MovieChat Forums > Wings (1929) Discussion > Amazing tracking shot

Amazing tracking shot

posted 4 months ago by VinceD (9805)
4 replies | jump to latest

What an amazing early tracking shot!

I'd wager this made an impression on Hitchcock, as you can see its DNA in his contemporaneous work, as well as in his later films.

It’s also interesting to note that, at around the 0:05 mark, there appear to be two women seated together at the table, possibly as a romantic couple. This seems risqué for the 1920s, but who knows—maybe it wasn't.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AO2KhMLJxq0

It went on to win the first Academy Award for Best Picture at the first annual Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences award ceremony in 1929, the only silent film to do so. It also won the Academy Award for Best Engineering Effects (Roy Pomeroy). Wings was one of the first widely released films to show nudity. In 1997, Wings was selected for preservation in the United States National Film Registry by the Library of Congress as being "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant", and the film was re-released to Cinemark theaters to coincide with the 85th Anniversary for a limited run in May 2012. The film was re-released again for its 90th anniversary in 2017. The Academy Film Archive preserved Wings in 2002.

[–] VinceD (9805) 4 months ago

Making of:

https://vimeo.com/146632948

Looks like they used a fairly sophisticated -- for its time -- inverted dolly system.

I wonder if this is where the filmmakers behind 'Soy Cuba' (1964) got the inspiration for their 'flying camera' shot during the funeral scene.

'Soy Cuba' (1964) Funeral Scene
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6hiV9NQnoa4

[–] Luffy (1236) 4 months ago

It wasn't risque at that time. The 20s were decadent and prosperous times for the US. The 30s had famines and an Economic crisis. The 50s had racism and conservatism. But yeah, 1924 was quite better than 2024.

[–] VinceD (9805) 4 months ago

The soldier and his woman companion at the next table seem to side-eye and mad-dog the two women, though, so there appears to be something implied that their PDA is incongruent with societal norms.

The Roaring Twenties definitely were an era of decadence and prosperity in the US, which did question some traditional norms, so maybe you're right—it wasn't as risqué as it seems through a modern lens. Still though, the film seems to subtly push the boundaries of what was publicly acceptable in cinema, as well as being technically innovative.

[–] Luffy (1236) 4 months ago

I don't know regarding the boundaries... only one year after the Lumiere brothers displayed their invention, the first porn movie appeared.