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Wings  (1927) was the first ever film to receive the coveted Academy Award for Best Picture. Since then, it has become one of the most acclaimed and influential war dramas, noted for its technical realism and spectacular air-combat sequences. This is the fascinating story of how it came to be made.   Theatrical release posters for Wings , the first ever film to win the Academy Award for Best Picture. Part I: A man and his story The concept for Wings originated from a struggling writer trying to sell one of his stories. In September 1924, Byron Morgan approached Jesse L. Lasky, the founder and vice-president of Famous Players-Lasky Corporation, the predecessor of Paramount Pictures, and proposed that the studio make an aviation film. Morgan suggested an «incident and plot» story focused on the failure of the American aerial effort during World War I, and the effect that the country's «aviation unpreparedness» would have in upcoming conflicts. Lasky liked Morgan's idea, and so...

Did you know that... The first sequel in motion picture history was The Fall of a Nation (1916), which is a follow-up to D. W. Griffith's epic drama The Birth of a Nation (1915). Based on Thomas Dixon Jr.'s novel and play The Clansman , The Birth of a Nation changed the history of American cinema. With a cast that included Lillian Gish and future Oscar winner Donald Crisp, the three-hour film chronicled the relationship of two families during the American Civil War and Reconstruction era over the course of several years. The film was a great financial success, although it created a wave of controversy for its portrayal of black men as unintelligent and aggressive towards white women and the portrayal of the Klu Klux Klan as a heroic force.   (from left to right) Josephine Crowell, Henry B. Walthall and Lilian Gish in The Birth of a Nation ; Raoul Walsh and Lillian Gish in the same film. Hoping to capitalize on the massive success of The Birth of a Nation , Dixon decided to ...

Of all God's gifts to the sighted man, colour is holiest, the most divine, the most solemn. (John Ruskin, English art critic and writer, 1819-1900)   The efforts to join colour to the moving image are as old as cinema itself. At least since the release of Annabelle Serpentine Dance (1895) by the Edison Manufacturing Company, filmmakers had been hand-painting frames to add colour to black-and-white prints. In this 45-second short, Broadway dancer Annabelle Moore is dressed in white veils that appear to change colours as she swirls them. Hand colouring was often used in early European trick and fantasy films, especially those produced by pioneer French filmmaker George Méliès, who amazed audiences with his astonishingly intricate visual effects. Méliès first experimented with colour in Jeanne d'Arc (1900), leading to a more spectacular use of the technique in Le Voyage dans la Lune (1902) and Le Voyage à travers l'impossible (1904), which offers four hues in at least t...

To celebrate Gary Cooper's 115th birthday, which is tomorrow, this week on «Film Friday» I have decided to write about the movie that gave him his first important screen role. This is also one of the few silent films I have seen so far.   Directed by Henry King, The Winning of Barbara Worth (1926) begins with a woman (Vilma Bánky) burying her husband in the desert. She and her young daughter, Barbara (Carmencita Johnson), then get back in their covered wagon and continue to head West. At the same time, Jefferson Worth (Charles Lane) and his party — which includes Tex (Clyde Cook) and Pat Mooney (Erwin Connelly) — are also travelling West. They all run into a violent sandstorm and try to take cover. Once the storm clears, Mr. Worth and his companions find Barbara clinging to her dead mother in the sand. Mr. Worth adopts the girl and raises her as his own daughter. Fifteen years pass, and Barbara Worth (Vilma Bánky) is now a grown woman beloved by her childhood friend, Abe Lee (G...