National Film Registry

[Buttery Jeb]

Some absolutely terrible selections this year, particularly Shrek. Hurt Locker and The Dark Knight aren't "bad" films per say, but Nolan already has a title (the more deserving Memento) represented in the Registry, and I do wish they'd picked a more left-field choice from Bigelow like Near Dark. It is the only narrative film about the "War on Terror" to be in the registry, though.

Still no films from the likes of Walter Hill, Chris Smith, Jamaa Fanaka, Ondi Timoner, or Tim Burton (whose two Batman works I
would have chosen over Dark Knight). How the fuck is Stop Making Sense still not there?

Another year, another class without the Patterson-Gimlin Film getting added.

[beamish14]

Some absolutely terrible selections this year, particularly Shrek. Hurt Locker and The Dark Knight aren't "bad" films per say, but Nolan already has a title (the more deserving Memento) represented in the Registry, and I do wish they'd picked a more left-field choice from Bigelow like Near Dark. It is the only narrative film about the "War on Terror" to be in the registry, though.

Still no films from the likes of Walter Hill, Chris Smith, Jamaa Fanaka, Ondi Timoner, or Tim Burton (whose two Batman works I
would have chosen over Dark Knight). How the fuck is Stop Making Sense still not there?

Another year, another class without the Patterson-Gimlin Film getting added.

Hey, if the Zapruder film can get in...

[whaleallright]

Folks, they always add a bunch of crowd-pleasers to get headlines.

[hearthesilence]

Some absolutely terrible selections this year.

The Hurt Locker is a very deserving selection, as is A Clockwork Orange, but nearly every other selection listed in that opening paragraph is abysmally shitty. (With the bloated mediocrity The Blues Brothers, John Landis now has THREE selections in the registry. Think of all the great artists who have NONE.) The Joy Luck Club and Lillies of the Field at least make cultural sense, but I really wish they were much better films.

EDIT: I just realized I mistook Preminger's The Man With the Golden Arm for a much worse film. Preminger's film is actually great and deserving too.

[beamish14]

Some absolutely terrible selections this year.

The Hurt Locker is a very deserving selection, as is A Clockwork Orange, but nearly every other selection listed in that opening paragraph is abysmally shitty. (With the bloated mediocrity The Blues Brothers, John Landis now has THREE selections in the registry. Think of all the great artists who have NONE.) The Joy Luck Club and Lillies of the Field at least make cultural sense, but I really wish they were much better films.

EDIT: I just realized I mistook Preminger's The Man With the Golden Arm for a much worse film. Preminger's film is actually great and deserving too.

Great points. I love that Wayne Wang's Chan is Missing was included some years back, but Joy Luck Club just isn't the greatest adaptation.
Landis is the only director with a music video in it!

I wonder sometimes how they define an "American" film-is A Clockwork Orange truly one? Is Brazil? (which was made with Israeli money
and its expat director no longer even has an American passport)

[hearthesilence]

Landis is the only director with a music video in it!

I wonder sometimes how they define an "American" film-is A Clockwork Orange truly one? Is Brazil? (which was made with Israeli money
and its expat director no longer even has an American passport)

I guess in Landis's defense, that would be the one music video to put in, but jesus, there are much better selections that are probably in more dire need of protection and preservation than Animal House and the f-ing Blues Brothers.

What is "American" came up many times when the AFI started releasing their dubious lists, and it's really slipshod. I mean Lawrence of Arabia made both the registry and a few AFI lists, but it's never seemed like anything but a great example of British cinema. I guess if an American studio is the primary distributor, then a commercial film can be considered American.

[Gregory]

I'm still unaware of any actual stakes for any film being included or not in the Registry. Unless I'm mistaken, it doesn't mean anything in terms of preservation.
And are people really likely to go and watch the one surviving reel of Bread by Ida May Park because it was inducted? It has 10 votes on IMDb.

[Gregory]

Another year, another class without the Patterson-Gimlin Film getting added.

Hey, if the Zapruder film can get in...

This year was the fiftieth anniversary of the infamous incident of a whale carcass being blown to smithereens with dynamite, and for the occasion the Oregon Historical Society arranged for a 4K transfer of the news footage, which was posted online in high-def, so this would've been a great year to honor that, if it counted as a "film."

