National Film Registry: now includes Popeye, Elvis, Rin Tin

The inductees were:

1. "Ben-Hur" (1959)

2. "The Blue Bird" (1918)

3. "A Bronx Morning" (1931)

4. "Clash of the Wolves" (1925)

5. "The Court Jester" (1956)

6. "D.O.A." (1950)

7. "Daughters of the Dust" (1991)

8. "Duck and Cover" (1951)

9. "Empire" (1964)

10. "Enter the Dragon" (1973)

11. "Eraserhead" (1978)

12. "Garlic Is as Good as Ten Mothers" (1980)

13. "Going My Way" (1944)

14. "Jailhouse Rock" (1957)

15. "Kannapolis, NC" (1941)

16. "Lady Helen's Escapade" (1909)

17. "The Nutty Professor" (1963)

18. "OffOn" (1968)

19. "Popeye the Sailor Meets Sinbad the Sailor" (1936)

20. "Pups Is Pups" ("Our Gang") (1930)

21. "Schindler's List" (1993)

22. "Seven Brides for Seven Brothers" (1954)

23. "Swing Time" (1936)

24. "There It Is" (1928)

25. "Unforgiven" (1992)

Thanks for posting this, Mr Stillwater. An impressive list.

"The Nutty Professor"? hmmmmm.... Jerry Lewis does nothing for me.

Some very fine inclusions in that list, though. Is Jailhhouse Rock the only Elvis movie now included in the list? Seems to me he had some better films than that.

Here's the list of the other 375goto.

And remember this isn't a 'Best of' list - can't say that I am that enamoured with all of them.

Just as with the debate on the thread about the Oscars selections over the years, I don't think one can expect to be enamoured with all the selections in a list, this one, the critic's selections, the audience selections (IMDb's list), or a panel (AFI). If I put down my list I'd expect there would be films on it that others would turn their noses up at and it wouldn't bother me in the least. Many films are likely selected because of historical significance -- the head of the list displays that! "Abbott and Costello Meet Frankenstein" may be the best of the pair's comedic outings but check out the Marx Brothers films on the list.

So much of these dissents about award or critically acclaimed films smacks of, "Well, if I were dictator of the film world, I certainly wouldn't pick that film!"

BTW these are films where public money is spent to preserve and/or restore, although the Ted Turners and Kinos of the world are privately already restoring films at a pretty good pace. Joe noted the restoration of "Battleship Potempkin" on another thread and Kino's recent restoration of "Metropolis" was a landmark. The meager inclusion of foreign films on the National Registry list is glaring and just another example of our nationalistic egoism.

I meant that a little tongue in cheek big blue fellah!

I can see that they all represent a particular moment in time/history that made an indelible impression and that needs to be kept alive (as it were).

I find the inclusion of BOTH the original 'Frankenstein' and 'Young Frankenstein' very pertinent. YF is a wonderful 70s homage to the earliest days of the talky cinema. And it is piss-funny, too.

Okay -- apologize for taking you literally!

"Young Frankenstein" was up at the top in the AFI list of best comedies and I have difficultly deciding whether it's number one of "Some Like It Hot" is number one. Since I would also consider "Sullivan's Travels" as a comedy, it could also be number one.

I could believe that the panel who decides what films are inducted pay close attention to the AFI selections and possibly some of the panelists are one-in-the-same.

Glancing briefly through the list, I didn't see a single foreign film. But then I'm not surprised that the National Film Registry would want to concentrate on American films.

There are some foreign language films like "Verbena Tragica" but I was being facetious. It doesn't say American Exclusive Film Registry. I'd have to do some exploring to see if the French film registry includes American films so it only remains as a question. Why shouldn't there be great foreign films on the list?

They've compromised at least somewhat by including "El Norte," produced by US/UK. Although I could see us annexing our past foe who we won our independence from, Tony Blair may draw the line there. I could find no UK films on the list.

Good question. I looked at the authorizing legislation for the film registry, and it never says anything about the list being restricted to American films. I'm sure, however, that the Library of Congress is focusing on American films, and with good reason. Other countries have done a good deal more to preserve their respective film heritages -- the restoration of "Metropolis," for instance, was a collaboration of the Friedrich Wilhelm Murnau Stiftung (a charitable trust), and various agencies of the German government. The US has its share of private film preservationists, such as the Eastman House, but the level of government support is , I think, below that of most western European nations.

It may be somewhere in the original Library of Congress legislation that only American works can be considered and "El Norte" is a small fudge.

I don't know about other countries being more diligent about preservation and restoration -- it's one of the primary focuses of AFI, albeit all domestic film production. The preservation and restoration of major American films like "Gone With the Wind" forged by Ted Turner and others is commendable and his own TCM has been responsible for preserving and restoring hundreds of classics -- their restoration of "She Wore a Yellow Ribbon" was incredible, being that it was nearly all filmed in Monument Valley. The channel also branched out to an extensive library of Italian cinema in recent years with the aid of Martin Scorcese. In fact, I find the restoration of "Metropolis," for instance, should have been something embarked on thirty years ago. I did see an excellent print at a science fiction convention in the late 50's and it even had some of the missing scenes. The print was provided by the USC film school as well as "The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari," also an excellent 35M print.

From the full National Film Registry list, here are some that I personally would recommend:

My Man Godfrey (1936)
Awful Truth, The (1937)
Life of Emile Zola, The (1937)
Destry Rides Again (1939)
Wizard of Oz, The (1939)
Bank Dick, The (1940)
It's a Wonderful Life (1946)
Abbott and Costello Meet Frankenstein (1948)
Day the Earth Stood Still, The (1951)
Shane (1953)
Vertigo (1958)
North by Northwest (1959)
Some Like It Hot (1959)
Psycho (1960)
How the West Was Won (1962)
Dr. Strangelove or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb (1963)
2001: A Space Odyssey (1968)
Planet of the Apes (1968)
Harold and Maude (1971)
Chinatown (1974)
Nashville (1975)
Outlaw Josey Wales, The (1976)
Annie Hall (1977)
Alien (1979)
Blade Runner (1982)

They just showed a restored hi-def 35mm version of "Abbot and Costello Meet Frankenstein" on the Film Fest Channel on VOOM. Although the ratio cuts off some of the top and bottom of the print, it was the best I've ever seen. Still a funny spoof on all the Universal monsters!

"2001" is still in processing for IMAX and due for release sometime in the next few years.

Thank God people have the sense to restore and preserve these old classics. When they're gone, they're gone for good.

There have been many films lost due to the old nitrate film which disintegrated. Hollywood made what they believed was mostly disposable entertainment but, then again, a film noir classic like "Detour" could have easily been lost. VOOM is going one step further in restriking films on 35MM with the best negative available for hi-def broadcast. The print of "The Big Country," "Z" and "Europa, Europa" of late are good examples. Very near pristine. They also have some really vintage documentaries including the one silent of the failed Scott expedition that are unbelievable.

BTW, Turner I believe was responsible for the restorations on "Citizen Kane." There's also a restoration of "The Magnificent Ambersons" but, of course, because the studio transgressed and sliced the film up without Welles' approval we will never see the completed film. I guess they believed it was too much of a downer to follow Somerset Maugham's original indictment of the automobile to the letter. Oh, well.