Librarian of Congress Carla Hayden announced today the annual selection
of 25 of America’s most influential motion pictures to be inducted into
the National Film Registry of the Library of Congress because of their
cultural, historic and aesthetic importance to the nation’s film
heritage. These films range from Stanley Kubrick’s “The Shining” and
Paul Newman’s unforgettable “Hud” to the opulent musical “My Fair Lady”
and the rocking sounds of “Monterey Pop.” Selection to the registry will
help ensure that these films will be preserved for all time. This year’s films span 107 years, from 1898 to 2005. They include
blockbusters, documentaries, silent movies, animation and independent
films. The 2018 selections bring the number of films in the registry to
750, which is a small fraction of the Library’s vast moving-image
collection of 1.3 million.
Among this year’s selections are Alfred Hitchcock’s 1940 thriller
“Rebecca”; film noir classics “Leave Her to Heaven” (1945) and “The Lady
From Shanghai” (1947), which was directed by Orson Welles; Disney’s
1950 animation “Cinderella”; “Days of Wine and Roses,” Blake Edwards’
uncompromising commentary about alcoholism (1962); James L. Brooks’ 1987
treatise on the tumultuous world of television news, “Broadcast News”
and Steven Spielberg’s groundbreaking 1993 tale about the rebirth of
dinosaurs, “Jurassic Park.”
Two contemporary Western dramas
headline this year’s list: the 1961 “One-Eyed Jacks,” Marlon Brando’s
only directorial endeavor, and Ang Lee’s critically acclaimed “Brokeback
Mountain.” Released in 2005, “Brokeback Mountain” also has the
distinction of becoming the newest film on the registry while the 1891
“Newark Athlete” actuality is the oldest.
2018 National Film Registry (alphabetical order)
Bad Day at Black Rock (1955)Though only 81
minutes in length, “Bad Day” packs a punch. Spencer Tracy stars as
Macreedy, a one-armed man who arrives unexpectedly one day at the sleepy
desert town of Black Rock. He is just as tight-lipped at first about
the reason for his visit as the residents of Black Rock are about the
details of their town. However, when Macreedy announces that he is
looking for a former Japanese-American Black Rock resident named Komoko,
town skeletons suddenly burst into the open. In addition to Tracy, the
standout cast includes Robert Ryan, Anne Francis, Lee Marvin, Ernest
Borgnine and Dean Jagger. Director John Sturges displays the western
landscape to great advantage in this CinemaScope production.
Broadcast News (1987) James
L. Brooks wrote, produced and directed this comedy set in the
fast-paced, tumultuous world of television news. Shot mostly in dozens
of locations around the Washington, D.C. area, the film stars Holly
Hunter, William Hurt and Albert Brooks. Brooks makes the most of his
everyman persona serving as Holly Hunter’s romantic back-up plan while
she pursues the handsome but vacuous Hurt. Against the backdrop of
broadcast journalism (and various debates about journalist ethics), a
grown-up romantic comedy plays out in a smart, savvy and fluff-free
story whose humor is matched only by its honesty.
Brokeback Mountain (2005)“Brokeback
Mountain,” a contemporary Western drama that won the Academy Award for
best screenplay (by Larry McMurtry and Diana Ossana) and Golden Globe
awards for best drama, director (Ang Lee) and screenplay, depicts a
secret and tragic love affair between two closeted gay ranch hands. They
furtively pursue a 20-year relationship despite marriages and
parenthood until one of them dies violently, reportedly by accident, but
possibly, as the surviving lover fears, in a brutal attack. Annie
Proulx, the Pulitzer Prize-winning author of the short story upon which
the film was based, described it as “a story of destructive rural
homophobia.” Haunting in its unsentimental depiction of longing,
lonesomeness, pretense, sexual repression and ultimately love,
“Brokeback Mountain” features Heath Ledger’s remarkable performance that
conveys a lifetime of self-torment through a pained demeanor, near
inarticulate speech and constricted, lugubrious movements. In his
review, Newsweek’s David Ansen wrotes that the film was “a watershed in
mainstream movies, the first gay love story with A-list Hollywood
stars.” “Brokeback Mountain” has become an enduring classic.
Cinderella (1950)It
would take the enchanted magic of Walt Disney and his extraordinary
team to revitalize a story as old as Cinderella. Yet, in 1950, Disney
and his animators did just that with this version of the classic tale.
