Wings (1927)

William Wellman’s WINGS (1927) was the first film to win the “Best Picture” Academy Award – it also features what has been interpreted by many as a burgeoning love between its leading men.

WINGS

1927 | USA

Director: William A. Wellman

Screenplay: Hope Loring & Louis D. Lighton

Cast: Clara Bow, Charles (Buddy) Rogers, Richard Arlen, Gary Cooper, Jobyna Ralston, El Brendel and Richard Tucker

WINGS follows two fighter pilots in World War I, Jack (Charles "Buddy" Rogers) and Dave (Richard Arlen), who are in love with the same woman, Sylvia (Jobyna Ralston). Adding to the romantic complications of the film, Clara Bow stars as the girl-next-door/ambulance driver who is in love with Jack. Dave and Jack start as rivals, but after proving their courage to one another in a boxing match they become close.

Vito Russo noted in his 1981 book “The Celluloid Closet” that despite the talk of heterosexual love, the only scene of intense romance in the film is between the two leading men, building to one of the earliest (there were others) male/male kisses in Hollywood history.

Interestingly, the kiss in WINGS isn’t the only queer moment – there is a very brief scene in the middle of the film that features two masculine-coded Parisian lesbians gazing into each other’s eyes, with one caressing the cheek of the other.

In a brief moment, two coded lesbians gaze lovingly into each other’s eyes in a Parisian cafe.

After WINGS, Hollywood’s pre-code talkies would continue to add queer characters, and give them voices, until they were ultimately silenced in 1934 when Hays Code censorship was fully implemented.

You can find WINGS streaming on YouTube, for rent/purchase with AppleTV & Prime, and also available on DVD/Blu-ray.