‘Wings’ and ‘Evidence’ take flight

Preview
The Academy-Award-winning silent movie "Wings" and "The Evidence of the Film," a 14-minute film made in 1914 by Edwin Thanhouser, run at 7 p,m, Friday, Feb. 18, and at 1 and 7 p.m. Saturday, Feb. 19, in the Wilma Theatre, 131 S. Higgins Ave. Organist Andy Crow of Portland performs music during the screenings, and Thanhouser's grandson, Ned, speaks after the Saturday evening show. Admission is a $5 donation Call 728-2521. 

By SHERRY JONES
of the Missoulian

H
ow the film ended up in the basement of a Superior movie theater, nobody knows.
Apparently, though, "The Evidence of the Film" sat, encased in metal, for 85 years beneath the Strand Theater before someone discovered it last year.
"It's the only copy in the world," says Missoula businessman Tracy Blakeslee, whose family owns the Strand. 
So says the Library of Congress, where staffers restored the film and gave Blakeslee a 35-mm copy. Now Blakeslee plans to show the film, by Edwin Thanhouser, in his own Wilma Theatre this weekend. 
Thanhouser, an independent filmmaker, produced and distributed more than 1,000 silent movies between 1909 and 1917. 
He later destroyed his entire archives deeming it worthless, and only 182 Thanhouser films are known to exist today. The Museum of Modern Art in New York has eight of them in its permanent collection, according to the Thanhouser Web site, www.thanhouser.org. 
The 14-minute film) tells the story of a mother and son working at a movie studio. When he fails to deliver bonds for the studio, police arrest him - but his mother, a film editor, discovers evidence in the dailies that pinpoints the real thief. 
Showing with the Thanhouser short: "Wings," another silent movie and the first film ever to win an Academy Award for Best Picture of the Year. It also, according to Missoula historian Stan Cohen, launched the acting career of Helena native Gary Cooper. 
Directed by William Wellman - a World War I pilot - "Wings" tells the story of childhood rivals Jack Powell (Buddy Rogers) and David Armstrong (Richard Arlen), who join the Air Corps and, in basic training, become friends. On leave in Paris, the two encounter hometown girl Mary Preston (Clara Bow), in France as an ambulance driver, who loses her job after compromising her reputation to help the men. Later, when David is captured by the Germans, Jack flies alone to rescue him but finds tragedy, instead. 
One highlight of the film: Its combat footage. Filmed in San Antonio, "Wings" used military aircraft and regular Army troops, as well as real airplane crashes.

From the Missoulian, Friday, February 18, 2000.