Sparkling songs, high-production value and bright voice performances
have made this film a classic from its premiere. Though often told and
repeated across all types of media, Disney’s lovely take has become the
definitive version of this classic story about a girl, a prince and a
single glass slipper. Breathtaking animation fills every scene,
including what was reportedly Walt Disney’s favorite of all Disney
animation sequences: the fairy godmother transforming Cinderella’s
“rags” into an exquisite gown and glass slippers.
Days of Wine and Roses (1962) “Days
of Wine and Roses” marked another in a series of Hollywood classics on
the touchy subject of alcoholism. Previous examples on the theme include
“The Lost Weekend” and “Come Back, Little Sheba.” Though his career
prior to “Days” had been noted for a deft touch in light comedy, in this
Academy Award-nominated performance, Jack Lemmon plays a hard-drinking
San Francisco public-relations man who drags his wife Lee Remick into
the horrific descent into alcoholism. Director Blake Edwards pulls no
punches in this uncompromisingly bleak film. Henry Mancini composed the
moving score, best remembered for the title song he and Johnny Mercer
wrote, which won an Academy Award for best original song.
Dixon-Wanamaker Expedition to Crow Agency (1908)The
original nitrate footage that comprises the 1908 “Dixon-Wanamaker
Expedition to Crow Agency” was discovered in a Montana antique store in
1982 and subsequently donated to the Human Studies Film Archives,
Smithsonian Institution. It is the only known surviving film footage
from the 1908 Rodman Wanamaker-sponsored expedition to record American
Indian life in the west, filmed and produced both for an educational
screening at Wanamaker’s department store in Philadelphia and to
document what Wanamaker and photographer Joseph K. Dixon considered a
“vanishing race.” Dixon and his son Roland shot motion picture film as
well as thousands of photographs (most of the photographs are archived
at Indiana University). This film captures life on Crow Agency, Crow
Fair and a recreation of the Battle of Little Big Horn featuring four of
Custer’s Crow scouts. Films from later Wanamaker expeditions are
archived at the National Archives and the American Museum of Natural
History. The original film was photochemically preserved at Cinema Arts
in 1983.
Eve's Bayou (1997)
Written and directed by Kasi Lemmons and co-produced by co-star Samuel
L. Jackson, “Eve’s Bayou” proved one of the indie surprises of the
1990s. The film tells a Southern gothic tale about a 10-year-old
African-American girl who, during one long, hot Louisiana summer in
1962, discovers some harsh truths beneath her genteel family’s fragile
façade. The film’s standout cast includes Jackson, Lynn Whitfield, Debbi
Morgan, Diahann Carroll, Lisa Nicole Carson, Branford Marsalis and the
remarkable Jurnee Smollett, who plays the lead. The tag line of this
film was very apropos: “The secrets that hold us together can also tear
us apart.”
The Girl Without a Soul (1917)George
Eastman Museum founding film curator James Card was a passionate
devotee of silent film director John H. Collins’ work. It is through his
influence that the museum is the principal repository of the director’s
few extant films. As the expert on Collins’ legacy, the museum said he
is “one of the great ‘What if…?’ figures of American cinema—a
brilliantly creative filmmaker who went from being a costume department
assistant to a major director within four short years, before dying at
the age of 31 in the 1918 influenza pandemic. Collins’ films show both a
subtle understanding of human nature and often breathtakingly daring
cinematography and editing. The ‘Girl Without a Soul’ stars Viola Dana
(to whom Collins was married) in a dual role as twin sisters, one of
whom is a gifted violinist, and the other, a deeply troubled girl
jealous of her sister’s abilities and the love bestowed upon her by
their violinmaker father. This jealousy and the violinist sister’s
unworldliness lead both into turbulent moral conflict, which takes
considerable fortitude from both to overcome.” “The Girl Without a Soul”
has been preserved by George Eastman Museum.
Hair Piece: A Film for Nappy-Headed People (1984)“Hair
Piece” is an insightful and funny short animated film examining the
problems that African-American women have with their hair. Generally
considered the first black woman animator, director Ayoka Chenzira was a
key figure in the development of African-American filmmakers in the
1980s through her own films and work to expand opportunities for others.
Writing in the New York Times, critic Janet Maslin lauded this
eccentric yet jubilant film. She notes the narrator “tells of everything
from the difficulty of keeping a wig on straight to the way in which
Vaseline could make a woman's hair ''sound like the man in ‘The Fly’
saying ‘Help me!’”
