Seventh Heaven [Nominee ~ 1928]

"It's wonderful the things I feel ~~ sometimes I could reach out and touch a star!"

I took a much longer break after Wings than I had originally planned.  The spring semester started, I'm working more hours, and my mom was dying to watch the final season of The Tudors.  But the break might have been a blessing in disguise, as it gave me time to reflect on silent films.

After viewing Wings, I felt like maybe I was missing something.  As someone who has been raised watching nothing but "talkies," I worried that enjoying a silent movie was perhaps beyond me.  Spoken dialogue is half the story, sometimes even more.  In the past week and a half I've really started to notice how I watch TV and movies, and the truth is, I don't.  It's rare for me to fully invest my attention in what I'm watching.  I grew up in the age of multitasking, and I do it even when I'm supposedly relaxing.  The dialogue and sounds become the primary storytellers, and if I do miss an important visual, I just hit rewind on the DVR.

Silent films are an investment.  You must commit real time and attention to the movie in order to understand what is happening.  Today's media isn't an investment, because we don't want it to be.  We expect things to be concise and easily digested in a few minutes.  If it can't be viewed while surfing the internet, flipping through a magazine, or running on the treadmill, then it will just have to wait.  Even in theaters I see more and more people peeking at their cell phones during the movie.  It's sad to think that going to the movies is no longer a true escape from our daily lives.

Seventh Heaven was well worth the commitment I made to it, and I hope you will be inspired to give it the full attention it deserves as well.  The film tells the story of poor Diane (Janet Gaynor), an orphan living with an abusive sister.  Diane is saved by sewer worker Chico (Charles Farrell), who reluctantly falls in love and marries her.  However, their joy is cut short by the outbreak of WWI.

While both Wings and Seventh Heaven share the backdrop of WWI France, the stories could not be more different.  Wings is a war/buddy movie with a dash of romance.  Seventh Heaven is a romance movie with a dash of war.  I liked Heaven a lot more.  From the very beginning I cared about Diane, and grew to like her more as the story progressed.  Same for Chico, who starts out pretty cocky, and... well he's pretty cocky the entire time, but in a likable way.  (Farrell actually reminded me of actor Nathan Fillion, especially as Captain Hammer in Dr. Horrible's Sing-Along Blog.  Something about the jaw line and eyebrow movements.  Keep this in mind for the remake.)

My favorite scene of the entire movie also happens to be a visual representation of the title's meaning.  When Diane first visits Chico's apartment, the pair ascend several flights of stairs to the seventh floor, which Chico describes as heaven because it is so close to the stars.  The scene is a vertical tracking shot, following the actors as they climb their way to the top.  I love how the lighting dims as they climb, and at one point Chico strikes a match to light their way.  It's just a really cool shot.  There's no other way to put it.

There were also a few fun tidbits throughout this film I very much enjoyed:

1. Diane's sister is a prostitute.  This is never actually stated.  The sister is arrested along with a group of other women and accuses Diane of being "just as bad as she is."  I love when old movies beat around the bush like this, especially since they probably weren't fooling anyone back then either.

2. Cars were being named at least as far back as 1927.  Chico's friend owns a taxi he calls "Eloise."  Awesome.

3. This story could easily be changed into a romantic comedy if you take out all the depressing abuse and war stuff.  A woman is rescued by a stranger who pretends to be her husband to help her avoid arrest.  The two must live together until the police investigation is over so as not to arouse suspicion.  Though they dislike each other at first, they soon realize they are soul mates.  This has Kate Hudson written all over it.

In all seriousness, I really enjoyed this movie.  A wonderful, moving story with beautiful imagery.  And now that I understand how to really watch silent films, I may have give Wings a second chance.

The Racket [Nominee ~ 1928]

In order to see this movie, I'm going to need some help.  As far as I can tell, it is not currently on DVD, VHS, or online.  Which is not surprising given the fact that it was thought to be a lost film, until a copy was discovered in Howard Hughes' personal collection after his death.  Turner Classic Movies aired it in 2004 and 2006, and I'm hoping some kind-hearted movie buff recorded it and would be willing to lend me their copy.

