The second Academy Awards narrowed down the categories to those we know today. I think this was a cogent move on the Academy's part, as expecting the public to differentiate between the two Best Picture winners and the two Best Director winners was asking too much.
Those interested are welcome to consult the Wikipedia article
on the second Academy Awards. What follow below are my thoughts on
the Outstanding Picture, Best Director, Best Actor, Best Actress and Best Cinematography winners.
The Oscar ceremony recognizing movies released between August 1, 1928 to July 31, 1929 was held in 1930.
1. Outstanding Picture: The Broadway Melody (1929)
Denied! Couldn't track down a copy of this one. There's a clip on YouTube, and judging by the subject matter that's as far as I'm willing to go. I'm not that into musicals, and I'd rather not pay for the privilege of watching it.
Considered by many to be the first complete musical, the contemporary critical assessment of The Broadway Melody was lukewarm. Modern reviewers have been even less kind to the picture, and its rating on sites such as Rotten Tomatoes is unsurprisingly low. In retrospect it seems to have been more of a technical achievement than an artistic one.
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2. Best Director: Frank Lloyd - The Divine Lady (1929)
The days of silent film might have been numbered, but this movie, which featured synchronized sound minus dialogue, still won Best Director. It's the story of Admiral Nelson's affair with a married woman during the Napoleonic Wars, and I'm guessing it won on both the strength of its battle scenes and the surprise hit song it introduced to the public.
Fun Fact: the star of this film, Corinne Griffith, invested in real estate in and around Beverly Hills and died one of the richest women in the world. During divorce proceedings in the 1960s, she claimed to not be Corinne Griffith, but rather Griffith's younger or twin sister, who took over the role of "Corinne Griffith" after the real Corinne Griffith died in 1920 or 1924. To this day no one has been able to either prove or falsify this claim.
3. Best Actor: Warner Baxter - In Old Arizona (1928)
The first feature-length "talkie." In Old Arizona is a lighthearted look at the Old West, with The Cisco Kid caught between a womanizing army sergeant and a duplicitous young woman. Nothing in this movie is especially authentic, and I can only assume that star Warner Baxter won the Oscar due to the fact that he could act and speak at the same time. He's definitely not bad in this movie, and some of the dialogue is clever, but I wasn't feeling "Oscar" here.
4. Best Actress: Mary Pickford - Coquette (1929)
Mary Pickford stars as a rather insincere Southern belle forced to choose between an earnest suitor and a jealous father. Is it just me, or is this the kind of role rarely offered to actresses now? Whatever the case, Pickford deserved her Oscar.
There is, by the way, a documentary about her on YouTube. By 1929 most of her career was behind her, but she'd be involved in the film industry up until the 1940s. Alongside Charlie Chaplin, D.W. Griffith and her then-husband Douglas Fairbanks, Pickford was one of the "united artists" who founded the production company of the same name.
5. Best Cinematography: Clyde De Vinna - White Shadows in the South Seas (1928)
Racial politics at work in the Marquesas. I suppose Clyde De Vinna won the Oscar for the underwater scenes featuring pearl divers. Overall this movie is very heavy-handed and I wouldn't recommend it.
6. Honorable Mention: Blackmail (1929)
Parting Thoughts
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