Wings

While there are a lot of movies on the Best Picture winners list that I've watched going in blind, I have looked up rankings and reviews of the winners, just out of curiosity. Frequently, I've seen Wings near the bottom of lists. So I came into this one with very measured expectations. I assumed a two and a half hour silent movie about war and a love quadrangle would be tedium defined. So it with no small amount of joyful surprise that I can say that I don't get the low rankings on this. Not only did I enjoy this quite a bit, this was one of the best silent movies I've ever seen. Even with the movie having some questionable reviews, one thing almost everybody cheers is the cinematography, and it is utterly amazing. The aerial footage was captured for the movie, and it is astonishing to see what they were able to do. Even when on the ground, there is still some nice film making techniques on display. As for the story itself, while it isn't deep, it's still well told. Two young men, Jack and David, enlist to serve in World War I as fighter pilots. They both love the same woman, Sylvia, who loves David. Jack's neighbor, Mary, is smitten with him, but he's too clueless (and too taken with Sylvia) to notice. Mary eventually enlists as a medic driver, and gets to see Jack and David first hand. As I said, there isn't a ton to the story, but the way it is told is engaging. There's plenty of title cards to relay what needs words, while the acting gets over the rest, and it isn't the normal histrionic silent movie acting style. There's still a lot of facial acting, for sure, but it doesn't feel as hammy as a silent movie can be. Jack's doe-eyed crush on Sylvia and obliviousness to Mary, Mary's deep crush and jealousy, David's sadness at leaving behind his family and emotional turmoil over knowing that Sylvia is placating Jack's crush so as to not drive a wedge between the friends ... it's all done conveyed so well, and without the need for spoken words. It builds to a bittersweet ending that feels a lot bolder than one would expect for old Hollywood. Wings' biggest flaw, weirdly, is what its known for: the war and aerial dog-fighting scenes. Namely, they run far too long. The director, William Wellman, was a pilot in WWI, so he drew on his experience for scripting and filming the scenes on the battlefield and in the air. But what he really needed was an editor who was willing to tell him the movie didn't need so much of it. The battle that concludes the movie's first half is a good 20 minutes long, and the battle that concludes the second half is even longer. It gets tiring after a while, as there is so much of it, and so little of it contributes to the actual story. This could've been a tight 100 minutes or so with an editor willing to push back on Wellman's grandiose vision. This indulgence in the war scenes also has the knock-on effect of giving the movie's biggest star and most magnetic presence, Clara Bow, less screen time. Wings is obviously the story of boys in war, so she isn't going to be as prominent by default, but the sheer length of the movie reduces her time per capita, and it didn't need to be. She is such a ball of electricity, and the movie kicks into another gear every time she's on screen. You have to be in the mood to watch a silent movie, especially one as long as this. It's a choice, and it takes a certain kind of movie lover. But if you've ever seen the dismissive reviews and rankings that slot this movie as forgettable at best, ignore them. Wings is a damned good movie, and one of my biggest surprises of this Best Picture watching journey.