Hearts and Minds (1974)Director
Peter Davis describes his Academy Award-winning documentary “Hearts and
Minds” (1974) as “an attempt to examine why we went to Vietnam, what we
did there and what the experience did to us.” Compared by critics at
the time to Marcel Ophuls’ acclaimed documentary “The Sorrow and the
Pity” (1971), “Hearts and Minds,” similarly addressed the wartime
effects of national myths and prejudices by juxtaposing interviews of
government officials, soldiers, peasants and parents, cinéma vérité
scenes shot on the home front and in South Vietnam, clips from
ideological Cold War movies, and horrific archival footage. Author
Frances FitzGerald praised the documentary as “the most moving film I’ve
ever seen on Vietnam, because, for the first time, the camera lingers
on the faces of Vietnamese and one hears their voices.” Author David
Halberstam said it “brilliantly catches … the hidden, unconscious racism
of the war.” Others from both ends of the political spectrum chided it
as manipulative propaganda that oversimplified complexities.
Hud (1963)
Paul Newman received his third Oscar nomination for his portrayal of
the title character, the handsome, surly and unscrupulous bad-boy son of
a Texas rancher who locks horns with his father over business and
family matters. Loosely based on Larry McMurtry’s debut novel,
“Horseman, Pass By,” the film received seven Academy Award nominations,
winning three: Patricia Neal (best actress), Melvyn Douglas (best
supporting actor) and James Wong Howe (black-and-white
cinematography). Motion Picture Academy President John Bailey in 2017
chronicled the production of the film and summed up some of his
impressions of the film’s relevance 55 years after its release: “Naked
and narcissistic self-interest have always been a dark undercurrent to
the limpid surface stream of American optimism and justice, but it is
not a reach to see the character of Hud as an avatar of the troubling
cynicism of that other side of American Populism — the side that
espouses a fake concern for one’s fellow man while lining one’s own
pockets. Hud, a lothario at the wheel of his crashed convertible,
raising a shroud of dust clouds in its trail, is nothing more than
a flimflam 19th century snake-oil salesman and carnival barker. His type
erupts over and over onto America’s psyche like a painful pustule.”
The Informer (1935)
This marks the 11th film directed by John Ford to be named to the
National Film Registry, the most of any director. “The Informer” depicts
with brutal realism the life of an informant during the Irish Rebellion
of 1922, who turns in his best friend and then sees the walls closing
in on him in return. Critic Andre Sennwald, writing in the
New York Times, praised Ford’s direction: “In his hands ‘The Informer’
becomes at the same time a striking psychological study of a gutter
Judas and a raw impressive picture of the Dublin underworld during the
Black and Tan terror.” Ford and cinematographer Joseph August borrowed
from German expressionism to convey the Dublin atmosphere. To this
point, Ford had compiled a solid workmanlike career as he learned his
craft. “The Informer” placed him in the top echelon of American film
directors and over the next 20 years he crafted numerous other classics,
from the 1939 “Stagecoach” through the 1962 “The Man Who Shot Liberty
Valance.”
Jurassic Park (1993)The concept of
people somehow existing in the age of dinosaurs (or dinosaurs somehow
existing in the age of people) has been explored in film and on
television numerous times. No treatment, however, has ever been done
with more skill, flair or popcorn-chomping excitement than this 1993
blockbuster. Set on a remote island where a man’s toying with evolution
has run amok, this Steven Spielberg classic ranks as the epitome of the
summer blockbuster. “Jurassic Park” was the top public vote-getter this
year.
The Lady From Shanghai (1947)The camera
is the star in this stylish film noir. “Lady From Shanghai” is renowned
for its stunning set pieces, the “Aquarium” scene, “Hall of Mirrors”
climax, baroque cinematography and convoluted plot. Director Orson
Welles had burst on the scene with “Citizen Kane” in 1941 and “The
Magnificent Ambersons” in 1942, but had increasingly become seen as
difficult to work with by the studios. As a result, Welles spent most of
his career outside the studio sphere. “The Lady From Shanghai” marked
one of his last films under a major studio (Columbia) with Welles and
the executives frequently clashing over the budget, final editing of the
film and the release date.
Leave Her to Heaven (1945)Darkness
and claustrophobia mark the visual style of many film noirs: the use of
black-and-white or gloomy grays, low-key lighting, striking contrasts
between light and dark, shadows, nighttime or interior settings and
rain-soaked streets. “Leave Her to Heaven” proves the magnificent
exception. Filmed in vibrant, three-strip Technicolor, many pivotal
scenes occur in spectacular outdoor locations, shot by famed
cinematographer Leon Shamroy in Arizona and California. A classic femme
fatale, Gene Tierney stars as Ellen, whose charisma and stunning visage
mask a possessive, sociopathic soul triggered by “loving too much.”
