Wings
Youth, hitting the clouds! Laughing at danger! Fighting, loving, dodging death! That's "WINGS"
Country
Production
Budget
$2 000 000
Box office
$746
Director
Actors
Scenario
Julian Johnson
Producer
Lucien Hubbard, Benjamin P. Schulberg
Camera operator
Harry Perry
Composer
Artist
Audition
Editing
Short description
Two young men, one rich, one middle class, both in love with the same woman, become US Air Corps fighter pilots and, eventually, heroic flying aces during World War I. Devoted best friends, their mutual love of the girl eventually threatens their bond. Meanwhile, a hometown girl who's the lovestruck lifelong next door neighbor of one of them pines away.
What's left behind the scenes
- After its release, the film remained in theaters for a full 63 weeks. One reason for this success is believed to be the public's interest in aviation, fueled by Charles A. Lindbergh's (1902-1974) transatlantic flight (May 20-21, 1927).
- The only silent film to win the Academy Award for Best Picture. In 2011, the award was given to "The Artist", filmed in the style of silent cinema, but including several spoken lines and a musical score.
- The film underwent a remastering for its 2012 Blu-Ray release. The footage was restored, the original black-and-white image was converted to sepia, with color added to the aerial combat scenes. The soundtrack features the original score by Zh. S. Zamechnik, recorded specifically for the release and supplemented with sound effects by Ben Burtt (“Star Wars,” “Indiana Jones”).
- During filming—while thousands of extras fought on the ground, dozens of planes flew through the sky, and hundreds of explosions sounded everywhere—only two injuries occurred. Stunt pilot Dick Grace (1898-1965) was injured when a plane, whose crash was scripted to flip completely upon impact, only partially flipped; the pilot suffered a neck injury and was sent to the hospital, where he spent six weeks. In the second instance, one of the military pilots assisting with the shoot was injured. Unfortunately, he perished. Director William A. Wellman (1896-1975) feared that filming would be halted, but fortunately, this did not happen because the army command preferred to place the blame on the deceased rather than on the filmmakers.
- Unlike his co-star Richard Allen (1899-1976), Charles "Buddy" Rogers (1904-1999) did not know how to fly a plane at the start of filming, but he learned to do so toward the end of production. During filming, his instructor and mentor (and sometimes co-pilot) was Hoyt Vandenberg (1899-1954). In close-up scenes where the characters are shown operating the aircraft, the actors were actually piloting the planes. To film these scenes, the camera was attached to the engine cowling, and the actors had to take off, maintain their course so that the audience could see clouds or enemy planes in the background, turn on the camera, and land. At the beginning of Rogers' training, Vandenberg would sometimes hide in the back seat and fly the plane himself.
- The only non-sound film to win the Academy Award for Best Picture. In 2011, the award went to 'The Artist', which was filmed in the style of silent cinema but included a few spoken lines and a musical soundtrack.
- The U.S. Army contributed to the making of the film. The filmmakers had access to thousands of servicemen, millions of dollars worth of military equipment, and, of course, airplanes.
- The filming of the Saint-Mihiel operation was carefully rehearsed for 10 days. It involved 60 aircraft and 3,500 extras (members of the U.S. National Guard were used in this role).
- After its release, the film remained in theaters for 63 weeks. One of the reasons for this success is considered to be the public's interest in aviation, fueled by Charles A. Lindbergh’s (1902-1974) transatlantic flight (May 20-21, 1927).
- During filming – when thousands of extras fought on the ground, dozens of aircraft flew through the sky, and hundreds of explosions sounded everywhere – there were only two injuries. Stunt pilot Dick Grace (1898-1965) was injured when an airplane, whose crash was scripted to fully flip, only partially flipped, and the pilot was sent to the hospital with a neck injury, where he spent 6 weeks. In the second case, one of the military pilots assisting with the filming was injured. Unfortunately, he died. Director William A. Wellman (1896-1975) feared filming would be halted, but fortunately, this did not happen because the army command chose to blame the deceased pilot, rather than the filmmakers.
- Chocolate syrup was used instead of fake blood during filming.
- For decades, the film was considered lost until a miraculously preserved copy in terrible condition was accidentally discovered in the Parisian archives.
- Unlike his co-star Richard Allen (1899-1976), Charles “Buddy” Rogers (1904-1999) could not fly at the beginning of filming, but learned to do so closer to its end. During filming, Hoyt Vandenberg (1899-1954) served as his instructor and mentor (and sometimes as a second pilot). In close-up scenes where the characters are shown flying airplanes, the actors actually piloted the planes. To shoot such scenes, the camera was attached to the engine cowling, and the actors had to take off, maintain course so that the audience could see clouds or enemy planes in the background, turn on the camera, and land. During Rogers' initial training, Vandenberg sometimes hid in the back seat and flew the plane himself.
- The film was remastered for its 2012 Blu-Ray release. The footage was restored, and the original black-and-white image was converted to sepia, with color added to the aerial combat scenes. The soundtrack features the original score by G. S. Zamechnik, recorded specifically for the release and supplemented with sound effects by Ben Burtt ('Star Wars', 'Indiana Jones').
Similar movies
8.1/10
8.1/10
8.1/10
8.1/10
8/10
7.9/10
7.8/10
7.8/10
7.7/10
7.7/10
Auditions in India
Casting calls in USA
Castingi w Polsce
Кастинги в Україні
