a5c7b9f00b Jack works on his sports car and dreams of flying. His neighbor Mary is in love with him but he seems not to notice, having been smitten by the fair Sylvia, but he can&#39;t see that Sylvia has eyes only for David. The distant drums of war beckon, and Jack and David train to be pilots in the American Expeditionary Corp. Their rivalry soon evolves into camaraderiethey do aerial battle with the Germans in the skies over France. Meanwhile Mary has joined the Women&#39;s Motor Corp and despairs that Jack doesn&#39;t notice her. Two young men from the same town but different social classes end upfighter pilots in WW1. Jack Preston is a keen auto mechanic, building and modifying cars. David Armstrong comes from a wealthy family. They are both in love with the same woman, Sylvia. Her heart belongs to David but she doesn&#39;t let Jack know and plays along with his infatuation. Meanwhile, Jack&#39;s neighbour, Mary, is deeply in love with him but he just views hera friend. WW1 interrupts the romantic entanglementsJack and David enlist in the US Army Air Service (Air Service of the AEF at the time). They are initially bitter enemies, due to them both vying for Sylvia&#39;s affections. Over time, however, they become very good friends. They are both posted to the same fighter squadron in France, where being a fighter pilot means every day could easily be your last. I found Wings to be a very good movie. Its flying scenes brought me into the battle in the skies and surprised me with how they actually managed to film it. Much of the flying used real planes and it&#39;s surprising that they could film from the planes without destroying the cameras or the quality of the film with the vibrations. The acting in the film was great, it had to be since no one actually talked. The title cards weren&#39;t overused and were only used when they needed to be. The Actors did an excellent job with their conversations and you could tell what they were saying to each other even though there was no talking. The bubbles scene was ridiculous they were obviously fake, this scene was the worst and the acting during it was terrible. However all the other scenes were great. For me, 2 and a half hours for a silent movie was a long time, but it was still a good movie and I would recommend it to anyone looking for a good war and love story. To Paramount Studios went the honor of getting the first Oscar for Best Picture about two fliers in World War I and their rivalry over Clara Bow. If you have to have a rivalry, she&#39;s a good person to get in heat overmany did in real life.<br/><br/>The two guys in heat over her are Buddy Rogers and Richard Arlen who are from different sides of the tracks in their home town. Rogers is the poor kid who has a love of flying and of speed. He likes Bow, but she can only see Arlen, a rich kid who likes Jobyna Ralston who&#39;s from his own set. When World War I breaks out both men rush to the colors.<br/><br/>Their different backgrounds don&#39;t help at first, but they gradually develop a respect and camaraderie for each other during their training. Rooming with them is Gary Cooper who was killed in a training accident. Cooper&#39;s small role gave a big boost to his career. It&#39;s modeled on the air training accident deaths of Vernon Castle and former Mayor of New York John Purroy Mitchel. Although Cooper was associated with many Oscar nominated films including two Oscars of his own for Best Actor, Wings is the only film he was in that won for Best Picture.<br/><br/>Although Bow plays a small town good girl, the kind usually played by Mary Pickford or Janet Gaynor, she brings a lot of sexuality to her part. No doubtto what these two guys are fighting for.<br/><br/>Although El Brendel&#39;s twisted Swedish speech pattern is not in use for this silent film, he&#39;s still a pretty funny fellowthe recruit of German ancestry at a time when those folks were held in suspicion.<br/><br/>The training sergeant in the film is former heavyweight contender Gunboat Smith who fought Jack Dempsey twice on Dempsey&#39;s way to the heavyweight title, once going the distance with him.<br/><br/>Wings was director William Wellman&#39;s first great film and first film he did about aviation, a subject near and dear to the former flier with the Lafayette Escadrille. As farcinematography goes, Wings holds its own with the more acclaimed Hell&#39;s Angels from Howard Hughes in that department.<br/><br/>Oscar made an auspicious debut with Wings.
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