(Films released from August 1, 1927 through August 1, 1928 were eligible.)
The nominees were ...
- Richard Barthelmess in The Noose and The Patent Leather Kid
- Emil Jannings in The Last Command and The Way of All Flesh
... when they should have been ...
And the Oscar went to ...
Emil Jannings in The Last Command and The Way of All Flesh. After he had established a career in Germany and gained acclaim as one of the greatest film actors in F.W. Murnau's 1924 The Last Laugh, Paramount signed Jannings to a contract in 1927. But the arrival of sound made it impossible for Jannings, with his thick German accent, to have a career in Hollywood film, and he was gone even before it was announced that he had won the first ever Oscar for acting. He made bad luck worse when he became a supporter of the Nazis, effectively ending his international career. If he is remembered at all today, other than as the first Oscar winner, it's for his performance opposite Marlene Dietrich in 1930's The Blue Angel.
... when it should have gone to ...
 |
| Buster Keaton in Steamboat Bill, Jr. |
You know what's about to happen here: The façade of the building behind Keaton is about to collapse, and the attic window will fall neatly around him, sparing his life, in only one of the potentially fatal stunts that Keaton performed in his long career. Keaton was one of the great comic actors who crafted films so brilliant that they are among the handful of silent movies that still seem fresh and alive today. Thirty-two years later, the Academy would give Keaton an honorary Oscar, but because of its persistent undervaluing of comedy, his achievement went unnoticed in the year when it was eligible for a competitive award.
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