At the very first Academy Awards, before they were even called "The Oscars," the Academy gave away TWO best picture awards, to Wings and Sunrise: A Song of Two Humans.
Why did they do it? A better question: Why did they stop?
(This is an updated version of the Oscar video I made last year, correcting some minor errors and responding to a few common reactions.)
Source Clips
Besides the 1927 Best Picture Winners Wings and Sunrise: A Song of Two Humans, this video essay includes shots from: Top Gun: Maverick, Everything Everywhere All at Once, Wings (the show), The Great Dictator, The Jazz Singer, Get Out, Nosferatu, The Last Laugh, Alfred Hitchcock Presents, Annie Hall, Shakespeare in Love, Saving Private Ryan, Gladiator, The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King, The Dark Knight, Green Book, Avengers: Infinity War, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 2, The Artist, Rogue One: A Star Wars Story, Moonlight. Mad Max: Fury Road, Spotlight, Raiders of the Lost Ark, The Holiday, Forrest Gump, Pulp Fiction.
Possibly Not Enough Film Scholl
I had seen Sunrise back in film school, and I took a class on Alfred Hitchcock, but I had still somehow forgotten “The Funeral March of a Marionette” was in the movie. I re-discovered this fact when I read this article from the Guardian: The day Alfred Hitchcock spoke one word to me (and the 40 years it took me to understand it).
If you want to play Pretentious Cinephile Bingo: Foreign Language Edition, I made it with My Free Bingo Cards.