Wings

I was fortunate enough to see this silent film at a NYC revival (Film Forum) many years ago with a live piano. Wonderful and memorable experience. A superb silent epic.

FRIDAY FEBRUARY 23 14 (2020)

Even though this is a silent movie, it's still pretty gripping. For those of us born decades after World War I, this movie provides a glimpse into that war. What's interesting to me is that no reason is ever given for the United States going to war . The war just draws us in for some unexplained reason. (In reality it was due to unrestricted submarine warfare against our shipping and a German Telegram promising Mexico that Germany would return the Southwest United States back to Mexico if they would attack the United States. The idea that the sinking of the Lusitania had anything to do with it is absurd. The Lusitania was sunk in 1915 and we declared war in 1917. It didn't take two years for that info to back to us.) The movie follows two young men both in love with the same girl and wanting to be pilots in World War I. At first they hate each other and then become the best of friends. The Germans are portrayed as being somewhat chilvarous. Though they look rather dastardly, they still follow a code of rules. Remember, this World War I and not World War II. Clara Bow, the IT girl, is a lot of fun to watch. She's very animated and basically steals every scene she's in. She's called the IT girl because she was the star of the movie, "IT", which was about sex appeal referred to as "IT" since there is no other word for it. Clara Bow had "IT" and the name stuck to her for the rest of her life. She got of movies when talkies came into being since she had a very deep Brooklyn Accent and had married a very wealthy man. The flying sequences are great. You will get to see a German bomber and several dogfight sequences. There is great footage of Paris and the nightlife in Paris. I would recommend this movie to anyone. Sorry I haven't explained too much about the plot, but it's great.