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| So rare, we could only get a Spanish version |
Doug says...
About five minutes into Wings, I was regretting ever starting this project. The shuddering black and white film had
obvious jump cuts, the sentimentalised language on the cue-cards (it’s a silent film) were generally punctuated with an exclamation mark, and then there was the constantly reverberating barrel-organ music the whole way through. It is by no means a modern film.
But sticking with it, I found myself as a modern cinema-goer slowly absorbed into the drama. Wings tells the story of two men Jack and David who go off to be pilots in World War One, both in love with the same girl Sylvia, while the heroine Mary (famous silent-movie actress Clara Bow) is desperately in love with Jack and signs up to drive cars in the war. There’s also a comic Dutchman who kept getting punched. The plot isn’t particularly wonderful, a Shakespearean tale of two rivals who become friends (I guess silent films aren’t made for intricate moments), but I finally understand why Clara Bow was the belle of the Silent Screen.
She lights up on stage. Her acting now would be totally over the top, but it’s necessary for silent films. Her movements are almost choreographed, her emotions implicitly readable (she’s cracking at both comic and tragic acting). One scene that has her cowering under her own car as bombs fall around her is extraordinarily emotional considering the simple methods of film making they had compared to today.
And actually I’m doing it down by calling it simple. The cinema work is athletic and inspiring - dogfights in the sky are enacted (and in 1927 they would have been actually enacted). A whole town crumbles to dust in front of your eyes, and there’s even some ‘effects’ when the drunken Jack starts seeing champagne bubbles coming out of everywhere, (possibly the oddest moment of the whole film).
The whole film is made far more affecting by the knowledge that cinema-goers would have been watching this only ten years after the end of World War One (and that they had no idea what war was heading their way). The scene when David and his mother say a tearful goodbye at the film’s start would probably have resonated sorrowfully with the audience who were still healing from one of the greatest losses of life in modern times. Saying this, it hasn’t travelled through time well. Silent film is a whole different style of film-making, and not really applicable to modern audiences, requiring far more focus the whole way through. But by recording the 1927 attitude to the war and how audiences were beginning to view it, Wings is a fascinating historical document.
Highlight
Clara Bow proving why she was the J-Law of her day
Lowlight
The very long air-battle scenes with accompanying unconvincing ‘dying’.
Marks
A historical 5/10
Picture it! Los Angeles, 1929. The Wall Street Crash was just around the corner. Charlie Chaplin and Buster Keaton already established with Laurel and Hardy just starting out. Nuclear weaponry, The Beatles, and Twitter are concepts far beyond human reasoning (Twitter still is). And in the first Academy Awards ceremony, Wings is awarded Outstanding Picture- the equivalent of our modern-day Best Picture.
The ceremony was 15 minutes long, and the winners were announced beforehand, a far cry from the 4 hour slog and two month build-up we get now.
Wings covers the exploits of two young lovelorn pilots during the final years of World War 1. The sensitive one, David, loves the delicate Sylvia. Jack, the gung-ho one (and a Gareth Gates lookalike), also loves her. But, oh no! Jack has no idea that Sylvia only has eyes for David, and Sylvia can't bring herself to tell him. Meanwhile, the plucky and charming Mary is desperately in love with Jack, but he only has eyes for Sylvia! Into this tangled web is thrown a war and, as expected, heart-felt tragedy.
Just from the above, you can see that this is the prototype for historical love stories. Pearl Harbour, Titanic, and Independence Day all stem from Wings. The difference here is that Wings is silent. No sound effects, no audible dialogue. And this is unexpectedly hard work. You can't take your eyes away from the screen for fear of missing some important exposition or action. In the 21st century when we can have one eye on the film and one eye on Tinder, that's exhausting.
The musical score is original to the 1927 film, so we were subjected to two hours of barrel organ music, transporting us from Flanders Fields to Brighton Pier.
Having said all this, I actually really enjoyed our first Oscar-winner. I found myself fully involved in the love story thanks to Clara Bow's endearing and natural performance as Mary. She's funny, feisty, courageous and vulnerable, and stole the show for both of us.
The opening scenes in which David and Gareth Gates say tearful farewells to their stoic parents and loving heroines are heart-breaking, and all the more so when we remember that most audiences of the late ’20's would have had a loved one perish on the Somme.
Also, if you're expecting Thunderbirds-style strings on the planes, then think again. The action sequences were filmed sans special effects. Real planes, real explosions and hundreds of extras in army uniform re-enacted the Battle of Saint-Mihiel (meticulously researched by the director, an ex-army pilot himself). The result is a sense of gargantuan film-making, contrasting beautifully with the intimate scenes between the leads.
Has it stood the test of time? To be honest, no. But no silent film has. Seeing the characters over-act purposefully, then cutting to a dialogue cue-card feels disjointed by today's standards. Unless Chaplin is battling policement or sliding down a drainpipe, then silent films can become arduous for most. But if you're interested in seeing a piece of film history, and you're in the mood for a strong tale of heroism and tragedy, then this could be the film for you. Just don't expect Celine Dion to sing over the closing credits.
Highlight
The grand finale, which looks like the director took his camera back in time and just filmed a World War 1 battle. Saving Private Ryan, eat your heart out.
Lowlight
The awkward cutaways to cue-cards. Thank God this is the only silent film on our list until we reach The Artist!
Mark
A solid 7/10
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