Anyone who stands between her and those she obsessively loves tend to
meet “accidental” deaths, most famously a teen boy who drowns in a
chilling scene. Martin Scorsese has labeled “Heaven” as among his
all-time favorite films and Tierney one of film’s most underrated
actresses. “Leave Her to Heaven” makes a supremely compelling case for
these sentiments.
Monterey Pop (1968)This
seminal music-festival film captures the culture of the time and
performances from iconic musical talent. “Monterey Pop” also established
the template for multi-camera documentary productions of this kind,
predating both “Woodstock” and “Gimme Shelter.” In addition to director
D. A. Pennebaker, Richard Leacock, Albert Maysles and others provided
the superb camerawork. Performers include Janis Joplin, Jimi Hendrix,
Otis Redding, Hugh Masekela, The Who, Jefferson Airplane, Simon and
Garfunkel, and Ravi Shankar. As he recalled in a 2006 Washington Post
article, Pennebaker decided to shoot and record the film using five
portable 16mm cameras equipped with synchronized sound recording
devices, while producers Lou Adler and John Phillips (Mamas and Papas)
sagely had the whole concert filmed and recorded, and further enhanced
the sound by hiring Wally Heider and his state-of-the-art mobile
recording studio.
My Fair Lady (1964)In the
1950s and 1960s, besieged by shifts in demographics and having much of
its audience syphoned off by television, film studios knew they had to
go big in their entertainment in order to lure people back to the
theater. This film version of the musical “My Fair Lady” epitomized this
approach with use of wide-screen technologies. Based on the sparkling
stage musical (inspired by George Bernard Shaw’s play “Pygmalion”), “My
Fair Lady” came to the big screen via the expert handling of director
George Cukor. Cecil Beaton’s costume designs provided further panache,
along with his, Gene Allen’s and George James Hopkins’ art and set direction. The
film starred Rex Harrison, repeating his career-defining stage role as
Professor Henry Higgins, and Audrey Hepburn (whose singing voice was
dubbed by frequent “ghoster” Marni Nixon), as the Cockney girl, Eliza
Doolittle. Though opulent in the extreme, all these elements blend
perfectly to make “My Fair Lady” the enchanting entertainment that it
remains today.
The Navigator (1924)Buster
Keaton burst onto the scene in 1920 with the dazzling two-reeler “One
Week.” His feature “The Navigator” proved a huge commercial success and
put Keaton in the company of Harold Lloyd and Charlie Chaplin in terms
of audience popularity and films eagerly awaited by critics. Decades
after release, Pauline Kael reviewed the film: “Arguably, Buster
Keaton’s finest — but amongst the Keaton riches can one be sure?” Keaton
plays an inept, foppish millionaire whose idea of a marriage proposal
involves crossing the street in a chauffeured car, handing flowers to
his girlfriend and popping the question. Later the two accidentally
become stranded at sea on an abandoned boat and Keaton proves his worth
by conceiving ingenious work-arounds to ensure they survive. The silent
era rarely saw films rife with more creativity and imaginative gags.
On the Town (1949)
Three sailors
with 24 hours of shore leave in New York doesn’t sound like much to
build a film around, but when Gene Kelly, Frank Sinatra and Jules
Munshin portray them under the sparkling direction of Stanley Donen (and
Kelly), movie magic occurs. “On the Town” was based upon the Comden and
Green Broadway musical of the same name. Shot on location all over New
York City, the film carries over such splendid songs as “New York, New
York,” the close-to-opening iconic scene with the sailor trio performing
while still in their navy togs. Female song-and-dance pros Vera-Ellen,
Betty Garrett and Ann Miller match the guys step for step in the
numerous musical numbers. “On the Town” represents the upbeat, post war
musicals of the era, which summed up the national optimism of the
period.
One-Eyed Jacks (1961)Based on the
1956 Charles Neider novel, “The Authentic Death of Hendry
Jones” (a loose retelling of the story of Pat Garrett and Billy the
Kid), this Western marks Marlon Brando’s sole directorial
effort. “One-Eyed Jacks” displays his trademark introspection and
offbeat quirkiness. Brando’s novel approach to updating the Western film
genre marks it as a key work in the transition period from Classic
Hollywood (1930s through 1950s) to the new era that began in the 1960s
and continues to the present day. As director Martin Scorsese and others
have said, this evolution from “Old Hollywood” to “New Hollywood”
involved a change from filmmaking primarily being about profit-making to
a period when many directors create motion pictures as personal
artistic expression.
