Film Forum

U.S., 1927
Directed by William A. Wellman
With Clara Bow, Charles “Buddy” Rogers, Gary Cooper
WINNER Academy Awards – Best Picture, 1928
Approx. 114 min. Restored DCP.

“It Girl” Clara Bow loves Buddy Rogers, but Buddy — and buddy Richard Arlen — loves planes; all get their fill when the US of A enters WWI. The first Best Picture winner is a super-spectacle, with hair-raising aerial footage matched with massive battle recreations (not to mention a star-making cameo by Gary Cooper), their authenticity guaranteed by real-life flyboy vets Wellman, Arlen, and screenwriter John Monk Saunders.

Reviews

“Bow is authentic sweetheart material, captivated by the fun and silliness in romance… It’s the top notch air film, better than Hell’s Angels (and probably gentler on the staff).”
– David Thomson

“Contains some of the most thrilling aerial footage ever filmed. [Wellman] depicted the planes as characters, giving them the sort of precise, detailed introductions other directors would give to their actors.”
– Daniel Eagan, America’s Film Legacy