William A. Wellman's WINGS (1927) Original and 18 similar items

Vintage original 7.25 x 10.75 in. French souvenir book from the classic 1920's WWI-themed silent film drama/romance, WINGS, released in 1927 by Paramount Pictures and directed by William A. Wellman. Based upon the story by John Monk Saunders, two young men, one rich (Richard Arlen), one middle class (Charles "Buddy" Rogers), who are in love with the same woman (Jobyna Ralston), become fighter pilots in World War I. The cast includes Clara Bow, El Brendel, Richard Tucker, Gary Cooper, Gunboat Smith, Henry B. Walthall, Roscoe Kearns, and Julia Swayne Gordon. Printed on a thicker textured paper stock, this beautiful 12-page souvenir book was printed for the film's original French theatrical release under the title Les Ailes. It features two two-page spreads depicting various real-life French aviation heroes from WWI along with beautiful color photographic images of scenes from the film as well as portraits of the main cast members. The front and back covers form one large image of biplanes filling the sky. It is complete in very fine- condition with a very small indentation on the center of the outer edge of each page (which is extremely minimal); 1 in. of separation along the spine at the bottom staple; and light signs of wear on the corners. The beautiful rich color tints are all fresh and vibrant without any signs of fading. While the text is in French, this is one of the nicer souvenir books that we've seen from this important silent film. ALSO INCLUDED is a four-page "Anniversary Program of Paramount" which features a portrait of two famous Frenchmen associated with WWI (M. Laurent-Eynac, Minister de L'Air, and Capitaine Rene Fonck, L'As des as Francais). It is in very fine- condition. Wings was the first film to receive the "Best Picture" Academy Award and was the only silent film to do so until the more recent silent film, The Artist, won this coveted award.