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Best Picture Academy Awards
1927-1931
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 | "The Talkies: American Cinema's Transition To Sound, 1926-1931 (History of The American Cinema, Volume 4)" [1997] by Donald Crafton Univ CA Press 9¾x7 pb [11/99] for $26.12 Scribner's 10¼x7½ hardcover [12/97] for $99.00 |
 | "Up From The Vault: Rare Thrillers of The 1920s and 1930s" [2004] by John T. Soister
McFarland & Co. 10x7 pb [7/2010] for $39.95 McFarland & Co. 10x7 hardcover [3/2004] out of print/used covers 21 thrillers {widely-defined} that are well-regarded & eagerly sought, but difficult to find: "The Mystery of Dr. Fu Manchu" [1923 silent serial]; "The Unknown Purple" [1923 silent]; D.W. Griffith's "The Sorrows of Satan" [1926 silent]; "While London Sleeps" [1926 silent] starring Rin-Tin-Tin; "The Monkey Talks" [1927 silent] directed by Raoul Walsh; Charlie Chan in "The Chinese Parrot" [1927 silent lost film]; "Stark Mad" [1929 sound film]; "The Unholy Night" [1929] directed by Lionel Barrymore; "High Treason" [1929]; "The Spider" [1931]; Spanish-language Charlie Chan movie "Eran Trece" [1931]; "The Monkey's Paw" [1933]; "Trick For Trick" [1933]; "Deluge" [1933]; "The Vanishing Shadow" [1934 sound serial]; "The Witching Hour" [1934] directed by Henry Hathaway; "Double Door" [1934]; "Black Moon" [1934]; "Le Golem" [1936]; S.S. Van Dine's Philo Vance in "The Scarab Murder Case" [1937 lost film]; and "Sh! The Octopus" [1937] |
 | "Movies of The 20s and Early Cinema" [2007] by Jürgen Müller Taschen 9¾x7¾ pb [9/2007] for $30.39 |
 | "American Cinema of The 1920s: Themes & Variations" [2009] Edited by Lucy Fischer Rutgers Univ Press 9¼x6 pb [5/2009] for $24.95 Rutgers Univ Press 9¼x6 hardcover [5/2009] for $72.00 |
1927-28
complete listings of May 1929 Academy Awards for films of Aug 1927 to Aug 1928
 | "Wings" [Paramount Famous Lasky Aug 1927] won Oscar for 'Best Production' • full credits from IMDb |
| | "Sunrise: A Song of Two Humans" [Fox Sept 1927] won Oscars for 'Unique and Artistic Picture', Best Actress (Gaynor) & Best Cinematography |
  | A femme fatale from the city convinces a farmer to murder his wife; rowing a boat across the river to the city, the man cannot do the deed. The wife flees, and the husband follows her into the city and into a church where there is a wedding, and the couple reunite; after adventures in the city – an amusement park, etc. – they row back across the river, but a storm comes up and the wife is lost. The villagers bring the man home, where he chases the mistress away and tries to strangle her, but the wife is found alive and the reunited couple embrace as the sun rises behind them • Directed by F.W. Murnau; scenario by Carl Mayer, based on the novella "Die Reise nach Tilsit" by Hermann Sudermann; starring George O'Brien, Janet Gaynor & Margaret Livingston; won Oscars for 'Unique and Artistic Picture', Best Actress (Gaynor) & Best Cinematography; listed on National Film Registry (1989); listed on Time Magazine's All-TIME 100 Movies (5/2005)
DIGITALLY-RESTORED & RE-RELEASED by Fox in Summer 2010 Masters of Cinema b&w Blu-ray/DVD combo [4/2017] 3 disks for $29.95 Eureka Ent. b&w Blu-ray [11/2009] out of prodn/used Mr. Fat-W Video b&w DVD [4/2017] for $14.99 Fox Limited Edition b&w DVD [1/2005] for $35.41 27"x40" blue poster from Amazon for $19.99 full credits from IMDb • film entry at Wikipedia "Sunrise: A Song of Two Humans" screenplay [1998] critical text by Lucy Fisher B.F.I. Film Classics 7¼x5¼ pb [9/98] for $10.17 |
"The Crowd" [M.G.M. Feb 1928]
Co-written & directed by King Vidor [1894-1982];
full credits from IMDb
"The Jazz Singer"
[Warner Bros./Vitaphone Corp. Oct 1927]
Directed by Alan Crosland; starring Al Jolson, May McAvoy & Warner Oland; won Honorary Oscar
for "the pioneer outstanding talking picture, which has revolutionized the industry"
full credits from IMDb
"The Last Command" [Paramount Jan 1928]
Co-written & directed by Josef von Sternberg; starring Emil Jannings, Evelyn Brent
& William Powell;
full credits from IMDb
"Seventh Heaven" [Fox May 1927]
Directed by Frank Borzage; starring Janet Gaynor & Charles Farrell
video/DVD not available;
full credits from IMDb
"Way of All Flesh" [Paramount Oct 1927]
video/DVD not available;
full credits from IMDb
1928-29
complete listings of April 1930 Academy Awards for films of Aug 1928 to July 1929
"The Broadway Melody"
[M.G.M./Loew's Feb 1929]
  | Two sisters join a pal's Broadway show; the pal falls in love with one sister, but she is courted by a high society cad • Directed by Harry Beaumont; starring Charles King, Anita Page, Bessie Love, Jed Prouty, Kenneth Thomson, Edward Dillon, Mary Doran & Eddie Kane; won Oscar for Best Picture, nominated for Best Director, Best Actress (BL)
Warner b&w DVD [2/2005] for $14.99 M.G.M./Warner b&w VHS [12/94] out of prodn/many used full credits from IMDb |
"Alibi" [United Artists April 1929]
full credits from IMDb
"In Old Arizona" [Fox April 1929]
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The first all-talking sound-on-film feature. An Army sergeant conspires with Cisco Kid's faithless girlfriend for the reward for Cisco's capture - dead or alive! • Co-directed by Irving Cummings & Raoul Walsh; based on O. Henry's story "The Caballero's Way", the basis for Cisco Kid; starring Warner Baxter, Edmund Lowe & Dorothy Burgess; won Oscar for Best Actor (Baxter), nominated for Oscars for Best Picture, Best Director, Best Script & Best Cinematography
Fox DVD [5/2005] for $13.48 full credits from IMDb 11"x17" poster from Amazon for $9.99 |
"The Patriot" [Paramount Aug 1928]
This Best Picture nominee is one of the most sought-after 'lost films':
no negative elements or complete reels are known to exist.
