The Wings (film)

Wings is a 1927 American silent war film directed by William Wellman and starring Clara Bow, Charles Rogers, and Richard Arlen. It tells the story of two young men who become fighter pilots during World War I and their rivalry for the affections of the same woman.

Wings is notable for its groundbreaking aerial combat sequences, which were filmed with authentic World War I aircraft and utilized innovative camera techniques. The film was also one of the first to depict homosexual undertones, albeit subtly, in the relationship between the two male protagonists.

Released to critical and commercial acclaim, Wings was the first film to win the Academy Award for Best Picture at the inaugural Academy Awards ceremony in 1929. It is considered a landmark achievement in filmmaking and a significant representation of the silent film era. The film's realistic portrayal of aerial warfare influenced subsequent war films, and its success helped establish the careers of Wellman and Bow. The film was preserved in the U.S. National Film Registry of the Library of Congress in 1997, being deemed "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant."