The U.S.S.R.-produced War and Peace — apparently based on a book written by some Russian dude — was released in four parts in its initial Motherland release. The film, with its seven-hour-plus running time, found more patient audiences in the West (helped, no doubt, by the ample posteriors of decadent capitalists), winning both a Golden Globe and Academy Award for Best Foreign-Language Film. (The accompanying image is not from the Russian film, but from the 1956 Hollywood version, starring Audrey Hepburn, which told the story in a relatively brisk 208 minutes.)
Longest Film (Running Time) to Win Best Picture: 238 Minutes 1939’s Gone with the Wind, and including non-screen music (overture, entr’acte, and exit) and a 15-minute intermission
Shortest Film (Running Time) to Win Best Picture: 94 Minutes 1955’s Marty