ADDITION: Paramount - Region FREE - Blu-ray (January 12'): Before I owned more than a handful of DVDs - I was shopping in an Asian Mall and stumbled across this "Best of Collection" - #62 in a series - a Chinese DVD of the 1927 William A. Wellman film Wings. It was a dual-sided, single-layered disc referred to as a DVD10 (I don't recall seeing too many since). It was interlaced and offered optional Chinese subtitles. At the time, well over a decade ago, I wasn't even aware of what a bootleg was nor had any intention of starting a website called DVDBeaver. The "Best of Collection" did allow me to see the film... but now I can look at it much more critically with Paramount's new, restored Wings on dual-layered 1080P Blu-ray.

The 1080P rendition is pretty impressive. Just to get the DVD comments out of the way - the Chinese transfer is heavily cropped on the left edge, a shortened version with some scenes missing and is interlaced. Predictably, the Blu-ray wins in every category (over 5X the bitrate) with much of the damage on the SD - cleaned extensively and/or removed on the new format disc. The aspect ratio clocks in at about 1.35:1 and they have gone with the sepia tint for the majority of the feature. Detail has highly remarkable moments and this looks very desirable in-motion. Almost impossible to believe that we are looking at an 85-year old film. Grain textures aren't overwhelming (have they removed too much?) but it's nice to see some still exists. No one would be expecting perfection from the video but it looks better than many might anticipate - still some speckles, flickering and banding but the contrast layering is extremely impressive. I can't see anyone complaining about what we are supplied with here - excepting maybe too much grain removal.

NOTE There is an Intermission included on the Blu-ray and a short musical overture to start the film.

Extras include a 26-minute piece Wings: Grandeur in the Sky in 1080P which focuses more on the historical aspect of filmmaking in that era. Restoring the Power and Beauty of Wings runs 15-minutes in HD includes segments on recreating the score as well as the work done on the video. Dogfight! is over a dozen minutes looking at the use of one-on-one aerial battles during wartime.

This is an inpressive package. The film is a glorious experience with the restored audio and video. Seeing Clara Bow in 1080P seems worth the price alone - but tack on the dynamic scores and extras and this is a easy endorsement. Buy with confidence!