Tweet Press Release: WINGS (1927) on DVD and BluRay

Yes, the score was a tremendous, and Wilson received rousing applause and a standing ovation when he finished. There were sound effects of the machine guns on the planes being shot, so I assume those are the effects that were included. The color effects coming from the shooting guns and damaged planes was excellent as well.

Can't wait to pick this up; sounds like the release of the year to me, and it's only January. Icing on the (cheese)cake would be the missing nudical frames restored to Clara's topless scene; hopefully some enterprising restorer managed to make that happen. The footage does exist, and was present during the original theatrical run, so it should be restored to its proper place within the film, not solely for the sake of my admittedly prurient interests.

the score was a tremendous, and Wilson received rousing applause and a standing ovation when he finished.

I agree, and I was among the throng that rose to join in that ovation. Well deserved. By far the best score I have ever heard played at any Academy silent film screening. The print to me was a bit grainy, but very sharp. The leading cast of Buddy Rogers, Clara Bow, and Richard Arlen were wonderful. "Wings" was the first silent I ever saw, at the age of 22. It sent me on the path to enjoyment of silent films. Thus, I enjoyed seeing it in all its restored glory last night. And beautiful it was! Bravo to ALL who had a hand in not only restoring this gem, but for getting it out on BluRay. It was a remarkable evening @ the Academy.

I met Clark Wilson at a red-carpet screening last night at Paramount (Thurs, 19th) of WINGS, utilizing the restored orchestral score.

He really enjoyed hearing the orchestral score. A huge almost-capacity audience also each received a new Blu-ray disc of the film.

I am looking forward to hearing everyone's reaction to the orchestral score. To paraphrase Al Jolson "you ain't heard nothing yet"

We get the pleasure of lots of Clark Wilson every summer in Ohio at the Summer Movie Series, and I have seen many silent films with him on the Morton organ over the years. I can appreciate the disappointment in not getting the orchestral score, but Wilson's playing is not at all second rate. He definitely "gets it" when it comes to playing for silents.

Preorder from Amazon has not yet shipped. Inital reviews from bluray.com and DVDBeaver sound great, but neither of them had an appreciation for the history of silent film. Still waiting for a review from someone who knows the history to tell us how well this stacks up, but I have very high hopes.

I was at both the Academy and Paramount screenings and was delighted to have both experiences. Clark Wilson is a superb organist. He used many themes from Zamencik's original score but had his own ideas, too. It was terrific.

Two nights later at Paramount, I wasn't prepared for how powerful the recorded music and effects track would be. I had gotten the mistaken impression that the score had been recreated using synthesized orchestral sounds and was more than delighted to find that it was performed by a real orchestra. Ben Burtt can't be said to have recreated the original sound effects, since we can only guess at what they sounded like, but what he did adds a whole new dimension to the film. In WINGS's original release, the sound effects were always touted as a major part of the presentation (one review even says the music serves as a nice background to the sound effects) and this is the first time I felt I experienced the film as both a pictorial and an aural experience. It was amazing.

I'm tickled pink to have the Blu-Ray but if you can possibly see this on a big screen, do it, no matter how many times you've seen the film.

I'd love to, if it comes to Seattle...

Here is an idea Paramount,. Don't give away a bunch of free copies of the Blu-ray or DVD at live screenings. What is that about. If you want to have them for sale there at a substantial discount that is fine, but why would you give away free copies to everyone in the audience? This was probably a one time thing, but still not very smart.

No matter how great the Zamecnick score turns out to be, it's always the Carl Davis main title theme I think of an start humming when ever I see a still from WINGS. Again, I hope there will be more Silents from Paramount and this isn't the only one because it won the Academy Award.

I was at both the Academy and Paramount screenings and was delighted to have both experiences. Clark Wilson is a superb organist. He used many themes from Zamencik's original score but had his own ideas, too. It was terrific.

