short time are Sylvia Lewis, Herman Schwimpf (who comically wears an America Flag tattoo to show his love for the country) and Cadet White played by an up and coming Gary Cooper (Which also started his affair with Clara Bow), to bad he gets killed off after we meet him though. I must say the characters, while being likable and performed well; I wish we could have spent more time with them, despite that the films long enough.





The battle scenes are done really well. Of course we're more focused on the air then we are on the ground and for an aviation type of war film, this is one of the best ones ever made. Ok, you know it's because they don't use CGI because it wasn't invented yet, but is it convincing!  It's shot and done realistic; it feels realistic and it looks like legit war footage. Even when you know the actor is sitting in a plane behind a screen, it still feels realistic. They’re also very suspenseful and keeps you on the edge of your seat, especially  for the time. Best scenes are the battle between "The Shooting Star"(Our heroes plan piloted by Jack) and a huge German plane; and the films climax, the Battle of Saint-Mihiel. The film itself is shot, told and acted very well and I enjoyed nearly everything the film showed and gave me, I just wish we spent more time with the characters. The only thing I find pointless in the film is when Jack is drunk and he obsesses over bubbles, while the bubble effects are nice it just feels pointless, all it leads is having one of our characters getting fired, that's it and the consequence doesn't really cause a huge effect. I'm just saying for a film that's over 2 hours, the Director could have given our characters more screen time then more fighting time.

When it comes to spending time with characters that are likable while having a solid story, the film focuses mostly on its action and special effects then identifying and seeing our characters develop more. Think about seeing a little more of the rivalry between the two characters and seeing them develop more as friends then what we were given. Think about Mary and Jack actually spending time together then having a stupid drunk moment. Think about our characters spending time with Gary Cooper's character to make his death seem more tragic. Maybe I sound like I'm yelling for a remake, but I think it's already been "remade" (I say ripping) in that stupid overly cliched movie full of noticeable war film rip offs "Pearl Harbor" directed by Michael Bay. Anyway aside from that, it's still a really good film, especially for its time.

RATING 4/5