US film registry releases list of 25 inductees

In late 1988, the United States Congress passed landmark legislation creating the independent, nonprofit National Film Preservation Foundation, a public-private partnership to benefit the film preservation efforts of American film archives, historical societies and similar institutions. Each year, the board selects 25 films to add to the National Film Registry.

The US Library of Congress has added a further 25 films to its National Film Registry for the year 2004.

New inductees include classic movies such as Ben-Hur, Jailhouse Rock and 1992 film Unforgiven, starring Clint Eastwood.

The selections, made by the librarian of Congress from nearly 1,000 films nominated by the public, library staff and film experts also included spinach-eating hero Popeye and intrepid dog Rin Tin Tin.

A complete list of inductees follows:

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)

“The films we choose are not necessarily the ‘best’ American films ever made or the most famous,” says Librarian of Congress James H. Billington. They are picked because they have “cultural, historical or aesthetic significance.”

The selections are made after nominations sent in by the public and a consulting staff of advisers. Billington says,”The registry stands among the finest summations of American cinema’s wondrous first century.” The movies include the Elvis Presley venture “Jailhouse Rock”, the Cold War training film “Duck and Cover” and the eight-hour Andy Warhol experimental film “Empire” which details the comings and goings of people visiting the Empire State Building. There’s also an Our Gang film, the Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers musical “Swing Time,” the Jerry Lewis version of “The Nutty Professor” and the Bruce Lee action movie “Enter the Dragon.”

Herein is the complete list of those films so honoured to date.

1989

1. Best Years of Our Lives, The (1946)
2. Casablanca (1942)
3. Citizen Kane (1941)
4. Crowd, The (1928)
5. Dr. Strangelove or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying andLove the Bomb (1963)
6. General, The (1926)
7. Gone with the Wind (1939)
8. Grapes of Wrath, The (1940)
9. High Noon (1952)
10. Intolerance (1916)
11. Learning Tree, The (1969)
12. Maltese Falcon, The (1941)
13. Mr. Smith Goes to Washington (1939)
14. Modern Times (1936)
15. Nanook of the North (1922)
16. On the Waterfront (1954)
17. Searchers, The (1956)
18. Singin’ in the Rain (1952)
19. Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs (1937)
20. Some Like It Hot (1959)
21. Star Wars (1977)
22. Sunrise (1927)
23. Sunset Boulevard (1950)
24. Vertigo (1958)
25. Wizard of Oz, The (1939)

1990

1. All About Eve (1950)
2. All Quiet on the Western Front (1930)
3. Bringing Up Baby (1938)
4. Dodsworth (1936)
5. Duck Soup (1933)
6. Fantasia (1940)
7. Freshman, The (1925)
8. Godfather, The (1972)
9. Great Train Robbery, The (1903)
10. Harlan County, U.S.A. (1976)
11. How Green Was My Valley (1941)
12. It’s a Wonderful Life (1946)
13. Killer of Sheep (1977)
14. Love Me Tonight (1932)
15. Meshes of the Afternoon (1943)
16. Ninotchka (1939)
17. Primary (1960)
18. Raging Bull (1980)
19. Rebel Without a Cause (1965)
20. Red River (1948)
21. River, The (1937)
22. Sullivan’s Travels (1941)
23. Top Hat (1935)
24. Treasure of the Sierra Madre, The (1948)
25. Woman Under the Influence, A (1974)

1991

1. Battle of San Pietro, The (1944)
2. Blood of Jesus, The (1941)
3. Chinatown (1974)
4. City Lights (1931)
5. David Holzman’s Diary (1968)
6. Frankenstein (1931)
7. Gertie the Dinosaur (1914)
8. Gigi (1958)
9. Greed (1925)
10. High School (1968)
11. I Am a Fugitive from a Chain Gang (1932)
12. Italian, The (1915)
13. King Kong (1933)
14. Lawrence of Arabia (1962)
15. Magnificent Ambersons, The (1942)
16. My Darling Clementine (1946)
17. Out of the Past (1947)
18. Place in the Sun, A (1951)
19. Poor Little Rich Girl, The (1917)
20. Prisoner of Zenda, The (1937)
21. Shadow of a Doubt (1943)
22. Sherlock, Jr. (1924)
23. Tevye (1939)
24. Trouble in Paradise (1932)
25. 2001: A Space Odyssey (1968)

1992

1. Adam’s Rib (1949)
2. Annie Hall (1977)
3. Bank Dick, The (1940)
4. Big Business (1929)
5. Big Parade, The (1925)
6. Birth of a Nation, The (1915)
7. Bonnie and Clyde (1967)
8. Carmen Jones (1954)
9. Castro Street (1966)
10. Detour (1945)
11. Dog Star Man: Part IV (1964)
12. Double Indemnity (1944)
13. Footlight Parade (1933)
14. Gold Rush, The (1925)
15. Letter from an Unknown Woman (1948)
16. Morocco (1930)
17. Nashville (1975)
18. Night of the Hunter, The (1955)
19. Paths of Glory (1957)
20. Psycho (1960)
21. Ride the High Country (1962)
22. Salesman (1969)
23. Salt of the Earth (1954)
24. What’s Opera, Doc? (1957)
25. Within Our Gates (1920)

