Oscars - Best Picture Winners

Also Nominated: The Racket, Seventh Heaven

William Wellman's Oscar-winning silent epic celebrating the exploits of World War One fighter pilots. The flying sequences in the first winner of Hollywood's best film Oscar are still among the most breathtaking ever put on screen, with the infantry battle scenes not far behind. Despite some extremely poignant moments, however, the story is really too slight for this sort of running time.