Wings (1927)

Rating: 95%
Well it's about time probably. The very first winner for best picture at the Academy Awards, and the first out of the two silent films to win (second one being The Artist). Now I have finally seen it, which leads to this review for Wings.

Plot: Jack and David are both rivals for the affection of a pretty girl named Sylvia. Unknown to Jack, Sylvia loves David and that the girl next door to him, Mary, is completely in love with him. The two men join the Air Service to fight World War I where they go from enemies to friends. Mary also joins the war to become an ambulance driver.

Now I know what I'm saying is very straight forward, and for the most part it is. If you've seen enough movies by the time you have seen this film, you may get a good idea what is going to happen in the end and chances are, that you'll be right. But it's not too terrible predictable, and even if it is for you, the movie is very entertaining anyway. It has comedy, it has suspense, it has excitement, and some action that while it was mostly just a lot of planes just flying around at first, during the end, you get some battle scenes that are especially pretty good considering its time. So at the end of the day, I for one recommend that you see this particular Best Picture winner for all those reasons rather than just because it was the first to win.

Acting/Characters:
Charles "Buddy" Rogers and Richard Arlen/Jack and David: I know they're separate characters, but it seemed to make a little more sense to mention both of them at once considering how often they were together in the film. They both did excellent jobs giving us two characters to enjoy. Rogers probably had most of the more emotional moments, but that doesn't necessarily make Arlen's performance any less good.
Clara Bow/Mary: She also did an excellent job. She kept making me think of Berenice Bejo as Peppy Miller in The Artist because she was also this female character who had a fun charm. She didn't show as much as Bejo did in the slightest, but whatever charm she did have was fun and did made me keep thinking of Bejo when it comes to having that in a silent film.


Music: I enjoyed the score, they put it together very well. And the main theme was very nice giving a very light happy tune.

Editing: One issue I did have a real problem with was how sometimes when they are going from a medium shot to a close-up of someone, the use cross-dissolve to get there rather then just cutting from one to the other. But other than that, I thought the editing was just fine.

And that's my review for Wings, the plot could be predictable for you and the editing had a couple of issues, but regardless, it's an awesome, and very entertaining silent film that I would recommend.