WINGS, Wellman and Versatility

Last Saturday night I had the pleasure of attending a screening of WINGS, most famous today for being the first film awarded the Best Picture Oscar at the first Academy Awards ceremony in 1929. Seeing it projected in a restored 35mm print, at the landmark Loew's Jersey theater (an authentic 1929 movie palace) was quite an experience.

The film was hosted by William Wellman, Jr., son of director William A. Wellman and an actor in his own right. It was fascinating to hear his stories of the production of WINGS, some of which I had heard before in interviews with his father in documentaries such as THE MEN WHO MADE THE MOVIES and HOLLYWOOD. But his account of the film's production history, and especially how some of the more difficult shots were pulled off, was a fascinating glimpse into silent era filmmaking.

Watching the film on the Loew's 50 foot screen was a breathtaking experience. The scale on which the film was made (with the cooperation of the US government, who provided men, artillery, and other resources to the production) is difficult to conceive of, only because films are made so differently now. There are still films that depict large-scale events, to be sure, but how many of them are actually executed on such a large scale? Add to this the fact that stars Buddy Rogers and Richard Arlen were actually given flying lessons, in order to shoot their own scenes from the air, and you begin to realize that this kind of filmmaking is really only tangentially related to the way films are made today. It's an almost entirely different experience.

What's remarkable to me, in thinking about the man who made this incredible film, is the versatility which Wellman brought to his films as director. While I have only been able to see a portion of Wellman's filmography (he directed something like 80 films over his 30-plus year career), I am constantly struck by the variety of subjects and genres he tackled. To think he was only 29 when he made WINGS is staggering, especially when you consider the strong opposition he was facing from the far more experienced and older Paramount studio executives. It's certainly a testament to the belief Wellman had in both the production and in himself, no doubt stemming from the fact that it reflected his own experience as a flyer and was an intensely personal project for him.

And yet, when I look at his filmography, I think, here is a man who clearly had a much larger perspective than could be reduced to single genres or star vehicles. Take THE PUBLIC ENEMY, which Wellman directed just four years after WINGS. A seminal film in the early gangster genre, it's an intense, focused character study tracing a young hood's development into career criminal. Or A STAR IS BORN, which remains one of the boldest films ever made about the motion picture industry, especially when you consider it was made at a time when Hollywood was most certainly not interested in anything self-critical.

But it was Wellman's very versatility that demonstrates how a film like A STAR IS BORN could be made in 1937 Hollywood. The key was the same one that allowed Wellman to create personal works within the factory-like studio system. Because A STAR IS BORN has all the dressings of a "Classical" studio film, it can make its point within a traditional "rising star" narrative, which makes the ideas being explored all the more subversive (compare this with the hostility with which Billy Wilder's SUNSET BLVD. was met 13 years later). Similarly, Wellman was able to inject his personal vision into films because he worked within the system. At first glance, his films may "look" no different than those of other directors. But when you realize the highly structured system under which Wellman was working, and look more closely at recurring themes that he explored, his versatility becomes even more impressive. Not to mention the fact that he made at least a half-dozen films that are now widely regarded as "classics" among the whole of world cinema.

And this was something else that his son emphasized when speaking about WINGS: that Wellman enjoyed working, enjoyed the process of making films. The studio system, whatever its faults, was the ideal place for a director like Wellman, who was able to keep working and exploring his ideas within the classical framework of Hollywood genre films, star vehicles, and so on.

WINGS, then, sums up perfectly what Wellman was able to accomplish so well. Even though the film was a grand-scale epic spectacle, a Best Picture winner, and commercial triumph, beneath all of that is the perspective of an intensely personal artist, a man drawing on his own life experiences and telling a story that was deeply important to him. The film, like the best films from Hollywood's classic period, manages to convey those ideas while also transcending them, creating a work that still moves and thrills everyone who sees it, a film that is both universal and timeless.