Pickup on South Street (1953)
Samuel Fuller’s films are sometimes compared to the pulp novels of
Mickey Spillane, though Fuller’s dynamic style dwarfs Spillane. With
films often crass but always provocative, Fuller described his mantra of
filmmaking: “Film is like a battleground, with love, hate, action,
violence, death … in one word, emotion.” Considered by some as the
archetypal Sam Fuller film and a nice summary of the main themes in his
work, “Pickup on South Street” is a taut, Cold War thriller. The
fast-paced plot follows a professional pickpocket who accidently lifts
some secret microfilm from his mark. Patriotism or profit? Soon, the
thief is being pursued not only by the woman he stole from, but also by
Communist spies and U.S. government agents. The film culminates in a
landmark brutal subway-based fight scene. It is arguably the classic
anti-Communist film of the 1950s and a dazzling display of the seedy New
York underlife. In particular, Thelma Ritter’s excellent
tough-yet-nuanced performance as Moe Williams stands out and earned her
an Academy Award nomination for best supporting actress, which was
highly unusual for what was considered at the time a lurid and violent
B-movie.
Rebecca (1940)“Rebecca,”
Daphne du Maurier’s most famous book (“Last night I dreamt I went to
Manderley again…”), found its perfect cinematic interpreter in Alfred
Hitchcock, here directing his first American motion picture. Powerhouse
producer David O. Selznick had just imported the “master of suspense”
from his native England. Laurence Olivier stars as Maxim de Winter and
Joan Fontaine in her breakthrough role co-stars as Maxim’s new (and
never given a first name) wife. However, it is two other women who
dominate the film—the intimidating housekeeper Mrs. Danvers (played by
Judith Anderson) and the film’s title woman, the deceased first Mrs. de
Winter whose powerful shadow still hangs heavily over this great estate
and all its inhabitants. Winner of the Oscar for best picture that year,
“Rebecca” is stylish, suspenseful and a classic.
The Shining (1980)Director
Stanley Kubrick’s take on Stephen King’s terrifying novel has only
grown in esteem through the years. The film is inventive in visual
style, symbolism and narrative as only a Kubrick film can be. Long but
multi-layered, “The Shining” contains stunning visuals — rivers of blood
cascading down deserted hotel hallways, disturbing snowy mazes and a
mysterious set of appearing and disappearing twins — with iconic
performances by Jack Nicholson and Shelley Duvall.
Smoke Signals (1998)
Native
American directors are a rarity in Hollywood. After the early silent
film pioneers James Young Deer and Edwin Carewe, the portrayal of Native
Americans in cinema turned dark and stereotypical. These social trends
started changing with motion pictures like the groundbreaking “Smoke
Signals,” generally considered to be the first feature film written,
directed and produced by Native Americans. Director Chris Eyre uses the
relaxed road-movie concept to create a funny and unpretentious look at
Native Americans in the nation’s cinema and culture. The mostly Native
American cast features Adam Beach and Evan Adams as the two road
warriors who find themselves on a hilarious adventure. Beneath the
highly entertaining façade, the film acquainted non-Native American
audiences with real insights into the indigenous Americans’ culture.
Sherman Alexie penned the witty, droll script based his book “The Lone
Ranger and Tonto Fistfight in Heaven.” This Miramax release was a big
hit on the independent film circuit and won numerous awards, including a
Sundance award.
Something Good – Negro Kiss (1898)According
to scholars and archivists, this recently discovered 29-second film may
represent the earliest example of African-American intimacy on-screen.
American cinema was a few years old by 1898 and distributors struggled
to entice audiences to this new medium. Among their gambits to find
acceptable “risqué” fare, the era had a brief run of “kissing” films.
Most famous is the 1896 Edison film “The Kiss,” which spawned a rash of
mostly inferior imitators. However, in “Something Good,” the chemistry
between vaudeville actors Saint Suttle and Gertie Brown was palpable. Also noteworthy is this film’s status as the earliest known surviving Selig Polyscope Company
film. The Selig Company had a good run as a major American film
producer from its founding in 1896 until its ending around 1918.
“Something Good” exists in a 19th-century nitrate print from the
University of Southern California Hugh Hefner Moving Image Archive. USC
Archivist Dino Everett and Dr. Allyson Nadia Field of the University of
Chicago discovered and brought this important film to the attention of
scholars and the public. Field notes, “What makes this film so remarkable is the non-caricatured representation and naturalistic performance of the couple. As they playfully and repeatedly kiss, in a seemingly improvised performance, Suttle and Brown constitute
a significant counter to the racist portrayal of
African Americans otherwise seen in the cinema of its time. This film
stands as a moving and powerful image of genuine affection, and is a
landmark of early film history.”
via https://www.loc.gov/item/prn-18-144/
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