Which movie won the Academy Award for Best Unique and Artistic Picture?

Only one motion picture has ever won the award for Unique and Artistic Picture (Best Unique and Artistic Quality of Production). This was at the very first Academy Awards in 1929 and was an award designed to complement and equal the separate award for Outstanding Picture (now known as Best Picture). The winner of Unique and Artistic Picture was "Sunrise: A Song Of Two Humans" (1927) starring George O'Brien and Janet Gaynor, who also won the first Best Actress award. (It should not be confused with the 1926 Australian movie "Sunrise"). The award was discontinued after the first ceremony, which was hosted by Douglas Fairbanks and took place on May 16 1929 at the Hollywood Roosevelt Hotel (although the winners were announced three months earlier).

The movie was directed by F. W. Murnau who used the new Fox Movietone Sound on Film system which meant it had a synchronized soundtrack and sound effects. The music included Gounod's "Funeral March of a Marionette" (used as the theme for "Alfred Hitchcock Presents"). Unfortunately it arrived in theatres within a month or so of the Jazz Singer, and although having a sound track, it suffered in the box office from having no dialogue.

The movie is widely considered to be a masterpiece and has even been described as the greatest silent film. It has been preserved in the National Film Register in 1989 and the AFI in 2007 includes it as No. 82 on the top 100 films. Directors have placed it at No. 22.