Although staged, there are glimpses of Wellman directing on-set in this trailer for A STAR IS BORN:

Upstream (1927)

Recently discovered after being lost for more than 80 years, Upstream is a delightful light comedy that is distinctly Fordian. His theme of the family manifests itself neatly in the form of the family unit provided by a theatrical troupe, staying in a New York boarding house.

Earle Foxe stars as Eric Brashingham, “the last – and least” of a long-line of an acting family. He is in love with Gertie Ryan (Nancy Nash), but has a rival in actor Jack LaVelle (Grant Withers). Brashingham is called on to star in a London production of “Hamlet” – the producers don’t care that he’s a rotten actor, they just want the Brashingham name attached to the show. An old actor boarding with the troupe (movingly played by Emile Chautard) coaches Brashingham for the big performance. Surprisingly, Brashingham is a huge hit, and becomes the sensation of the theatrical world. However, he quickly finds that his behavior has alienated him from his long-time friends and colleagues.

The film is filled with customary Ford humor. A real highlight is the vaudeville comedy team “Callahan and Callahan” (Ted McNamara and Sammy Cohen) who provide many of the film’s best moments. And that grand old comedian, Raymond Hitchcock, has a wonderful supporting part. He’s a perfect fit for Ford’s stock company, and it’s a pity he died just two years after this film was made.

There had been much talk that this film demonstrated the Murnau influence on Ford’s visual style, but there doesn’t seem to be much in the film to support that idea. Murnau’s style did seem to influence Ford’s approach to filming Four Sons the following year, but Upstream seems to be fairly conventional by the standards of 1927, even though it was shot by Charles G. Clarke, who would also photograph Four Sons.

The film seems to be in keeping with other light comic work that Ford was doing in the late 20s, such as Riley the Cop (1928). It’s an interesting reminder of the wide variety of genres he was working in before becoming more established with Western and war films later on in his career. Comedy, of course, would remain an important part of Ford’s style throughout his career. Here, he demonstrates a light directorial touch that would serve him well again with the fun (and undeservedly underrated) comedy, The Whole Town’s Talking (1935), with Edward G. Robinson.

Following its rediscovery in New Zealand in 2010, Upstream had its re-premiere in Los Angeles. The film was screened at the newly-renovated Riklis Theater at the Museum of the Moving Image (in Astoria, Queens). The new music score was composed by Donald Sosin, and was performed by Sosin on piano along with violinist Susan Heerema, clarinetist David Tasgal, and drummer Ken Lauber. Joanna Seaton wrote lyrics for a new title song to the film, and performed vocals for a couple of other numbers used in the accompaniment (including “Give My Regards to Broadway”, “Oh You Beautiful Doll”, and “Auld Lang Syne”).

"Underworld" with the Alloy Orchestra

I just got back from the annual silent film screening at the Maryland Film Festival, held at the Charles Theatre in Baltimore. This year's film was "Underworld", accompanied with an excellent score by the Alloy Orchestra.

Josef von Sternberg's career was launched, after one or two false starts, with the splendid gangster film, "Underworld", produced at Paramount Pictures in 1927. The film is the prototypical gangster film, spawning a whole series of pictures that would really flourish in the early years of the following decade, when the technological introduction of sound in film gave whole new possibilities to the genre.

Watching a silent gangster film such as this one, or Lewis Milestone's The Racket from the following year, it can be difficult to remember that at the time, audiences didn't have films like Little Caesar and The Public Enemy to compare it against. Those films so completely formed the gangster film, with the gangster-slang dialog, machine gun rattle and police sirens on the soundtrack. Watching Underworld, it's easy to imagine it as a sound film. In fact, this is a criticism of Sternberg's silent work in general that I've read in several different sources. Ironically, his sound films, especially The Scarlet Empress, had an amazingly fluid camera style and stylized design that link them with the best techniques of the silent era.

It's also a good example of how a completely routine story can be greatly enhanced by the style and visual flourishes of the director. There was one bit in particular that stood out to me. Just after the main gangster, Bull Weed (played by George Bancroft) has gone on a rampage, he holes up in his apartment, trying to decide what to do next, and as he is thinking, gently feeds a stray kitten some milk that has just been delivered. It's a seemingly minor touch, but is a great, subtle character moment in the middle of the film that allows the audience to feel sympathy for him.