Two nights later at Paramount, I wasn't prepared for how powerful the recorded music and effects track would be. I had gotten the mistaken impression that the score had been recreated using synthesized orchestral sounds and was more than delighted to find that it was performed by a real orchestra. Ben Burtt can't be said to have recreated the original sound effects, since we can only guess at what they sounded like, but what he did adds a whole new dimension to the film. In WINGS's original release, the sound effects were always touted as a major part of the presentation (one review even says the music serves as a nice background to the sound effects) and this is the first time I felt I experienced the film as both a pictorial and an aural experience. It was amazing.

I'm tickled pink to have the Blu-Ray but if you can possibly see this on a big screen, do it, no matter how many times you've seen the film.

I also attended both screenings and concur: Wilson did a terrific job on the organ, but it's just no comparison to the full orchestra and Burtt's astounding sound effects. When I complimented him on the way he panned the effects, he acknowledged that it was a strange feeling putting sound "outside the frame." (He was also amused that I recognized a couple of Warner Bros. gunshots, no doubt the result of my watching RIO BRAVO so many times.)

Given the amount of money Paramount spent on the restoration, I'd be surprised if they don't try to get more theatrical dates around the country, even if they're just one-nighters at museums or old movie palaces. I know that if I were still there, I'd be all over it.

Mike S.

Ben Burtt can't be said to have recreated the original sound effects, since we can only guess at what they sounded like....

Although, as I mentioned in this thread, the sound effects recorded especially for the film and reproduced on the alternative manually "cued disc" system - used with live music presentations - almost certainly do exist since they were issued on commercially pressed Brunswick discs, a few of which I used to own myself.

[Christopher Jacobs]

No matter how great the Zamecnick score turns out to be, it's always the Carl Davis main title theme I think of an start humming when ever I see a still from WINGS.

Never heard the Davis score, but I just can't imagine it could be any better than the excellent Gaylord Carter organ score, which is always what I'll associate with WINGS, despite having seen it performed live by various accompanists and having synched various records to 8mm screenings myself way back when (and my late lamented 8mm print included the "intermission" title that I don't recall being in the VHS version). However, I'm really looking forward to hearing the "real" score by Zamecnick, whose individual music cues I've always enjoyed and would like to hear what he does for an entire film.

And for the record, if I'd been able to attend a theatrical screening of WINGS that was giving away free Blu-ray copies, I would have been absolutely delighted! Somebody at Paramount at least understands that good will can do wonders for good notices and good word of mouth. Excellent marketing decision!

Gagman 66 wrote:No matter how great the Zamecnick score turns out to be, it's always the Carl Davis main title theme I think of an start humming when ever I see a still from WINGS.


Well that could change... (lol) - anyways, when the DVD / bluRay versions are available from Tuesday, I look forward reading the response from you all - so far, the response from people who have seen it has been tremendous

I've seen one of the previous restorations on the big screen twice and liked the film very much. Once during a film fest the other time in Detroit. I think the print came from the LoC.

What is the difference between that and this one besides the color and it coming to video?

Christopher Jacobs,

The Carl Davis Main-title theme to WINGS from TCM-CFU. This is from the 1993 Photoplay Productions version. By the way, that print was tinted too. But only gold, with some Blue.

fan.tcm.com/_WINGS-1927-Main-Title-Theme-by-Carl-Davis/audio/667327/66470.html

Gerr! OK, Why doesn't this link work again? Apparently, with Firefox I can't copy a complete link anymore?

when the DVD / bluRay versions are available from Tuesday

YAY!!!

DOUBLE YAY!

THREE TIMES YAY!!!

The following comes from Criticize This! - http://www.criticizethis.ca/2012/01/qa-with-paramounts-vp-of-archives.html:

Paramount Pictures is celebrating their 100th anniversary this year and along with a wonderful (and free) iPad app they’ve released to commemorate this great feat, they’ve also gone back into their vault to restore one of their most cherished properties — the 1927 silent World War I film Wings.

Directed by William A. Wellman, and starring Clara Bow, Charles Rogers, Richard Arlen, and Jobyna Ralston, Wings tells the story of two men from different social classes who are both in love with the same woman. But when the two join the Air Force during the “great war”, they go from enemies to good friends as they battle for freedom in the skies. The film is comedic, dramatic, sad, and occasionally sweet, and features some great effects for the time. It’s no wonder the film was the very first Best Picture Oscar winner.

