Charles 'Buddy' Rogers

A late-silent-era romance from Paramount, directed by George Abbott and based on Henry Leyford Gates's novel *Here Comes the Bandwagon*. Charles "Buddy" Rogers stars as Jimmy, a young man caught between two women, with Jean Arthur as Mary and Paul Lukas as the rival Nick. The film was released in both sound and silent versions, as was common during the transition to talkies. Abbott, better known today as a legendary Broadway director, was then a Hollywood contract director at Paramount. As a work published before 1930, the film is in the public domain in the United States.

Drama · Romance

Wings is the film that won the very first Academy Award for Best Picture, and it remains the only fully silent film to take the top prize. Directed by William A. Wellman, a former World War I fighter pilot, it follows two young American aviators who enlist in the Army Air Corps and become combat pilots in France, bound by friendship and divided by their love for the same woman. Clara Bow plays the hometown girl waiting back home. The aerial dogfight sequences were shot with real planes and real pilots, hundreds of them, and they still rank among the most thrilling ever filmed. Gary Cooper appears briefly in an early role that helped launch his career. The film entered the public domain in the United States on January 1, 2023.

War · Drama · Romance · Silent