FILM REVIEW; High Over the Andes, In Enormous Goggles

"Wings of Courage" is a swooping, old-fashioned adventure tale that uses flashy newfangled technology. The first fiction movie made for IMAX 3-D (the format that makes everyone wear oversized, goofy-looking goggles), this 40-minute film plays to the strengths of its 3-D technique. It's a winning ploy. Based on real events, it tells of daredevil aviators flying mail over the Andes in 1930, but the tale takes second place to the way it is told. In the very first scene, a biplane seems to sail off the screen and hover over the heads of the audience. When aviators go to a nightclub, viewers might step into the space between the table in the foreground and the couple doing a tango in the rear. And when a plane lands, the camera seems to be attached to the rear wheels.

Tom Hulce plays the French writer and pilot Antoine de Saint-Exupery, although here he is seen not as the author of "The Little Prince" but as the head of Aeropostale, the company that moves the mail between South America and France. He is fondly called "St. X" by his pals in the movie. Val Kilmer has a tiny part as Jean Mermoz, a role that sets up the atmosphere of the period. Mermoz is a hero whose picture is on matchboxes, posters and cigarette packs. "The Andes don't give men back," he warns Henri Guillaumet, a flier set to make a run from Argentina to France.

The lesser-known Henri (Craig Sheffer) is the film's true hero. He flies over the Andes, runs out of fuel and spends much of the film trekking through the snow back to civilization. In "Wings of Courage," snowy weather and spectacular views from high above the mountains become events. (The film was actually shot in the Canadian Rockies.)

The director Jean-Jacques Annaud's other films include "Quest for Fire" and "The Bear." He obviously has a taste for primordial melodrama, and "Wings of Courage" deliberately evokes its old-time adventure-movie heritage. Postmarks flash onto the screen to count off the days during which Henri struggles across the mountains. His patient wife, Noelle (Elizabeth McGovern), waits and weeps at home. Their dog, Loop-de-Loop, does acrobatic leaps in the air.

As Henri drags himself forward, he has sepia-toned fantasies of Noelle, who says: "I know him. If he hasn't crashed, he's walking." Saint-Exupery flies overhead searching for him. "It's no use, St. X," Henri says. "You can't see an ant." Though the dialogue is nothing special, it takes on an eerie cast when Henri's inner thoughts are heard through one side of the headphones only, as if he were whispering in the ear of each viewer.

"Wings of Courage" opens today at the Sony Lincoln Square. The question whether 3-D is the future of movies is completely wrong-headed. Of course it's not, at least until those headsets turn into something more confortable. Wear them wrong, and they will beat up your sinuses or your forehead. The novelty of this moviegoing experience is what counts, and the circuslike atmosphere is especially enticing to children. Once those goggles are put on, the room is filled with people who look like mutants from "The Fly." The theater is dizzyingly high, to accommodate the 80-by-100-foot screen. IMAX 3-D is a gimmick, but "Wings of Courage" makes it a hugely entertaining one. WINGS OF COURAGE Produced and directed by Jean-Jacques Annaud; written by Alain Godard and Mr. Annaud; director of photography, Robert Fraisse; edited by Louise Rubacky; production designer, Ian Thomas; released by Sony Pictures Classics. At Sony Theaters Lincoln Square, IMAX Theater, 1998 Broadway, at 68th Street. Running time: 40 minutes. This film is rated G. WITH: Craig Sheffer (Henri Guillaumet), Elizabeth McGovern (Noelle Guillaumet), Tom Hulce (Saint-Exupery) and Val Kilmer (Jean Mermoz).