★ = recommended, ♥ = personal favorite

Sunrise: A Song of Two Humans (1927) ♥

• starring George O'Brien, Janet Gaynor, Margaret Livingston
• directed by F.W. Murnau
• 94-95 minutes, black-and-white
• Won 3/4 Oscars, including Best Actress (Gaynor) and Best Cinematography
  • Silent film
  • Won Best Picture for "Unique and Artistic Production" and is the only film to win this; therefore it's not an official Best Picture winner.

Wings (1927) ★

• starring Clara Bow, Charles "Buddy" Rogers, Richard Arlen, Jobyna Ralston
• directed by William A. Wellman
• 144 minutes, black-and-white
• Won 2/2 Oscars
  • Silent film
  • Gary Cooper makes a two-minute cameo.

The Broadway Melody (1929)

• starring Charles King, Anita Page, Bessie Love, Jed Prouty
• directed by Harry Beaumont
• 100 minutes, black-and-white
• Won 1/3 Oscars

All Quiet on the Western Front (1930) ★

• starring Louis Wolheim, Lew Ayres
• directed by Lewis Milestone
• 136-152 minutes, black-and-white
• Won 2/4 Oscars, including Best Director

Cimarron (1931)

• starring Richard Dix, Irene Dunne
• directed by Wesley Ruggles
• 123-124 minutes, black-and-white
• Won 3/7 Oscars, including Best Screenplay

Grand Hotel (1932) ★

• starring Greta Garbo, John Barrymore, Joan Crawford, Wallace Beery, Lionel Barrymore, Lewis Stone, Jean Hersholt
• directed by Edmund Goulding
• 112 minutes, black-and-white
• Won 1/1 Oscar
  • The only Best Picture winner not to be nominated for any other Academy Awards.

Cavalcade (1933)

• starring Diana Wynyard, Clive Brook, Una O'Connor, Herbert Mundin
• directed by Frank Lloyd
• 110-112 minutes, black-and-white
• Won 3/4 Oscars, including Best Director

It Happened One Night (1934) ♥

• starring Clark Gable, Claudette Colbert
• directed by Frank Capra
• 105 minutes, black-and-white
• Won 5/5 Oscars, including Best Actor (Gable), Best Actress (Colbert), Best Director and Best Screenplay
  • The first film to win the Oscar "grand slam" (Best Picture, Best Actor, Best Actress, Best Director, Best Screenplay).

Mutiny on the Bounty (1935) ★

• starring Charles Laughton, Clark Gable, Franchot Tone
• directed by Frank Lloyd
• 132 minutes, black-and-white
• Won 1/8 Oscars
  • The only film in Oscar history that had three nominees for Best Actor. Because of this, the Academy introduced the Best Supporting Actor and Best Supporting Actress categories so it wouldn't happen again.

The Great Ziegfeld (1936)

• starring William Powell, Myrna Loy, Luise Rainer
• directed by Robert Z. Leonard
• 176-177 minutes, black-and-white
• Won 3/7 Oscars, including Best Actress (Rainer)
  • The fourth of fourteen films pairing William Powell and Myrna Loy.

The Life of Emile Zola (1937) ★

• starring Paul Muni, Gloria Holden, Gale Sondergaard, Joseph Schildkraut
• directed by William Dieterle
• 116 minutes, black-and-white
• Won 3/10 Oscars, including Best Supporting Actor (Schildkraut) and Best Screenplay