[hearthesilence]

There was an actually a Mental Floss article that goes into that:

According to Steve Leggett, program coordinator for the National Film Preservation Board, selection implores the Library of Congress to get the best possible copy of the film in its original format and store it in their vaults at the National Audio-Visual Conservation Center in Culpeper, Virginia. This ensures the film will be available to future generations.

For Hollywood movies, the process is usually pretty easy. “We simply ask the studio to donate a copy,” Leggett told Mental Floss in 2015. In some cases, that isn’t even necessary. The Library of Congress has more than 1 million films on file, many of them sent by studios or filmmakers for the sake of copyright registry. When the original Star Wars was selected in 1989, Leggett says, congressional librarians simply checked that the 35 millimeter print submitted with Lucasfilm’s copyright application was in good shape. It was, so no further action was needed.

For older and more esoteric selections like newsreels, silent films, documentaries, and early technical achievements in filmmaking, Leggett says the library often seeks out a copy from the community of preservationists. Universities, private foundations, and hobbyists that preserve old films might get a call from the Library of Congress if they have a good copy of a National Film Registry selection. In rare cases, the library will barter for the film, using redundant materials on its shelves. Other times, it will make a copy or pay the archivist to make a new 35 millimeter copy for them. The Culpeper facility stores nitrate prints, the original film stock for many early movies, in specialty lockers because the material is highly volatile and flammable.

Silent films can be tricky because studios often released, revised, and then re-released versions of the film. When one is selected, Library of Congress archivists collect as many aspects and versions of the film as they can, which might mean contacting several studios and archivists.

Of particular challenge in 2015 was the induction of Symbiopsychotaxiplasm: Take One, William Greaves’s quasi-documentary of his 1968 theatrical project staged in Central Park. The film was screened often through the years, as Greaves gained a cult following. It was released on DVD in 2006, but the National Film Preservation Act specified that the library should seek a copy in the original format, which it didn’t have. Leggett said Greaves’s 1968 original cut was “lost,” but the library worked with the late filmmaker's estate to create a new 35 millimeter version that resembled it.

[beamish14]

This year's crop of questionable selctions. Cooley High and Stop Making Sense both should have been included years ago. I'm very happy to see Pink Flamingos, and including it with A Nightmare on Elm Street and The Fellowship of the Ring makes New Line Cinema the year's undisputed "winner", although you could argue that LOTR killed what made them so special. No independent animated films, which is a big disappointment. Selena is a pleasant surprise, although I don't remember being extremely smitten with it when it came out. Her story and music are still enormous deals, though, and it certainly meets the Registry's stated objectives

Man, Joe Dante, Terry Gilliam, and Tim Burton just can't catch a break with them!

[captveg]

How the fuck is Stop Making Sense still not there?

2021 also asked and finally answered.

Nice to see Flowers and Trees added. Not only is it a great example of a thematic Silly Symphony short, it's also the first film ever released that was shot with the Three-Strip Technicolor process, and the first animated film to win an Oscar.

Man, Joe Dante, Terry Gilliam, and Tim Burton just can't catch a break with them!

Here's hoping that when they finally get a Burton film in it's for one of his two best - Ed Wood or Pee-wee's Big Adventure

[hearthesilence]

The Richard Pryor film is a favorite, I'm glad that made it - it's the first one that comes to mind if I had to pick a film documenting a stand-up comic performance.

[beamish14]

How the fuck is Stop Making Sense still not there?

2021 also asked and finally answered.

Nice to see Flowers and Trees added. Not only is it a great example of a thematic Silly Symphony short, it's also the first film ever released that was shot with the Three-Strip Technicolor process, and the first animated film to win an Oscar.

Man, Joe Dante, Terry Gilliam, and Tim Burton just can't catch a break with them!

Here's hoping that when they finally get a Burton film in it's for one of his two best - Ed Wood or Pee-wee's Big Adventure

I'd be very pleased with either of those films, but Vincent would make me ecstatic. I'd love to see Henry Selick's student film Seepage get in as well.

I realized that Brian De Palma doesn't have a single title in the Registry, either, which is just baffling.

[hearthesilence]

I'm surprised Batman isn't in. The movie is mediocre, I knew that even when I was still an avid comic reader (and watched it anyway over and over again because superhero movies were all I cared about at that age), but wasn't Batmania like ridiculous, not to mention everything it kicked off in terms of comic book movies? It's not something I particularly care for anymore, but you have to admit that's a pretty big example of cultural impact.

