“And The Oscar Goes To…” Features Great Moments from the Academy’s Archives

The countdown to the 2015 Academy Awards is almost over with the announcements scheduled for Sunday, February 22. In the meantime, the excitement over this year’s anticipated winners it growing with oscar.go.com being one of the sites that lets viewers pick guess who the winners will be.

But if you still can’t get enough of everything Oscar, Netflix is streaming the Turner Classic Movie documentary And the Oscar Goes To....

Tracing the history of the Academy Awards that began in 1927, the film introduces MGM head Louis B. Mayer, who along with other prominent industry leaders helped form the professional organization that hands out the coveted gold-plated statuettes each year.

The first ceremony took place on May 16, 1929 in the Roosevelt Hotel’s Blossom Room with 270 in attendance. Unlike today’s ceremony, the award winners were announced three months earlier. The sealed envelope system was initiated after the Los Angeles Times published a list of the winners before they were announced at the 1940 ceremony.

Along with the history lesson, the movie depicts many memorable moments—both humorous and poignant—from the Academy’s archives. Anjelica Huston narrates this 87-minute film that premiered on the opening night of TMC’s 31 Days of Oscar festival. Among the featured Oscar winners are Steven Spielberg, George Clooney, Helen Mirren, Ben Kingsley, Tom Hanks, Jon Voight (who appears in one interview with a very young Angelina Jolie), Elizabeth Taylor and others.

Award winners for technical achievements in art direction, editing, make-up, music, cinematography and costume design are also highlighted as is the show’s frequent host Billy Crystal.

Thanks to And the Oscar Goes To… Oscar watchers can relive all the best moments of the past while they wait for the cameras to roll on this year’s 87th Academy Awards.