Sunrise Is The Only Best Picture Oscar Winner The Academy Doesn't Recognize

The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS) has, ever since 1927, been giving out awards to the best movies, directors, actors, and other artisans throughout the industry. Or at least, they've been giving awards to the ones that can win an annual popularity contest.

Say what you will about the Oscars and their credibility — they were, after all, invented to bust unions, not celebrate the art of cinema — but for nearly 100 years they have done a great job of raising the visibility of motion pictures which, on a long enough timeline, were otherwise destined to fade into obscurity. For every "Casablanca" or "Titanic," blockbuster films that have seemingly permanently invaded the public consciousness, there's a "Cavalcade" or a "The Greatest Show on Earth," which haven't made nearly as much of a cultural footprint, and which are more likely to be seen by modern audiences specifically because they won the Best Picture Oscar, and are highlighted in the history books.

But there's one Best Picture winner that the history books treat differently than all the others. Nowadays it isn't even considered a "Best Picture" winner at all, even though it's widely considered to be one of the best motion pictures ever made.

Let's talk about "Sunrise: A Song of Two Humans," the other first Best Picture.

Not every Best Picture winner withstands the test of time; try watching "The Broadway Melody" or "Crash" and you'll see what we mean. But funnily enough, the first Best Picture winners are both excellent films that have lost none of their power. Even some of the nominees they beat out, especially the pulpy and imaginatively filmed gangster picture "The Racket," still pack a punch.

William A. Wellman's "Wings" tells the story of romantic rivals Jack (Charles Rogers) and David (Richard Arlen), who are both in love with the same woman and both enlist to become aviators in World War I. Meanwhile, Jack's best friend Mary (Clara Bow) — who is in love with him, although Jack doesn't realize it — joins the war effort as a nurse. Jack and David develop a very close friendship over the course of the war, culminating in tragedy, and a powerful kiss. It's an impressive epic with daredevil flying sequences and a brief but memorable early role for a young Gary Cooper.

F.W. Murnau's "Sunrise: A Song of Two Humans" tells a much darker, more intimate tale of a farmer (George O'Brien) who cheats on his wife (Janet Gaynor) with a visiting woman from the city (Margaret Livingston). She tempts the farmer to murder his wife, but when his wife flees from him they wind up in the big city, reconciling and realizing they still love each other. Murnau was a master stylist whose horror classic "Nosferatu" is one of the most influential films in history (even if the Academy rarely recognizes its genre), and although the story in "Sunrise" is bizarre in a very different way, the filmmaking is still ecstatically inventive and ambitious. The film is impressive to this day.