But I have to pick ones based on merit, it would be Beetlejuice first, then maybe Edward Scissorhands or The Nightmare Before Christmas.

[beamish14]

I say it each year, but god, they are really making some uninspired and frustrating choices. Do they no longer have any committee members who can champion some independent and pre-sound animated titles? Goddamn Iron Man when they still don’t have anything from Tim Burton? Super Fly and no recognition ever for Jamaa Fanaka (Emma Mae, Welcome Home, Brother Charles, etc.). They finally got a De Palma, but not Hi, Mom!. A THIRD film from Rob Reiner. This is just ridiculous.

[MongooseCmr]

When Harry Met Sally is their first Nora Ephron, not a Rob Reiner (who counts his movies as auteurist entries anyway?)

Some real egg on their face no having Mulholland Drive in after the S&S poll. Same with Blue Velvet, I think the two American films eligible on the poll

[beamish14]

When Harry Met Sally is their first Nora Ephron, not a Rob Reiner (who counts his movies as auteurist entries anyway?)

Some real egg on their face no having Mulholland Drive in after the S&S poll. Same with Blue Velvet, I think the two American films eligible on the poll

I think many would count Reiner as being a significant filmmaker, at least with the work he produced between 1984 and 1992. His company Castle Rock Entertainment also spawned Seinfeld and The Shawshank Redemption. Lynch currently has two other titles in the Registry at least

[hearthesilence]

I say it each year, but god, they are really making some uninspired and frustrating choices. Do they no longer have any committee members who can champion some independent and pre-sound animated titles? Goddamn Iron Man when they still don’t have anything from Tim Burton? Super Fly and no recognition ever for Jamaa Fanaka (Emma Mae, Welcome Home, Brother Charles, etc.). They finally got a De Palma, but not Hi, Mom!. A THIRD film from Rob Reiner. This is just ridiculous.

Sweet Jesus, a pretty underwhelming announcement. If they wanted a popular and influential comic book film, Batman (1989) would have been preferable over Iron Man - not my favorite Burton film but at least it would've been something rather than nothing.

Three picks for Rob Reiner is as baffling as his Chaplin Award from Lincoln Center. Sorry, but there's a long line of still-living filmmakers who have directed much better work deserving of recognition.

It's not a complete disappointment - I am glad to see Hairspray, Pariah and Scorpio Rising, and I'm guessing there are more gems in there that I haven't seen yet.

[senseabove]

Plus Tongues Untied and Betty Tells Her Story, which more folks should see and is on the Criterion Channel right now.

[HinkyDinkyTruesmith]

"Behind Every Good Man” (1967)" is also an important selection; want to second the appreciation for Betty Tells Her Story, maybe the greatest short film I've ever seen.

[beamish14]

I am definitely happy to see John Waters get some love, and I figured that if he ever got the stamp of approval from these arbiters of culture that it would be for that one. It was a childhood favorite and I don’t really revisit it, but it probably left his biggest mark.

Frederick Wiseman deserves love and attention, and Titticut is obviously a classic, but the Library of Congress has already restored it. I just wish they would highlight a documentarian like Ondi Timoner or Terry Zwigoff

I just again can’t believe that Rob Reiner has 3 films and his father doesn’t have one. Surely The Jerk is probably more deserving than When Harry Met Sally

[MongooseCmr]

Even if you don’t like it, it’s the defining romantic comedy of the last 30 years. The definition of “culturally significant” and crazy it wasn’t in before.

[therewillbeblus]

Even if you don’t like it, it’s the defining romantic comedy of the last 30 years. The definition of “culturally significant” and crazy it wasn’t in before.

Agreed, plus it's great. I felt mixed on it as a kid, but since then I've grown to admire how it engages its audience on an adult-level and only appreciate it more with age

[beamish14]

This year’s crop again skews towards too much towards Hollywood films that aren’t in need of preservation, although it is nice to see people like Henry Selick, Tim Burton, and Susan Seidelman get in. There are so many independent American films that could use the boost from this, but I am pleased with the amazing Passing Through getting in, and Maya Lin: A Strong, Clear Vision

[dadaistnun]

Glad to see Queen of Diamonds make it - I've only begun exploring Menkes's films this year and had really dug everything I've watched so far.