Incredible Tracking Shot From the Movie Wings (1927)

Scene from the 1927 silent film 'Wings'.

Wings is a 1927 American silent war film set during World War I, produced by Lucien Hubbard, directed by William A. Wellman, released by Paramount Pictures, and starring Clara Bow, Charles Rogers and Richard Arlen. Gary Cooper appears in a small role which helped launch his career in Hollywood.

The film, a romantic action-war picture, was rewritten by scriptwriters Hope Loring and Louis D. Lighton from a story by John Monk Saunders to accommodate Bow, Paramount's biggest star at the time. Wellman was hired as he was the only director in Hollywood at the time who had World War I combat pilot experience, although Richard Arlen and John Monk Saunders had also served in the war as military aviators. The film was shot on location on a budget of $2 million (equivalent to $28.88 million in 2019) at Kelly Field in San Antonio, Texas, between September 7, 1926 and April 7, 1927. Hundreds of extras and some 300 pilots were involved in the filming, including pilots and planes of the United States Army Air Corps which were brought in for the filming and to provide assistance and supervision. Wellman extensively rehearsed the scenes for the Battle of Saint-Mihiel over ten days with some 3500 infantrymen on a battlefield made for the production on location. Although the cast and crew had much spare time during the filming because of weather delays, shooting conditions were intense, and Wellman frequently conflicted with the military officers brought in to supervise the picture.

Acclaimed for its technical prowess and realism upon release, the film became the yardstick against which future aviation films were measured, mainly because of its realistic air-combat sequences. It went on to win the first Academy Award for Best Picture at the first annual Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences award ceremony in 1929, the only silent film to do so. It also won the Academy Award for Best Engineering Effects (Roy Pomeroy). Wings was one of the first widely released films to show nudity. In 1997, Wings was selected for preservation in the United States National Film Registry by the Library of Congress as being "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant", and the film was re-released to Cinemark theaters to coincide with the 85th Anniversary for a limited run in May 2012. The film was re-released again for its 90th anniversary in 2017. The Academy Film Archive preserved Wings in 2002.

The film in this video has been digitally enhanced.

[ingvarhallstrom]

This shot is so perfectly crafted no one would've questioned if it had been done today for a period film.

[ernestov]

I'm a history major watching movies about WW1 (only movies from 1919 to 1928) for my thesis on the perspective of civilian population a few years after the end of the war. I was shocked and impressed when I first watched this, a masterpiece.

[christopherbenson]

I guess they had the camera suspended from an overhead track? It's a great shot.

[DannaVargas-lk]

I still can’t believe I stayed in the hotel they filmed this movie in!

[vladislavtrevin]

Long before sfx and digital... the world improvised with a creative imagination

[pault]

Trying to think how. Maybe the camera at the bottom of a pole? Holding the top and running through the people? However, then the question of keeping it so steady

[esthergagne]

0:04 to 0:07 typical 1920's portrayal of a lesbian couple!

[Edduardoat]

As cameras eram gigantes e pesadas. Coisa de gênio.

[qudekra]

Great scene! Would you mind sharing the music you used? Shazam matches this to J.S. Zamecnik, but doesn't get it quite right. Thanks in advance!

[brunofelipegoncalves]

This scene and stair one from 7th Heaven...
How did they shot them, man...

[LandondeeL]

I can't even see any splits in the tables!

[hummingbirds_n_more]

Bring back the Hays code, get the filth out of Hollywood!

[promontorium]

00:05 Movie gets credit for first same-sex kiss, but it wasn't a sexual kiss. This however, is 2 lesbian women.