"Wings" on TCM

Barrett · 3 February 2008, 05:15 PM

Turner Classic Movies is broadcasting "Wings" Monday evening.

tcrean7828 · 3 February 2008, 07:42 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Barrett

Turner Classic Movies is broadcasting "Wings" Monday evening.

Mate saw the previews - should get the DVD ready to Burn

Thanks for the heads up.

ttfn

tcrean7828

tom

Laserlloyd · 4 February 2008, 04:57 PM

Just a Reminder;

It's On Now.....

Lloyd...

tcrean7828 · 4 February 2008, 10:03 PM

Mates,
Saw it on the tele and enjoyed myself for 2hr +. Hope they show more of these type of film in the future.

ttfn

tcrean7828

tom

cubsfan4life · 5 February 2008, 11:01 AM

Thanxs for the tip on this one guys! What a GREAT piece of film history!! Does anyone have any information on the SPADs that were used in the production? I didnt look too closely, but they looked to be 13s, and in the scene where they taxi & takeoff it looks like there are at least 3-4 of them? Any history as to their where abouts after the film? Were these originals or mock-ups?

sobrien · 5 February 2008, 04:43 PM

The Spads were Army Boeing MB-3a's. Boeing's first fighters from a Thomas Morse design I believe. Very Spad like in planform.

Sean

Gregvan · 5 February 2008, 05:19 PM

Hi,

Most of the flying scenes with the "Spads" were indeed done with Thomas Morse/Boeing MB-3a's. However, they had at least one actual SPAD VII (British-built, I think) which was used in some of the close-ups. Two Vickers guns were rather clumsily mounted on the nose and this is what you see during the side-view and head-on close-ups of the guns firing. Plus, stunt pilot Dick Grace crashed the Spad VII in No-Man's land for the spectacular crash scene involving Buddy Rogers' character. Grace carefully prepared the Spad: he peeled the fabric from the fuselage and the wooden longerons were wrapped with tape to prevent them from splintering and skewering the pilot. A steel framework was placed around the cockpit to prevent it from collapsing. A camera was carefully mounted behind the cockpit to record the crash from the pilot's position (you can see this mounting on the Spad just before it crashes, and they included some of the rather spectacular footage shot by it). It seems ironic, but I think they believed the old WWI tired airframes were more suited to crashing than the then-current MB 3a's and the Curtiss P-1s that stood in for the Fokker D.VIIs!

They also had two authentic Fokker D.VIIs, which you can see in the scene on the German airfield.Dick Grace also crashed one of the real Fokker D.VIIs in the scene in which Richard Arlen, down behind enemy lines, steals a "Fokker" and takes off. A German pilot tries to take off in pursuit in a real D.VII, and Arlen circles around the field to strafe him. Grace did the spectacular crash of the D.VII. The steel tube landing gear of the D.VII had been partially cut as well as part of the wing structure, so the aircraft would break up gradually on crashing and absorb most of the impact. Grace slammed the D.VII into the ground from 20 feet up, and neither the landing gear nor the wing of this sturdy airframe collapsed as they were supposed to. The stress of the crash caused a fracture in Grace's neck which necessitated a neck brace for several months.

Aside from the D.VIIs and the Spads, the only original WWI airplanes in the film are DH 4's in the mass takeoff and scenes flying over the battlefield. Nonetheless, the scenes with the German "Gotha," the well-done balloon attack, and the mass strafing scenes on the battle field are terrific. That's why scenes from this movie and from "Hell's Angels" seem to always turn up in WWI aviation documentaries, masquerading as real combat footage.

In spite of the hokey script and melodramatic acting, this is still one of my all-time favorite WWI films. "Wild Bill" Wellman's direction is wonderful, and some of the camera angles and other techniques used were far ahead of their time. No CGI aerobatics, either!

Greg

Nebogatoff · 5 February 2008, 10:16 PM

And I missed it. Dang.

cubsfan4life · 7 February 2008, 02:34 PM

wow! Thanxs for the awesomely detailed history on the flick there Greg! I guess the 'crash the old planes' mentality must have seemed much more logical at the time when the war was only 9 yrs old instead of 90... still a shame that by todays standards, they chose to destroy priceless pieces of history.

LegendaryLoewenhardt · 13 February 2008, 03:30 PM

I love that film. It was top-class in the days of the silver screen, silent pictures, and '20's special effects. Corny and somewhat campy, but I must say that it was quite pleasing to me to see so many old and authentic planes flying in that film. However, nothing will replace Howard Hughes' "Hell's Angels". The main thing that separates it from wings was sound... well, that and the massive dogfights that resulted in a few deaths during filming.

In fact, a D.VII in the film collided with Hughes' filming plane and nearly smashed off the wing (fortunately, the only thing lost was a camera and a bit of film).