The performances were quite good, particularly Clive Brook, who delivered an incredible performance in Cavalcade, one of my very favorite films. It was also a treat to see silent screen comedian Larry Semon in a rare, semi-dramatic supporting role.

There were moments of the film that really stood out as examples of silent film technique at its finest: the opening shot, of a clock reading "2:00 am" superimposed over a giant skyscraper and the camera moves during the scene in which the two gangsters confront eachother at the nightclub. There was also an interesting but brief montage of the various underworld characters gathered at the annual party, with the shots growing increasingly frantic and more chaotic.

The score was provided by the Alloy Orchestra, who always provide fine accompaniment to the silent films shown at the Maryland Film Festival, and this was no exception. The score really captured the energy of the film without being overpowering, and also captured the lighter moments quite well.

Retrospective: Harold Lloyd's "Speedy"

From my review of the 2004 Maryland Film Festival:

Review: SPEEDY (1928) by Matt Barry 5/9/04
For me, the highlight of the 2004 Maryland Film Festival was the presentation of a pristine new 35mm print of SPEEDY (courtesy of the Harold Lloyd Trust) with a rousing score performed live by the Alloy Orchestra.

The film: SPEEDY is considered by many to be Harold Lloyd's all-round best film. It contains too many hilarious and well-executed gag sequences to count, wonderful characters, excellent location scenes, and a certain element of just sheer, plain fun that is impossible to re-capture in films today. You really *believe* that Harold and Ann and Babe Ruth and everyone else were genuinely having a ball making this film. Hard to imagine the amount of painstaking preparation and work put into creating that sense of fun, but that's what these guys did best, and why the silent comedies still continue to delight audiences while even some of the best comedies of the sound era can seem just a bit stale to modern audiences.

I was heavily impressed with the technical skill of the filmmaking. SPEEDY was obviously a big-budget production, and it showed that Lloyd really took cares in making it a polished, technically well-made picture. Even the visual effects sequences during the final chase were well-done and used very sparingly; the majority of the chase sequence was filmed entirely on the spot.
I really don't have any negative comments on the film itself. I felt that every gag sequence worked perfectly (as evidenced by the near non-stop laughter of the audience). The performances were excellent, the technical aspects were state-of-the-art for their time. I would rank SPEEDY **** out of ****. Truly a laugh-a-minute comedy.

The Presentation:
The film was presented in a newly restored, pristine 35mm print courtesy of the Harold Lloyd Trust and was hosted by Jed Dietz, director of the Maryland Film Festival. Unfortunately, several segments of the film (most likely the stock footage sequences) were noticably scratchy. The other segments were crystal-clear however, and the print overall was stunning.
The musical score was composed and performed by the Alloy Orchestra. It was an incredibly accomplishment; the score was brilliant in and of itself yet never called attention to itself or detracted from the focus of the film. I understand the Alloy has its admirers and its detractors; to be fair, I have only hear several of their film scores (including a live presentation of THE BLACK PIRATE), but I can say without doubt that their score for SPEEDY was perfectly suited to the mood and tone of the film. For those attending a silent film with accompaniment by the Alloy...do not be put off by the unusual instrumentation of the group. The music they created was perfectly suited to the film.

My only real complaint of the presentation was that a small portion of the left side of the screen was masked off. I could not be certain whether this was the fault of the projectionist, or perhaps the black curtain that masks the rest of the screen needed to be adjusted. This proved quite frustrating during the opening credits because the titles got cut off slightly on the left side of the screen, and the titles during the first minute or so were also affected similarly but after this it seemed not to affect the titles anymore, although the formatting remained uncorrected for the duration of the film.

Overall the presentation was a complete success, and I applaud the Alloy Orchestra for their amazing and effective score, and the Harold Lloyd Trust for lending the beautiful 35mm print of the film. Hopefully the positive response of this event will lead to more live-music presentations with silent films.

Matt Barry