Review and Analysis of the 1st Academy Awards

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Review and Analysis of the 1st Academy Awards

The 1st Academy Awards were held in 1929 and honored the films released in 1927 and the first half of 1928. It would be interesting seeing what movies would win if the awards were created before, but unfortunately that did not happen. Still, this is pretty early and it is an interesting year as it has very few categories and is the only full silent year where all the nominees are silent films. It was not broadcast anywhere, but at least we do know who won and who was nominated so let’s comment upon each and every category.

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OUTSTANDING PICTURE

This was the category equivalent to regular and audience favorite films. The Racket is a worthy nominee here and quite an underrated film whereas 7th Heaven should have won as the best among the three. But still I am not mad at all that Wings won as it is such a phenomenal, epic and charming film. Crime, romance and war drama are the genres here leading to a pretty diverse, interesting list. You can read my full ranking of this year’s nominees here.

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BEST UNIQUE AND ARTISTIC PICTURE

This obsolete category was intended to honor those artistic and  more technically polished films which the critics adore and I do wish that the Academy today would make the same distinction they did here. Sadly they don’t. Anyway, this category is also incredibly strong with Chang being the weakest link but still it’s a very good early documentary. The Crowd is of course such a resonant, rich drama and naturally Sunrise deserved its Oscar as it is a masterpiece of a film.

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BEST DIRECTOR, COMEDY PICTURE

Lewis Milestone won here for Two Arabian Knights and Ted Wilde was nominated for Speedy. I haven’t yet seen any of these two films so I cannot comment whether or not the winner was deserved. The distinction between comedy and dramatic director is silly to me, but still this obsolete category led to more appreciation for the comedy genre.

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BEST DIRECTOR, DRAMATIC PICTURE

Frank Forzage won here for his work on 7th Heaven and he truly did an outstanding job on that wonderful romance. The film is beautiful visually and is technically splendid. It would have been a deserved winner had it not been for F. W. Murnau’s marvelous direction on Sunrise. But he wasn’t even nominated so that was truly the first major snub in this category. I did like the nod for King Vidor though as he directed The Crowd so well.

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BEST ACTOR

The fact that Lon Chaney wasn’t even nominated for his spectacular performance in The Unknown just goes to show the Academy’s very early bias toward horror films that remains to this day. It’s such a major snub. However, Emil Jannings won for The Last Command and I couldn’t be more happier because his performance there is magnetic, highly moving and just real. Interesting fact: he remains the only German actor to ever win in this category.

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BEST ACTRESS

Yes, Gloria Swanson’s performance in Sadie Thompson was one of her strongest as she’s so good there, but there is no denying that Janet Gaynor’s win is very much deserved. The Academy made the best choice possible here as she won for three movies and she did a terrific job in both Sunrise and 7th Heaven. She was immensely charming and wonderful in both of those romantic offerings so I am more than happy that she rightfully won.

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BEST ORIGINAL STORY

I haven’t yet seen Underworld so I do not know if it’s a deserved winner in this category, but The Last Command I did see and that film has a very interesting story deservedly Oscar nominated. I do dislike the fact that only two movies were nominated in this as well as some other categories though.

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BEST ADAPTATION

It is great that the Academy made the distinction between adapted and original screenplay in its very first year of awards. The Jazz Singer’s nomination is ludicrous as that film has very weak and cliched storytelling, but thankfully 7th Heaven won and I am happy that it did because it has such a lovely, romantic and charming plot.

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BEST ART DIRECTION

I have not seen The Dove or Tempest but I cannot fathom how Sunrise and 7th Heaven both lost in this category. Both would have been amazing choices, but in my opinion 7th Heaven should have taken this one as the sets in that film are marvelous and a character in their own right.

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BEST CINEMATOGRAPHY

Sunrise rightfully won in this category as that film is gorgeous to behold with some groundbreaking shots and consistently intriguing, very cinematic imagery. However, the other nominees are pretty weak choices and The Crowd and 7th Heaven were both shamelessly snubbed here.

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BEST ENGINEERING EFFECTS

This obsolete category is an odd choice and was just an excuse to give another award to Wings and deservedly so as that film features revolutionary, still impressive aerial battle scenes.

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BEST TITLE WRITING

Joseph W. Farnham won here for an unspecified film and this obviously obsolete category was relevant in this year alone when the silent films still roared.

So in the end, I agree with most of the Academy’s choices when it comes to this year’s Oscars. Yes, some films were ridiculously snubbed, but for the most part the right movies won, even if all the right movies were not nominated. It is a very strong year for the Academy and one of the better overall slates from them.