In honor of The Artist last night being the first silent film in 84 years to win the Academy Award for Best Picture, this seemed a good day to peek back at the last silent winner: Wings, best picture for 1927.

Starring Clara Bow,Charles “Buddy” Rogers, and Richard Arlen, Wings is a fantantic epic of two ace fighter pilots from World War I, both in love with the same small-town girl.    It is stunning at every level — the dogfight and other flight scenes are amazing in themselves — and loses none of its punch for lack of a soundtrack.  

Check out this short clip from early in the story (and please excuse the annoying modern soundtrack somebody recorded onto this clip — just put it on mute).  One of the dogfight scenes is below.  The technology may be ancient and the story full of cliches, but the energy just jumps off the screen.    Enjoy…..