365 High-Def Days of Oscar: Day 104
Release Year: 1927
Oscar Wins:
Best Picture
Best Effects (Engineering Effects)
THE PLOT THUS FAR
Wings is the story of two men who have gone to war and the girl they both leave behind. Director William A. Wellman makes one of his most humanistic statements as he explores the devastating results of war.
WHAT WE THOUGHT
In 1917, Jack Powell is a young man with passion for cars. His next door neighbor is Mary Preston, who is in deep love for him, but Jack does not notice her. Jack indeed loves Sylvia Lewis, but she is in love with the rich David Armstrong. When USA enters in World War I, Jack and David join the Air Force to fight in France and become pals. Mary joins the Women’s Motor Corp, trying to be close to Jack. But it is war, and a tragedy happen between the two friends.
William A. Wellman’s direction is superb. Assisted by photographer Harry Perry, Mr. Wellman is on par with early Orson Welles, and mid-period Griffith or Hitchcock. Much has deservedly been written the unsurpassed aviation sequences; and, these are indeed breathtaking; in the context of this film, they can never be equaled. Moreover, Wellman is as extraordinary in the film’s opening ten minutes, showing the characters “in flight” before they ever leave the ground. With the silent film genre and aviation theme, Wellman’s directorial achievement is textbook.
The highlights of “Wings” come in the battle scenes, and they are awfully impressive. Done without computers or other such advantages, they are exciting and are usually completely realistic. The aerial dogfight scenes are especially dazzling. This part of the movie is not shallow stuff, either, since it has a good balance between the thrilling and the horrifying. If the main story-line had been better, this could have worked very well as a classic film about the realities of war and its effects on the young people who must carry the heaviest load in a war.
But unfortunately, it has the story that it has, which could easily have been better. It is far too heavy-handed, and is also riddled with unlikely coincidences, implausible developments, strange decisions by the characters, and many other such holes. If you can somehow look past all these problems, then it produces some moving and emotional moments, but such moments are too often undone by the contrived ways that they are set up. It’s just the kind of mess that has often impressed the individuals who vote for well-known awards, but a movie with such strengths deserved to have a much better plot.
The Blu-Ray comes with featurettes about the film’s historical importance and the massive restoration effort undertaken to save the film. The DTS-HD 5.1 master audio track is an amazing feat, but it shows that Ben Burtt and Skywalker Sound went out of there way to reorchestrate the score and audio effects. The transfer is crisp in a way that I never thought possible. However, they keep the aspect ratio at 1.34:1 to maintain a similarity to the original theatrical exhibition. In the end, I’d recommend a purchase.
RELEASE DATE: 01/24/2012