If you have any information, please contact me at sallymackart [at] yahoo [dot] com (full contact info listed to the right).

Wings [Winner ~ 1928]

"Attaboy!  Them buzzards are some good, after all!"

Prior to viewing 1927's Wings, I had never watched an actual silent film era movie.  My only exposure to them were short clips seen on TV, usually accompanied by some sort of narrated commentary about the film or actor.  Other than that, Mel Brook's Silent Movie and the first half of Pixar's Wall-E are the only things I've viewed in their entirety that come even remotely close to the concept.  Having relied on sound to tell the story my entire life, I worried about losing interest or becoming easily bored.

Well... I did get bored at times, but it had nothing to do with a lack of sound or spoken dialogue.

First, a brief plot synopsis (No Spoilers*):  Jack Powell (Charles "Buddy" Rogers) and David Armstrong (Richard Arlen) are two aspiring American pilots about to leave for war.  Both are in love with the same girl, Sylvia Lewis (Jobyna Ralston), who actually prefers David.  Meanwhile, Jack's neighbor, Mary Preston (Clara Bow), is infatuated with him, but he doesn't know it.  The two head to training where they eventually become friends, and are shipped off to France to aid the Allies.  During a mission, David is gunned down and presumed dead.  The climax of the film is an epic dogfight, where Jack vows to avenge his friend's supposed death.

I love a good war movie, and even more, I love a good WWI movie.  I've always been drawn to the "Great War."  Probably because it was just so aggravatingly futile, making it a perfect backdrop to the sort of bittersweet storytelling that I love.  This is touched upon in Wings, though much too briefly for my taste.  Sure there's a messy love triangle and the potential for unrequited love, but that is not what this movie is about.  This movie isn't even about the futility of war, despite its sometimes gory depiction of death (more on that later) and melancholy intertitles.  This is an action movie-- plain and simple.

The boredom I experienced happened mostly during the overly long dogfights.  While these scenes are impressive, they get old real quick.  In fact, the first real air fight scene is the best in the entire film, making the concluding dogfight seem weak by comparison.  (I was interested to read that several of the actors cast had WWI flying experience, and flew the planes themselves in order to shoot the closeups.  Now that's some real "doing-your-own-stunts" cred.)

As for the romance, this subplot is mostly relegated to the very beginning and end of the movie.  The character Sylvia is introduced in the beginning, setting up the love triangle aspect, but then not seen again until the end (and hardly mentioned in between).  Mary Preston fairs much better thanks to Clara Bow's fame, but it's pretty obvious that the movie was rewritten to include the studio's biggest star. Mary becomes an ambulance driver in France, and pops up from time-to-time throughout the story.  While Bow's appearances are a fun break from the seriousness of the war scenes, they often seem like afterthoughts to the main plot.

Going into this movie I was expecting it to show some age, primarily in the form of cheesy special effects and a certain amount of chasteness.  Boy, was I wrong!  The special effects are actually good, with death defying aerial acrobatics that are very thrilling.  And as for those gory deaths I mentioned earlier: during one dogfight a pilot is shot from behind and blood gushes out of his mouth.  Seriously, it gushes.  Later, you're treated to an eyeful in the form of Clara Bow's breasts.  Yes folks, there's even brief nudity!  Needless to say, I was shocked.  Didn't Hollywood have rules prohibiting this sort of thing back then?  Well, not yet, but I bet this was one of the movies that helped shape the infamous Hays Code that would dominate the film industry for several decades.

So, where do I stand on Wings, the first Best Picture winner and only silent film to earn the title?  I like it, but I don't love it.  Maybe I'm just too reliant on sound to tell a story.  I noticed early on that the actors were saying way more lines than were written in the intertitles, making me wish I could read lips to know exactly what was being said.  The love triangle started out promising, but wasn't given time to develop.  Poor Sylvia becomes a throw away character, and Mary's just... there.  Still, the entire movie is surprisingly entertaining, and a great glimpse into the past.

Oh, did I mentioned I watched this on YouTube?  It's certainly a much different world today than it was 84 years ago.



* Even though these movies are decades old, I will do my best not to spoil the endings.  Any plot details I do give will be as minimal and superficial as possible.