Wings 1927

Dave Kehr, Chicago Reader: It won the first Academy Award for best picture back in 1927, establishing a tradition of silliness that hasn't been broken to this day, but there is some thrilling flying footage and impressively expensive spectacle. Read more

Irene Thirer, New York Daily News: It is, in fact, the masterpiece of war production. Read more

Mordaunt Hall, New York Times: This feature gives one an unforgettable idea of the existence of these daring fighters. Read more

James Berardinelli, ReelViews: Admittedly, this movie has not aged as well as many of its contemporaries, but it's not hard to understand why it was accorded the Oscar (a term that, by the way, had not yet been coined). Read more

TIME Magazine: The audience gulped down the plot as conventional but reliable stuff, watched with waning interest while spinning, swerving, dodging planes grew into confused monotony against a background of unpicturesque ether. Read more

Paul Taylor, Time Out: Long touted as a classic by cinema historians, and justifying almost every adjectival extravagance. Read more

Sid Silverman, Variety: There not being so much of Clara Bow in the picture, or a straining for her to turn on that 'it' personality, she gives an all around corking performance. Read more