Tag: National Film Registry

The Breakfast Club rounds out this year’s surprising National Film Registry additions

Yesterday, the Library of Congress named 25 new films to add to the National Film Registry, a permanent archive of the most “culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant” American films. As usual, the selections span almost a century of film, including drama, horror, comedies, documentaries, and animation. We’re pleasantly surprised by some of the popular movies … Continue reading “The Breakfast Club rounds out this year’s surprising National Film Registry additions”

Yesterday, the Library of Congress named 25 new films to add to the National Film Registry, a permanent archive of the most “culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant” American films. As usual, the selections span almost a century of film, including drama, horror, comedies, documentaries, and animation.

We’re pleasantly surprised by some of the popular movies added this year. The Lion King was inevitable given its legendary stature in animation, but The Breakfast Club, The Princess Bride, and Who Framed Roger Rabbit? are unexpected newcomers. Deadline‘s write-up has good descriptions of each movie, including a breakdown of the unusual history behind the 1903 short Life of an American Fireman.

The National Film Registry will take care of these movies for generations hundreds of years from now, but if you just want to watch them right now, we have copies of most everything on this list available for checkout. In fact, you can watch Life of an American Fireman via streaming right now!

National Film Registry’s 2015 picks include Top Gun and sneezing

Every year, the National Film Registry in the Library of Congress picks 25 notable films for permanent preservation, ensuring that everyone will have long-term access to these works. Every year includes a mixture of historical items and more current movies, like last year’s selection of Ferris Bueller’s Day Off and the first film with an … Continue reading “National Film Registry’s 2015 picks include Top Gun and sneezing”

Every year, the National Film Registry in the Library of Congress picks 25 notable films for permanent preservation, ensuring that everyone will have long-term access to these works. Every year includes a mixture of historical items and more current movies, like last year’s selection of Ferris Bueller’s Day Off and the first film with an all-black cast.

For 2015, the National Film Registry once again cast a wide net. Ghostbusters, L.A. Confidential, The Shawshank Redemption, and Top Gun are surely the most well-known, but as usual, the odder choices are probably the most exciting. Of great interest is the Spanish language version of Dracula, produced alongside the 1931 Bela Lugosi classic using the same scripts, sets, and costumes. Other highlights include the New Deal working-class ode Our Daily Bread and an early educational film about menstruation that still had to sanitize its contents.

And finally, at long last, the National Film Registry is preserving Edison Kinetoscopic Record of a Sneeze (above), the first copyrighted film and the subject of many running jokes about the subject matter of early video recordings. It may be the most famous sneeze in history – though it’s not clear how you’d measure that.

The AU Library has copies of most every film in the Library of Congress’s 2015 list, though several are included on compilation discs with other early cinema. Record of a Sneeze is a rare case where you might be better served with a GIF.

Ferris Bueller and The Dude join this year’s National Film Registry list

While everyone was out over break, the Library of Congress continued tradition by adding 25 new titles to its permanent archives in the National Film Registry. Each year, the National Film Preservation Board selects films that it deems “culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant” for preservation for future generations. It’s an eclectic collection that spans decades … Continue reading “Ferris Bueller and The Dude join this year’s National Film Registry list”

While everyone was out over break, the Library of Congress continued tradition by adding 25 new titles to its permanent archives in the National Film Registry. Each year, the National Film Preservation Board selects films that it deems “culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant” for preservation for future generations. It’s an eclectic collection that spans decades and genres, and this year’s additions are similarly well-rounded.

The highest-profile films in the NFR’s latest wave include stoner-bowling-mystery-comedy The Big Lebowski, World War II drama Saving Private Ryan, 80s teen wish fulfillment vehicle Ferris Bueller’s Day Off, and Pixar’s first ever short, Luxo Jr. But there are also odder gems beyond that, like 13 Lakes, a long-take documentary about America’s lakes, and the untitled Bert Williams Lime Kiln Club Field Day, the first film to feature an all-black cast.

You certainly can’t fault the National Film Preservation Board for picking some interesting films. If you’d like to catch up on what the government now considers essential, the following recently selected films are also in our collection:

The Big Lebowski – HU DVD 25
Into the Arms of Strangers – DVD 305
Little Big Man – HU DVD 650
Saving Private Ryan – HU DVD 1313
Luxo Jr. – HU DVD 3411
Rosemary’s Baby – HU DVD  5783
Down Argentine Way – HU DVD 6094
Ferris Bueller’s Day Off – HU DVD 6126
Rio Bravo – HU DVD 7326
Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory – HU DVD 10240
The Gang’s All Here – MUSIC LIBRARY DVD 300

Today’s film oddity: The Kidnappers Foil

Here’s a piece of film history so unusual that it must be shared. For forty years, con artist and filmmaker Melton Barker traveled across the United States, roping in small towns to produce a short film titled The Kidnappers Foil that would star local children and premiere in a local theater. As you could imagine, … Continue reading “Today’s film oddity: The Kidnappers Foil”

Here’s a piece of film history so unusual that it must be shared.

For forty years, con artist and filmmaker Melton Barker traveled across the United States, roping in small towns to produce a short film titled The Kidnappers Foil that would star local children and premiere in a local theater. As you could imagine, Barker would leave town with the profits as soon as the film finished production, a scheme that’s distractingly similar to the one from The Music Man. But unlike Harold Hill, Barker left behind a finished product: each town would have a finished 20-minute film, produced on-location.

It took a while for people to put the pieces together nationwide, but it is now apparent that Barker produced The Kidnappers Foil at least 178 times, each version largely unchanged from the original in the 1930s. The Texas Archive of the Moving Image sees value in this strange piece of film arcana and has opened an archive for all remaining existing copies as part of a larger collection on “itinerant films” made by traveling producers. The organization has thus far released 11 versions to watch online, dating back from 1938. The Library of Congress is doing its part too, having added at least one version of The Kidnappers Foil to the National Film Registry last year.

The Kidnappers Foil isn’t a particularly good movie, so it’s not worth going out of your way to watch. Yet it’s undeniably part of America’s rich, weird film history.

National Film Registry adds new films for 2012

The National Film Registry, a subset of the Library of Congress, preserves a collection of American films deemed culturally or historically significant. Each year, the NFR adds 25 new films to their archives, ranging from major recent hits to silent shorts from the 19th century. The Library of Congress has released this year’s batch, and … Continue reading “National Film Registry adds new films for 2012”

The National Film Registry, a subset of the Library of Congress, preserves a collection of American films deemed culturally or historically significant. Each year, the NFR adds 25 new films to their archives, ranging from major recent hits to silent shorts from the 19th century.

The Library of Congress has released this year’s batch, and their diversity streak continues. New inductees include The Matrix, A Christmas Story, a silent adaptation of Uncle Tom’s Cabin, a documentary about the 1939 World’s Fair, and an early experimental color film test. See the National Film Registry for the rationale behind their picks, or read on for a full list…