Silent film, released in 1927. It was directed by
Victor Fleming and written by
Lajos Biró and
Jules Furthman. No copies exist today, making it the only acting-
Oscar-winning
film to be completely
lost. German actor
Emil Jannings won a
Best Actor award for this
movie (and later for "
The Last Command," which is still around).
Jannings plays a
bank clerk who is assigned to deliver a
parcel to
Chicago. He is robbed while traveling by
train from
Milwaukee but is able to
kill one of the
robbers. Fearing that his actions will
devastate his
family, he switches identities with the dead robber, cutting himself off forever from his
loved ones. Eventually, he becomes a
beggar and is only able to catch brief
glimpses of his family through the window of their home. (Remade today, the
ending would feature a
tearful reconciliation,
explosions,
boobies, and
Pikachu)
Jannings' career in
Hollywood ended with the end of the
silent era. He returned to
Germany and starred in some films produced by the
Nazis. "The Way of All Flesh" was remade in 1940, but all that remains of the
original is five minutes of
footage.
Sources: http://www.filmthreat.com/Features.asp?File=FeaturesOne.inc&Id=441 and the Internet Movie Database (www.imdb.com)