BBB
(out of 5)
First Academy Award winner for Best Picture is a rip-roaring adventure of the skies that has rival suitors Charles Buddy Rogers and Richard Arlen forget their differences once they enlist and become friends during their many missions together as fighter pilots. Clara Bow plays the girl back home who loves Rogers, even though he’s still obsessed with Arlen’s girlfriend. The setup of this exciting melodrama was cliched even in 1927, but the flying scenes are completely breathtaking. Look for matinee idol Gary Cooper in a cameo role as a doomed pilot.
Paramount Famous Lasky Corporation
USA, 1927
Directed by William A. Wellman
Story by John Monk Saunders, Screenplay by Hope Loring, Louis D. Lighton, titles by Julian Johnson
Cinematography by Harry Perry
Produced by Lucien Hubbard
Music by J.S. Zamecnik
Production Design by Hans Dreier
Costume Design by Travis Banton, Edith Head
Film Editing by E. Lloyd Sheldon
Academy Awards
Best Engineering Effects (Roy Pomeroy)
Outstanding Picture (Paramount Famous Lasky)
