First Academy Awards 1929

The First Academy Awards are an interesting in a lot of ways.
One of the most interesting is that there were two awards for Best Picture. One for Best Production and one for Best Unique and Artistic Picture.
Wings won for best Production which when most lists are created of best picture winners that's the one that will be on the list. And Sunrise: A Tale of Two Humans won for Best Unique and Artistic Picture. What is interesting to me is that while Wings is considered the first movie to win Best Picture, it is hard to find. It is not available on DVD and while I did see it once thanks to the fact that Middle Country Public Library in New York has a large collection of old movies on VHS, I can not find it here in Wisconsin. You would think that an historic fact like being the first to win best picture would be enough to get a release on DVD but I guess not. On the other hand I just read that Sunrise was the first silent film to be released on Blu-Ray.
Not being able to see Wings, I rented Sunrise from Netflix since it is hard to find old movies like that anyplace else but online rental stores. It actually was a very good movie. A story about a man and wife and the girl from the city that tries to tear them apart(have to love old silent movies where characters didn't have names). The girl from the city convinces the man to sell his farm, kill his wife, then move to the big city where they can party all the time. She comes up with the elaborate scheme where the man takes his wife into the lake overturns the boat and his wife will drown "accidentally" while he escapes. The movie turns out to be a love story when the man takes he wife out on to the lake but cant bring himself to kill his wife. He ends up apologizing and the you watch them fall back in love. The movie is eye opening to me because it goes against what I usually believe to be typical movies of that time. Movies like Charlie Chaplin or Buster Keaton types of feel good silly comedies.
While Sunrise ends up being a love story with a happy ending it has a dark middle to it. Which I guess should be to surprising since it was directed by F. W. Murnau the German director of Nosferatu. One of the first vampire movies ever made. And even watching this movie I still picture him as John Malkovich who played Murnau in Shadow of the Vampire(a must see movie).
Other interesting Facts about the First academy awards.
The only time a silent film has won best Picture
The only time Best Title Card Writing was a category.
While The Jazz Singer the first "talkie" had come out it was not nominated for best picture only best writing, but did win an Honorary Award for revolutionizing film(maybe this is the award Avatar should have won).
And in my opinion we should go back to the two categories for best picture instead of doing 10 nominees. I think it will be more interesting that way.