The first ever winner of the Best Picture Academy Award, Wings was also the only silent film to win the Oscar as Best Picture.
Wings is a War Drama that tells the story of two men from the same town who join the air force to fight in World War one.
The first man is Jack Powell (Charles 'Buddy' Rogers) who lives for his new car "The Shooting Star," and the girls that he loves, Sylvia Lewis (Jobyna Ralston). Jack's neighbor, Mary Preston (Clara Bow) is in love with him, and another man, David Armstrong (Richard Arlen), is in love with Sylvia. Got all of that?
Sylvia gives Jack a framed picture of herself to take with him; Mary does as well, but without the frame. David, meanwhile, was given little toy bear by his mother to keep until he return from battle. His mother demanded that that bear return home to her.
Jack and David both enlist in the air force, and are immediatly take on as pilots. Mary joins the Army as well, as an ambulance driver.
Jack and David fly many missions against the Germans, gain status as war hero's, even after being aquitted on cortmartial offences.
But, in one of the last missions of the war, David is killed, and the only thing left of him besides his dead body is the little stuffed bear he took with him.
Jack returns home and delivers the bear to David's mother. Yes, the bear came home, but with the wrong person. David's parents are furious with Jack for being alive while David died, but then David's mother gives a final thought to Jack:
"I... I wanted to hate you, Jack, but I can't... it wasn't your fault... it was war!"
Wings is a difficult movie to watch in that it is a silent film and it is in black and white. However, it is an interesting war film, and it has some of the best action dogfights ever filmed, probably as good as the ones in Top Gun.
Plot: 
Different, to say the least, not one of the best war movies, but a decent one.
Visual Effects:
There are few visuals, but you can count the dogfights as visuals, and these are some of the best dogfights ever filmed.
Sound:
Number one, it's a silent film; number two, it only has a musical score, which is still very good. The whole score was written, composed and performed by Gaylord Carter on a Wurlitzer pipe organ.
Character Development:
David and Jack love Sylvia, but David dies and Jack comes home to Mary, whom he falls in love with.
Atmosphere:
Not being accustomed to silent films makes Wings a hard film to get into... it is slow at the beginning, and reading all the captions takes away from the actuall acting itself.
Realism:
Warren’s Rating:
Movies it beat out for Best Picture:
The Racket, (1928); Seaventh Heaven, (1927)
7.71/10Is the movie worth your time to watch?
22-10-03
