Wings won the Oscar right?
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coolhandluc007 — 21 years ago(July 22, 2004 07:57 PM)
I just wanted to point this out, but Wings shared Outstanding Production with The Last Command that year, so really there were four winners.
Just wanted to clear that up.
When you have insomnia, you're never really asleep and you're never really awake. -
chewy2eat — 21 years ago(August 09, 2004 02:06 PM)
The Jazz Singer opened during the first year of the Academy, when no awards were given. They were compelled to give it an honorary award the next year. A second honorary award went to Charlie Chaplin for writing directing and producing The Circus. As was previously posted Wings won for Outstanding Picture, Sunrise won for Unique and Artistic Picture. The Last Command did not share either of these awards, but Emil Jannings won Best Actor for his roles in that film and The Way of All Flesh (awards were given for multiple achievements that year). My source of this information is Robert Osborne's "70 Years of the Oscar: The Official History of the Academy Awards".
Wings has always been considered the winner of the first Best Picture, but over the years Sunrise has aged better and grown in stature. -
eduardo2k — 18 years ago(June 05, 2007 08:50 PM)
That's not true. Wings is the real winner for the Best Picture category.
For example, if you check the Academy's official database in "Best Picture" category only Wings appears in the 1927/1928 year.
1927/28 (1st)
OUTSTANDING PICTURE- Paramount Famous Lasky Wings
The Artistic Quality of Production & Pioneering Oustanding Production are special awards and now archaic, according AMPAS.
Another example, in 1998 (70th Academy Awards), Dustin Hoffman presented a clip featuring the 69 Best Pictures by the time: Wings was presented, Sunrise & Jazz Singer did not.
The same thing happened in 2003 (75th Academy Awards), in the introduction clip featuring 74 diamonds falling down around an Oscar statuette, Wings was the first and only of 1928 (not Sunrise, not Jazz Singer).
In 2005 (77th Academy Awards), in an introduction clip (narrated by Tom Hanks) that explains how Hollywood had changed but the audience still loves old-fashioned stories, in the final part Hanks said: "Is important to know where we began" (showing Wings) "and where we are going" (showing The Aviator).
And finally, I have the official Academy's book: "75 years of Oscar: The Official History of the Academy Awards", it says and remarks that Wings was the first Best Picture, the others (Sunrise & Jazz Singer) received special awards, in 1948, the film Joan of Arc received the same special award as Sunrise, because the oustanding high level of Walter Wanger's production.
- Paramount Famous Lasky Wings
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cestlefun17 — 18 years ago(June 08, 2007 12:29 PM)
In the second year of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences' creation, the Board of Governor's retroactively stated that WINGS was the first and only Best Picture winner of the first ceremony.
"Best Unique and Artistic Quality of Production" was dropped and retroactively labeled a sub-category of Best Picture (similar to today's Best Animated Feature of Best Foreign Language Film category).
Oscar Buzz's Favorite Best Picture:
Annie Hall (1977) -
playerpage — 18 years ago(August 26, 2007 01:49 PM)
This actually emphasizes my point with those people who are posting and insisting that Wings is the "only" winner.
As I said on my original message three years ago, the category was split and they never did it that way again. The retroactive re-emphasis on Wings, which I have to say I did not specifically know about but makes sense given its prominence in the "official" literature quoted today, does not change the truth of what I researched and know from my original post. I already acknowledged that honorary awards returned occasionally (as in 1948) without the same emphasis.
I'm not taking anything away from Wings. I love the moviejust look up my review. Just setting the record straight as I understand it.
I think I'll have to go with Robert Osborne on "The Last Command," however, and say that there never were four winners. -
bjnevin — 18 years ago(November 24, 2007 10:27 AM)
The idea of the two seperate awards being given different names wasn't so that Wings would go down in history as the Best Picture of 1927-28 and that Sunrise would be acknowledged with a lower award. The Academy wanted to honour two very different but equally important aspects of film-making and L. B. Mayer was pressurising members into voting for Murnau's Sunrise (though it wasn't his own studio's film) as he disliked the gritty realism of King Vidor's The Crowd (which was also nominated for 'Unique and Artistic Quality of Production'). Of course, it was impossible to ignore the epic, star-studded Wings and at the end of the day, both Wings and Sunrise were both given an award, each named in respect of their different qualities.
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blue-7 — 14 years ago(February 06, 2012 02:10 PM)
You are correct in saying that the Academy's "Official" ruling gives WINGS the Best Picture award. As for SUNRISE winning "Best Unique and Artistic Quality of Production" it was the only film ever to be so honored (with King Vidor's THE CROWD and CHANG being nominated), one can say that it was and is one of the greatest masterpieces of cinema, either sound or silent. But WINGS is a wonderful film that captures the use of planes in the first WW like it can never be done again. It's an entertaining film on every level and with Paramount's amazing restoration can now be enjoyed by those who love movies in the way that it should. I for one am delighted that WINGS and SUNRISE are both available on Blu-ray and that some of the great Chaplin and Keaton films are also being released in that format.
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Jake-219 — 14 years ago(February 07, 2012 11:54 PM)
Yep, the Academy was, and is, primarily a political entity. And, like all political entities (such as politicians!), it's always yearning for popular recognition.
I think in 1928 they were looking for some way to make everyone happy, and so came up with the two categories, thereby allowing both "Wings" and "Sunrise" to win.
But it wasn't long before they discovered that that compromise wound up pleasing no one, and so they've been retroactively backtracking on it ever since, and claiming that "Wings" was the one and only best picture that year.
Bull.
(I believe in popular fiction that's referred to as "retconning," no?)
Personally, I think it's time we put the whole thing to rest, once and for all, and just admit that there were TWO best picture winners that year, "Wings" AND "Sunrise," thereby giving each its due.
If admitting that there were two best pictures that year unsettles you, if you're still bothered by not having ONE overall "best picture" for that first year, blame it on the Academy. But don't keep falling for their bs!
(And maybe cut them a little slack. After all, if you're willing to overlook obvious technical deficiencies and appreciate old films to begin with, then you should certainly be able to sympathize with the Academy's fumbling around with things for their first awards ceremony. I just hate that, since then, they seem to want everyone to believe nothing happened! If they wanted to finally do the right thing, they'd come out themselves and admit that there were two best pictures that yearbut I think the myth they've built up around themselves since would prohibit that from ever happening.)