For a film that was almost considered lost, Paramount’s restoration, being released January 24 on Blu-ray, is breathtaking. Not only have they gone back and drastically cleaned up the image, but they’ve also added the score and sound effects that would have accompanied it at the theatre. I was glued to my television in awe while watching it and could not believe this was an 85-year-old production I was seeing.

Andrea Kalas, Paramount’s VP of Archives, spoke with Criticize This! about how the restoration of Wings came to be and what went into the process. Read our Q&A below.

Brian McKechnie: As the VP of Archives at Paramount, what does your job entail on a daily basis?

Andrea Kalas: I oversee the archives for the back catalogue and also ensure that new features produced and distributed by Paramount are also archived well. We have a prop and costume archive, a stills archive, and we oversee vaults and digital archives.

BM: So this is not just a room with film reels and hard drives full of movies?

AK: No, here at Paramount it’s basically the creative output of the studio that we attempt to preserve and provide access to. Both from the history of Paramount to the present.

BM: What goes into restoring a film like Wings, which was considered lost by many?

AK: It wasn’t so much a lost film as much as one that couldn’t really be restored until now because the digital restoration technology had to advance. So many films from the silent era do not have original negatives preserved because the concept of film preservation and archiving came many years after the silent era.

Our first step was to look around the world to find the best existing original element and it turned out to be one in our own vault. After we had determined we had the best possible material to start with we then did the technical work of scanning that original picture and began correcting the image. Significant scratches, dirt from a film projector — the condition of the image was compromised with age so digital technology allowed us to really honour the original look of the film.

BM: How long did you work on the restoration?

AK: It took longer to research than it did [to restore]. We spent about six months reading what we could from when the film was released. It was a blockbuster at the time it was released and in big cities these were big deal screenings with a full orchestra and sound effects. We also read about the special effects that were included in the film which made the flames orange when the planes are crashing or when the machine guns are firing. We also researched as many original documents that we would. For example, an original continuity script gave us information about the tints and which colours the actual tints were in the film. When you watch it you’ll see it’s not black and white all the time and that it’s got either an amber or lavender tint to it.

BM: With more people getting into high-def and Blu-ray has that given a new life to restoring films like Wings because there’s more demand for them now?

AK: It’s been nice to see some catalogue titles have done well on Blu-ray so I’d like to form the conclusion that people are really appreciating high quality restorations as a result.

BM: With digital filmmaking taking over now how will the future of preserving and restoring be affected?

AK: Archiving digitally is a really important part of what we do actually. Figuring out how to preserve things in a digital realm is, next to restoring films, probably the number one thing that takes up my day. Films that are shot digitally now, such as Martin Scorsese’s Hugo, need to be preserved. So that preservation aspect is very important to us. In terms of seeing things in different formats, I strongly believe that the higher resolution you start with the further down the line it looks better. When I watch the trailer for the Wings Blu-ray on my iPhone I know where we started from and I know that has improved the look of it.

BM: Since this is the 100th anniversary of Paramount, do you have anything else planned around the celebration?

AK: There’s been a lot worked on and we’ll be involved with different festivals and organizations to show our movies. We’ll be busy all year. Watch this space [laughs].

BM: Is there any other film you want to get your hands on to restore?

AK: I have to say it’s going to be hard to top Wings in terms of a very transformative restoration project. To go from the really compromised quality that we started with with the picture to come up with what I think is a very nice [image] and also to be able to rerecord the original score and add the sound effects to give people the idea that a silent film was never truly silent, that’s a really exciting restoration experience and I’m still on a high from it.

Note: This is part of an E-mail and I was describing things to a few friends. So it is written a little differently then if I had intended it for the Nitrateville audience.


