Action!
Aerial daredevilry! Romance! Intrigue!
You
wanna see how the heat builds when two American flyboys head to France to give
their all in World War I, and leave behind the gal that both of them ardently
desire?
You
gotta watch Wings, the $2 million
extravaganza that pulled in the crowds and grabbed the first Oscar for Best
Picture—in 1929.
Wings also
won the first Academy Award for Best Engineering Effects. I imagine that was
for the stunningly obvious jerky "dogfighting" of crude model planes dangling
around each other in front of a not-too-convincing “sky” backdrop.
You
probably want to know these names: Richard Arlen and Charles “Buddy” Rogers
played the two air aces, and Clara Bow was the lady in question—she was in love
with Arlen, but, sadly, committed to Rogers. These things happen in war.
You
have to watch the movie to find out which one of the sky jockeys went down in
flames.
So.
About 250 people turned out for the awards ceremony. The winners were announced
prior to the event (the sealed envelope surprises didn’t start until 1942). Of
course, it wasn’t televised, because television hadn’t arrived yet. There was
no standup comedian emcee, and I’m just guessing that there was no Beyoncé-style
entertainment, and probably not too many daring necklines….
Oh
yeah, one other thing: Wings is a
silent movie. The Jazz Singer, one of
the first “talkies,” had already made its debut, but “talkies” weren’t allowed
in the 1929 Oscar competition.
You
make your own decision about whether all this was the good old days.
p.s.
Gary Cooper appeared in Wings as Cadet White, it was one of his early films
Copyright © Richard Carl
Subber 2016 All rights reserved.
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