Wings (1927/28)

PLOT SUMMARY:
Two young men, one rich and one middle class, who are in love with the same woman, become fighter pilots in World War I.

AWARDS:
Wins:  Best Picture; Best Effects

Nominations:  None

BOB:
You can probably attest to the fact that I was really dragging my feet on starting this project up.  Despite considering myself to be pretty open-minded when it comes to movies, watching a two-and-a-half hour silent film (the only silent film to win Best Picture until The Artist in 2011) that looked like a 1920's Pearl Harbor didn't get me too fired up.  What were your thoughts going in to this one?

AMANDA:
I really didn't know what to think. I didn't read up on it at all and only heard about it from what you had talked about. That being said, I'd made the decision pretty early on to stay optimistic about it. I don't think I've ever watched silent movie before, so I wasn't sure what to expect. However, I can't say I was very excited to watch a movie about planes. It took us a while to finally start it. What did you think once we got going?

BOB:
It really drew me in right away.  I think part of the reason was that this particular silent film used a lot of dialogue cards... or at least that's how it felt to me based on the others I've seen.  So it's not like I was ever really bored in that sense.  The love triangle is also a timeless plot device, so I found the movie less dated than it could have been.  What did you think about all the flying scenes (spoiler alert: this movie does not get cheated on them)?

AMANDA:
There were definitely a lot of flying scenes, but I thought they were pretty entertaining. Planes were still relatively new at the time – they’d been around 25 years or so – and people were still fascinated by them. They showed a lot ‘trick’ maneuvers, and I’m sure that captivated audiences. The one thing I couldn’t get over was how cold those pilots must have been. They appeared to be flying pretty high, at least above clouds, and they were also going pretty fast. They had goggles and old fashioned bomber hats, but nothing else covering them. I can imagine flying was pretty rough through any rain, wind, or if a flock of birds happened to get close – sick. Do you think it was realistic?

BOB:
I'm glad you brought up realism.  I'm trying to cut the movie some slack because it was 1927, so it's not like I was expecting something like Gravity here.  But this movie also won Best Effects at the Oscars, so I feel like I can nitpick a little bit.  There were a lot of planes crashing after being shot down, and not one went up in flames when it hit the ground.  I'm not sure why this bothered me so much, but I was almost laughing each time a plane went down, and it looked like a shot of a little kid throwing his toy airplane to the ground!  OK... mini rant over.  

Last question from me... what was your take on the movie's overt bromance between the two male leads?  For being such bitter rivals at the beginning of the movie, the final scene with them was like something out of Top Gun.  All that was missing was the slow-motion volleyball spikes with their dog tags jingling and jangling.  I'm always pro-bromance, but I'm curious as to what you thought.

AMANDA:

While I haven’t seen Top Gun, I think I know what you mean. The male lead characters changed their minds very quickly, and it wasn't very convincing. They went from hating each other to being best friends in what seemed like seconds. I was very happy with the conclusion and where everyone ended up, but it seemed a little far-fetched. 

BOB'S FINAL THOUGHTS: 
A quick scan of my IMDb voting history (no sarcastic comments about this please) shows that Wings is the only movie I've seen from 1927/28 (the first few Oscars honored films that were released between August 1st - July 31st rather than its current format where films have to be released during the calendar year... kind of confusing), so I don't have anything else to compare it to.  That being said, I don't have a problem with Wings being the first Best Picture winner.  Although I found some of the love triangle developments to be sloppily done (the girl the two leads are originally in love with very suddenly becomes an afterthought) and the issues I had with the aforementioned plane crashes, the pros outweighed the cons, and Wings definitely exceeded my expectations.  I will say, however, that I wish the Academy had created the Oscars a few years earlier, so that classics from the famed silent comedians Charlie Chaplin (The Gold Rush - 1925) and Buster Keaton (The General - 1926) could have received film's highest honor.  Check those two out if you like funny things.

AMANDA'S FINAL THOUGHTS:

Overall, I really enjoyed Wings. I was a little hesitant once I found out I’d have to pay very close attention the dialogue cards. You know I have a short attention span for movies (whenever I sit down to watch a movie I always think of something ‘quick’ I need to do, and it usually involves running to another room). I thought this one kept my attention, and I really liked the music. Even without dialogue, the actors were fun to watch, and you could feel a lot of their emotion. Like I said before, this was the first silent film I’ve watched, and I really liked it!

IMPRESS YOUR FRIENDS!:
At the first Academy Awards, there were originally two Best Picture-type awards.  Sunrise won for "Best Artistic Quality of Production," and Wings was given "Best Production."  After one year, the Academy discontinued the former category and retroactively decided that "Best Production" (later renamed "Best Picture") was the highest award a film could be given.

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The Broadway Melody