Directed by Ernst Lubitsch, starring Emil Jannings, Florence Vidor & Lewis Stone; won Oscar for
Best Script, nominated for Best Picture, Best Director, Best Actor [LS] & Best Art Direction
full credits from IMDb
1929-30
complete listings of Nov 1930 Academy Awards for films of Aug 1929 to July 1930
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"All Quiet On The Western Front" [Universal 1930] Based on the novel 'Nichts Neues im Westens' by Erich Maria Remarque; directed by Lewis Milestone full credits at IMDb |
"Anna Christie" [M.G.M. Feb 1930]
  | "Garbo talks!" The title character, raised in far Minnesota, returns to live with her fisherman father. A shipwrecked Scottish seaman falls in love with her, but she resists her attraction to him. The father tries to stop the romance, and the girl resents the men's assumed control over her life. She reveals the tragic events of the past 15 years; the men react, followed by a kind of forgiveness. • Co-produced & directed by Clarence Brown; script by Frances Marion [1886-1973], based on the 1921 play by Eugene O'Neill [1888-1953]; starring Greta Garbo, Charles Bickford, George F. Marion, Marie Dressler, James T. Mack & Lee Phelps; Oscar noms for Best Director, Best Actress & Best Cinematography
The DVD includes both the English- & German-language versions Warner Home Video b&w DVD [9/2005] for $17.99 M.G.M. b&w VHS [9/98] out of prodn/many used full credits from IMDb • 1930 movie entry at Wikipedia blue 27"x40" poster (top) from Amazon for $19.99
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"The Big House" [M.G.M. June 1930]
full credits from IMDb
"Disraeli" [Warner Bros. Nov 1929]
full credits from IMDb
"The Divorcee" [M.G.M. April 1930]
full credits from IMDb
"Hell's Angels" [United Artists Nov 1930]
Produced & directed by Howard Hughes [1905-76]; starring Ben Lyon, James Hall,
Jean Harlow & John Darrow; Oscar nominated for Best Cinematography
full credits from IMDb
"The Love Parade" [Paramount Nov 1929]
full credits from IMDb
"Romance" [M.G.M. Aug 1930]
full credits from IMDb
1930-31
complete listings of Nov 1931 Academy Awards for films of Aug 1930 to July 1931
"Cimarron" [R.K.O. Feb 1931]
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Directed by Wesley Ruggles; won Oscars for Best Picture, Best Script, Best Art Direction, nominated for Best Director & Best Cinematography; starring Richard Dix & Irene Dunne (each nominated for Best Actor/Actress) Warner Video b&w VHS [2/2002] for $13.74 full credits from IMDb |
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based on the novel by Edna Ferber [1930]
Fawcett pb [9/79] out of print/used G&D/Amereon hardcover [10/98] for $28.95 BooksOnTape audio cassette [11/83] out of stock/used |
"A Free Soul" [M.G.M. June 1931]
full credits from IMDb
"The Dawn Patrol" [First National/Vitaphone Aug 1930]
full credits from IMDb
"The Front Page" [United Artists April 1931]
full credits from IMDb
"Little Caesar" [First National Jan 1931]
 | Directed by Mervyn LeRoy; starring Edward G. Robinson, Douglas Fairbanks Jr., Glenda Farrell, Sidney Blackmer, Ralph Ince, Stanley Fields & Maurice Black; Oscar nomination for Best Script/Adaptation, listed National Film Registry 2000 Warner b&w VHS [5/97] for $19.98 full credits from IMDb |
 | based on the novel "Little Caesar" [Doubleday 1929] by W.R. Burnett Carroll & Graf pb [7/86] out of print/used Aeonian hardcover [10/85] for $20.95 Otto Penzler facsimile hardcover [7/96] for $39.95 see also the Spirit of America Bookstore's W.R. Burnett [1899-1982] Page |
"Min and Bill" [M.G.M. Nov 1930]
Directed by George W. Hill; script by Frances Marion [1886-1973] & Marion Jackson,
based on Lorna Moon's novel "Dark Star";
full credits from IMDb
"Morocco" [Paramount Dec 1930]
full credits from IMDb
"The Public Enemy" [Warner Bros. April 1931]
full credits from IMDb
"Skippy" [Paramount April 1931]
full credits from IMDb
"Trader Horn" [M.G.M. May 1931]
full credits from IMDb
NOTE: The Academy Award year was Summer to Summer from 1927-28 to 1931-32;
the 1934 Academy Awards were given for August 1932 to December 1933;
Academy Awards are since given for films of calendar year.
complete listings of Nov 1932 Academy Awards for films of Aug 1931 to July 1932
or go to the next decade: 1931-1940
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