Wings (1927)

I realize that you are not going to watch this movie because it is a silent film, but I felt that it deserved a review. I have watched parts of this movie on YouTube, but when I saw that I could get the DVD through Netflix I jumped on it. This movie was the first feature film to win the Academy Award for Best Picture, and I feel that it is deserving of the recognition. Any student of movies should watch this movie and see how camera angles and large fields of imagery were utilized in the early days of cinema. The story follows to men who enlist in the air force to fight in World War I. Jack is a hot shot who is in to cars and woman, but doesn't notice that the girl next door (Clara Bow) is in love with him. Instead Jack believes that the more well-to-do girl likes him, when in fact she likes the very wealthy David. David and Jack are enemies throughout flight school, but become very close friends during the war. They both become flying aces and are feared by the Germans. One mission David gets shot down behind enemy lines and Jack believes that he is dead, but he is not. David steals a German plane and tries to fly back to American soil, but Jack sees the German marked plan and shoots it down thinking it is the enemy, instead he comes to find out that it was actually David that he just killed. The aerial shots in this movie are amazing, and were shot with the complete cooperation of the US Air force. This is also the movie that made Clara Bow the "It" girl. Surprisingly there is nudity, and bloody violence in the movie, but it was made long before there was a rating system. I believe that this movie today would get a strong PG-13 or R rating due to the nudity. For me this was a 5 star movie and well worth the watch, but only if you like silent films.