What War Film Won 1st Oscar?

Wings zoomed over the competition, winning the Oscar for the Best Picture at the 1927 Oscars which took place in1929. Wings is a silent film and the plot revolves around a love triangle but it is the great film footage of the air war in World War I that makes it outstanding. The U.S. War Department sent men and materials to the producers. Unfortunately, an army pilot was killed and a stuntman was injured before the picture was in the can. Buddy Rogers and Richard Arlen are the male leads with Clara Bow holding up her own as the girl. All are from the same hometown and meet up in France. Clara Bow is a Red Cross nurse and wasn’t too happy with a drab uniform that didn’t show off her famous charms. As to making out with Buddy Rogers, "America’s Boyfriend,” she is quoted as saying that kissing him was like kissing your brother.

The story is a little predictable and the slapstick humor of funnyman El Brendel would be over-the-top for a modern audience. It is the flying episodes that holdup with the often chilling dogfights. I felt the movie a bit too long and it's kind of sentimental but spending 21/2hours with these great old stars makes it a very good watch.

Gary Cooper makes a short appearance. It’s billed as his first movie role but some movie critics claim he was in a few silent films before Wings. He completely holds your attention in his only scene. Rogers and Arlen are both seated, looking up at him. Cooper has a rugged, handsome weariness with glaring see-through-you eyes that are steady and confident.

I always liked Gary Cooper but, on one, occasion, a friend and I almost got kicked out of a theatre for making fun of his delivery. I don’t remember the title of the film but Gary’s girl has been brutalized by a couple of bad guys. She’s weeping and broken. Gary gives her a comforting pat and says, “My fault, not yours.” It was said with a totally deadpan expression. My friend and I took to laughing (maybe guffawing would be a better word) for the rest of the picture. “My fault, not yours,” we’d say at inappropriate moments. Somebody who didn’t know what real acting was reported us. We were soon warned to clam up by one of the ushers but did manage to poke each other at other “My fault, not yours” moments

Buddy Rogers and Clara Bow got to Hollywood by winning movie competitions. Buddy’s father heard they were looking for clean cut, wholesome types and sent in Buddy’s picture. Soon, the young man was (who looked a lot, I think, like Robert Downey Jr.) was attending Paramount Picture School. His good looks earned him many roles. He would later marry Mary Pickford after her divorce from the swashbuckling Douglas Fairbanks. Their marriage would last for forty years. After World War II, his film appearances were spotty. Rogers was known for his many gifts to worthy causes; in 1986, he was given the Jean Hersholt Humanitarian Award. He lived a long, useful life, passing away at 95.

Clara Bow came from a dysfunctional family. Her mother was physically and mentally impaired. She said she would kill Clara when she won a movie magazine contest and talked of going to Hollywood. She was a hit in wings and a bigger hit in It. She became known as the “It” girl for the rest of her life. When the Depression hit, the confident flapper image was no longer in vogue. She found roles harder to come by and the various scandals she was involved in hurt an already floundering career. She married cowboy star Rex Bell and retired. Years later, she would say, “A sex symbol is a heavy load to carry when one is tired, hurt, and bewildered.”

Richard Arlen’s story is a bit of Hollywood legend, which means it’s probably not true. Working as a messenger boy, he was hurt in an accident at a Hollywood studio. He later thanked executives at the studio for their help. Impressed by his good looks; they offered him a screen test. When asked if he could act, he said, “No, but I can fly.” It seems the handsome young man had been a member of the Royal Canadian Flying Corps in World War I. He had lesser roles in the 30s but did well with his many businesses.

All in all, Wings does hold up well. It does capture the horrors of war. It also reminds us of the courage of those young men who fought and died in that new revolutionary weapon of war--the airplane.

Trivia Question:

Who was America's top flying ace in World War I

Answer below

 Answer to trivia question:

Eddie Rickenbacker with 26 kills