1927/8 Wings

Stars: Clara Bow, Charles Rogers and Richard Arlen

The inaugural Best Picture Oscar went to this silent epic about a group of friends from a small town, making good in the war. The storyline is pretty simple, but underscored with a number of fighter plane scenes that must have been ludicrously difficult to film. Not being a connoisseur of the silent era, it was interesting to see how I would be wooed by the characters, using no voice, and only the backing of a bad musical soundtrack. To tell the truth, this was my first silent movie, and more than likely will be my last.

It wasn'’t awful, but the over-acting was extraordinary. The apparent rivalry between the two main leads was over some woman whose indifference to both of their affections was in contrast to the over-attentiveness of the long-suffering Clara/Mary. The most disturbing thing for me in this movie is to note how much our social tolerances have changed. When David leaves for the war, he faces the awkward goodbyes with his rather stiff parents. No loving embrace from his father, or tears from his mother. But shockingly, he kissed his mother goodbye. On the mouth. Eww.