Here is a definitive guide to 80 motion pictures that won awards from Hollywood's Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences from the years 1927 through 1939. Unlike other books on this subject, this superb reference provides not only reviews of the award-winners, but full cast and camera credits, release information and background details. This book also includes a number of films, such as "Love Finds Andy Hardy" (1938) which other so-called reference sources completely omit, even though the movie's star, Mickey Rooney, received a special award as "the best male juvenile of 1938."

all who enjoy Hollywood's most distinguished movies, including, of course, "Gone With the Wind", "The Adventures of Robin Hood", "It Happened One Night", "San Francisco","Lost Horizon", "Stagecoach", "Goodbye Mr Chips", "The Broadway Melody", "Charge of the Light Brigade", "Lives of a Bengal Lancer", "Little Women", "The Wizard of Oz", "Grand Hotel", etc., etc.

the detailed coverage of "Gone With the Wind", which extends over eleven fascinating pages of this large-format book.

the five-page coverage devoted to "Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde". I don't care to know that Fredric March won the Best Actor award, as I'm not a fan of horror films at all.

obtain DVDs of most of the movies detailed and described.

glad to be alive when all these films are again available for everyone to see and enjoy.

is extremely knowledgeable, yet shares his knowledge with interesting and often fascinating insight.

it far surpasses every other reference book on this subject.

Entitled "Intensive Guide to the Silver Screen", this review by Lionel Farrrell appeared in "The Newcastle Herald" shortly after the book was first published in England and Australia:

This book is one that all film buffs will not only greet with pleasure but will hasten to add to their reference library.
How comprehensive is the book? Add to complete cast and credit lists, the most exhaustive production notes. These latter include complete information on all literary sources, plus complete lists of remakes and sequels, release dates and title changes.
A useful but enjoyable feature in this survey of award-winners from 1927 through 1939, is that each entry not only provides details of the award itself but of the rival contenders. Selecting an example at random, we learn that Robert Donat, who won the award for Best Actor in 1939 for his performance in the title role of Goodbye Mr Chips, was challenged by Clark Gable, Sir Laurence Olivier, James Stewart, and Mickey Rooney (Mickey Rooney, would you believe?) for their roles in Gone With The Wind, Wuthering Heights, Mr Smith Goes To Washington and Babes in Arms respectively.
Of course Gone With The Wind is also included in this book. That film won most of the 1939 awards. Wuthering Heights, however, won the 1939 award for Best Photography, and therefore is also described in Reid’s book. And Reid notes that it was Wuthering Heights and not Gone With The Wind that the New York Film Critics jointly selected as the Best Motion Picture of 1939.
Would you believe Babes in Arms likewise has an honored place in Reid's book, even though it is generally omitted from similar accounts by other movie historians? The reason for its inclusion here is the Special Award (a miniature statuette) given to Judy Garland for "her outstanding performances as a screen juvenile in Babes in Arms and The Wizard of Oz."
Needless to say, The Wizard of Oz also figures in this excellent book, which goes to show just how comprehensive it actually is. Admittedly, there are exclusions as some award-winners like Glorious Betsy, The Dove and The Bridge of San Luis Rey are reportedly "lost". It's a pity they were not included anyway. In a future edition, if films like these are still numbered among the missing, perhaps the author could provide some details of their production and release.

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