“Wings”

Sun (Auckland), Volume II, Issue 418, 28 July 1928, Page 23

“Wings”

AN EPIC OF THE AIR

Season for Auckland

"lIJTN'GS,” the Paramount feature, which will soon have its Tf its initial screening in Auckland, will be presented with specially imported sound effects. Arrangements are now being made for the Auckland season. Richard Arlen and Clara Bow are among the featured players.

The history of “Wings” commenced in the library of Jesse L. Lasky’s apartment in New York City.

For an hour Mr. Lasky had listened

patiently to the story as the author recounted it. The plot, he conceded at the conclusion of the tale held no serious faults for the screen. The author urged its advantages. The war in the - air has never been, picturised. Here was action

that could not be put upon the stage or imprisoned within the covers of a book. But, objected Mr. Lasky, the cost of these film spectacles of war and destruction was appalling! How could it be done on a moderate scale and at a reasonable cost? If it were attempted at all, admitted the author, it must be done on a grand scale. The magnitude of the subject demanded heroic treatment. There were conditions, the author pointed out, under which the War Department granted the use of troops in the making of motion pictures. If the story of “Wings” could meet these conditions and the co-operation of the War Department were obtained, would Mr. Lasky agree to produce the picture ? In such an event, Mr. Lasky said,

he would bring the full resources of the Paramount organisation to bear upon the men and material provided.

Two weeks later Mr. Lasky was advised by the Secretary that the department would extend co-operation subject to certain conditions. With the help of 'the department assured, Mr. Lasky brought the forces of the West Coast studios into play upon the production. Lucien Hubbard was placed in charge of the unit. The direction of the piece was given to William Wellman, a young and skilful director.

Six months later, all the elements of the undertaking were in flow toward San Antonio. Balloon officers, crews and equipment, artillery, tanks, trucks, troops, wire and high explosives were in motion toward the “Wings” location at Camp Stanley. When the giant, forces of modern warfare were unloosed across the war area prepared on the army reservation, there were 21 cameramen set up at different angles to catch every aspect of the pageant. A year and a-half after the genesis of the piece in the Lasky library, after the books of the prediction had been closed, after the oil and the high-test gasoline and ordnance had been paid for, after the War Department had been indemnified for every piece of Government property lost, damaged or destroyed in the filming of the story, “Wings” was completed. The result was a slender strip of negative, 12,000 feet in length.