I got both the WINGS DVD and Blu-ray today. Just finished watching the movie. The DVD plays fine in my two month old Blu-ray player, on my 10 year old TV. For what ever reason The Blu-ray does not read at all. No picture, no audio of any kind. I do not know why? The bad thing is that the documentary on restoring the film is only on the Blu-ray. The first thing I had intended to watch. There are three documentaries on the Blu-ray. Just one of the DVD. Since I don't have another Blu-ray player there is no way that I can check to see if the disc is defective at this time.

The recreated J. S. Zamecnik 1927 Orchestral score is very good. At times excellent. I won't say that it isn't. Nevertheless, I am still partial to the Carl Davis score overall. Maybe partly because I have heard it allot more times. The two musical scores were approached very differently. There is more drama to the Davis score, more comedy it seems to the Zamecnik one. Not that it is lacking in the dramatic in any way. I just wish the Davis score was also included. It's just to outstanding to be forgotten. Fredric Hodges Piano solo during the scene where Richard Arlen is bidding his family Farewell, just doesn't have the same punch of the two pieces that Carl Davis had composed for this sequence. I can't understand why they went with no other instruments during this entire key scene in the film. Like the Photoplay Productions Presentation, the majority of this print is tinted gold. With a little more Blue than previously and some Amber. They also replicated the stencil color process on numerous scenes. Including were we see the French, America, and British flags flying. A striking effect. Not vivid colors, it looked pretty vintage. The print is clearly much better at times than I have seen, other times it is not markedly improved over the Photoplay version, which would have looked great if I had a recording from a better source in it's own right.

There are some scenes with allot of sound effects, but they are well done and do not overpower the music or the action on screen. Very impressive work. This is a spectacular release and I am amazed at the rave reviews the movie itself has been getting all over the place. Mostly, if not exclusively from people who clearly have never seen the film before. I mean WINGS is good, but not that good. I rank it several notches below THE BIG PARADE, and now more than ever Warner's needs to seriously get cracking. Otherwise, by default WINGS reputation is bound to escalate, while THE BIG PARADE will see it's status continue to fade. They must not let that happen. There is no reason whatsoever that it should happen. With any luck, the success of THE ARTIST will encourage more major Silent film releases from the big studios soon.

I'm very impressed with the pride that people at Paramount appear to have taken in this project. That is great to hear, and I can't thank you enough. But Brian McKechnie and others at Paramount have to understand that they have many other great Silents stashed in the archive. Starting with the original 1926 version of BEAU GESTE. A fully restored BEAU GESTE complete with the original Hugo Risenfeld score would truly be another highly unexpected dream come true.

THREE TIMES YAY!!!

This thread has completely gone to El.

Gagman, try disabling the BD player's internet connection. Some discs that I thought wouldn't load were just failing to connect to some server or something.

Nick_M,

Thanks for the advice. Unfortunately, I am not really sure what you are talking about? Alas the blu-ray player is not connected to the Internet. Maybe it is supposed to be?

I'm still waiting for Amazon to mail me the damn thing. It's been "shipping soon" for five days now.

My copy shipped on Thursday, which means I should get it on Monday or Tuesday. I can hardly wait!

Is it possibly Amazon can't keep up with demand? That kind of excuse I can live with.

My parcel from Amazon showed up yesterday, the only problem was, Wings wasn't inside! Just the invoice and one other item from the order. Grrr.

Maybe the Bosch shot it down.

i just ordered wings (1927) from best buy online. will be here in a few weeks (back order).

This is typical. I cancelled my Amazon order for WINGS after waiting nearly a week of "shipping soon," but I got an immediate reply that my cancellation was "unsuccessful." Why? Because two minutes later I got an e-mail that said my copy had just been shipped!

I just got my preordered blu-ray today from Amazon. Of course, as soon as the mail arrived, I put it in! Oh my goodness does this film look and sound great! I thought I would hate the sound effects, but they were done magnificently. The orchestral score is also very good. In the days when we're lucky to get warners archive silent releases with barely acceptable transfers, this release is just fantastic. Kudos Paramount!

OMG.

Unbelievable.

Watching it now. This may be the best restoration of a silent I have ever seen.