1993

1. American in Paris, An (1951)
2. Badlands (1973)
3. Black Pirate, The (1926)
4. Blade Runner (1982)
5. Cat People (1942)
6. Cheat, The (1915)
7. Chulas Fronteras (1976)
8. Eau d’Artifice (1953)
9. Godfather, Part II, The (1974)
10. His Girl Friday (1940)
11. It Happened One Night (1934)
12. Lassie Come Home (1943)
13. Magical Maestro (1952)
14. March of Time: Inside Nazi Germany (1938)
15. Night at the Opera, A (1935)
16. Nothing But a Man (1964)
17. One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest (1975)
18. Point of Order (1964)
19. Shadows (1959)
20. Shane (1953)
21. Sweet Smell of Success (1957)
22. Touch of Evil (1958)
23. Where Are My Children? (1916)
24. Wind, The (1928)
25. Yankee Doodle Dandy (1942)

1994

1. African Queen, The (1951)
2. Apartment, The (1960)
3. Cool World, The (1963)
4. Corner in Wheat, A (1909)
5. E.T. The Extra-Terrestrial (1982)
6. Exploits of Elaine, The (1914)
7. Force of Evil (1948)
8. Freaks (1932)
9. Hell’s Hinges (1916)
10. Hospital (1970)
11. Invasion of the Body Snatchers (1956)
12. Lady Eve, The (1941)
13. Louisiana Story (1948)
14. Manchurian Candidate, The (1962)
15. Marty (1955)
16. Meet Me in St. Louis (1944)
17. Midnight Cowboy (1969)
18. Movie, A (1958)
19. Pinocchio (1940)
20. Safety Last (1923)
21. Scarface (1932)
22. Snow White (1933)
23. Tabu (1931)
24. Taxi Driver (1976)
25. Zapruder Film of Kennedy Assassination (1963)

1995

1. Adventures of Robin Hood, The (1938)
2. All That Heaven Allows (1955)
3. American Graffiti (1973)
4. Band Wagon, The (1953)
5. Blacksmith Scene (1893)
6. Cabaret (1972)
7. Chan Is Missing (1982)
8. Conversation, The (1974)
9. Day the Earth Stood Still, The (1951)
10. El Norte (1983)
11. Fatty’s Tintype Tangle (1915)
12. Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse (1921)
13. Fury (1936)
14. Gerald McBoing-Boing (1951)
15. Hospital, The (1971)
16. Jammin’ the Blues (1944)
17. Last of the Mohicans, The (1920)
18. Manhatta (1921)
19. North by Northwest (1959)
20. Philadelphia Story, The (1940)
21. Rip Van Winkle (1896)
22. Seventh Heaven (1927)
23. Stagecoach (1939)
24. To Fly (1976)
25. To Kill a Mockingbird (1962)

1996

1. Awful Truth, The (1937)
2. Broken Blossoms (1919)
3. Deer Hunter, The (1978)
4. Destry Rides Again (1939)
5. Flash Gordon (1936/I)
6. Forgotten Frontier, The (1931)
7. Frank Film (1973)
8. Graduate, The (1967)
9. Heiress, The (1949)
10. Jazz Singer, The (1927)
11. Life and Times of Rosie the Riveter (1980)
12. M*A*S*H (1970)
13. Mildred Pierce (1945)
14. Outlaw Josey Wales, The (1976)
15. Producers, The (1968)
16. Pull My Daisy (1958/I)
17. Road to Morocco (1942)
18. She Done Him Wrong (1933)
19. Shock Corridor (1963)
20. Show Boat (1936)
21. Thief of Bagdad, The (1924)
22. To Be or Not To Be (1942)
23. Topaz (1945)
24. Verbena Tragica (1939)
25. Woodstock (1970)

1997

1. Ben-Hur (1926)
2. Big Sleep, The (1946)
3. Bridge On the River Kwai, The (1957)
4. Cops (1922)
5. Czechoslovakia 1968 (1969)
6. Grass: A Nation’s Battle for Life (1925)
7. Great Dictator, The (1940)
8. Harold and Maude (1971)
9. Hindenburg Disaster Newsreel Footage (1937)
10. How the West Was Won (1962)
11. Hust ler, The (1961)
12. Knute Rockne, All American (1940)
13. Life and Death of 9413: A Hollywood Extra, The(1928)
14. Little Fugitive (1953)
15. Mean Streets (1973)
16. Motion Painting No. 1 (1947)
17. Music Box, The (1932)
18. Naked Spur, The (1953)
19. Rear Window (1954)
20. Republic Steel Strike Riots Newsreel Footage(1937)
21. Return of the Secaucus 7 (1980)
22. Thin Man, The (1934)
23. Tulips Shall Grow (1942)
24. West Side Story (1961)
25. Wings (1927)

1998

1. Bride of Frankenstein (1935)
2. City, The (1939)
3. Dead Birds (1965)
4. Don’t Look Back (1967)
5. Easy Rider (1969)
6. 42nd Street (1933)
7. From The Manger to the Cross (1912)
8. Gun Crazy (1950)
9. Hitch-Hiker, The (1953)
10. Immigrant, The (1917)
11. Last Picture Show, The (1971)
12. Little Miss Marker (1934)
13. The Lost World (1925)
14. Modesta (1956)
15. The Ox-Bow Incident (1943)
16. Pass the Gravy (1928)
17. Phantom of the Opera, The (1925)
18. Powers of Ten (1978)
19. Public Enemy, The (1931)
20. Sky High (1922)
21. Steamboat Willie (1928)
22. Tacoma Narrows Bridge Collapse (1940)
23. Tootsie (1982)
24. Twelve O’Clock High (1949)
25. Westinghouse Works (1904)

1999

1. Civilization (1916)
2. Do the Right Thing (1989)
3. Docks of New York, The (1928)
4. Duck Amuck (1953)
5. Emperor Jones, The (1933)
6. Gunga Din (1939)
7. In the Land of the Head Hunters (1914)
8. Jazz on a Summer’s Day (1959)
9. King: A Filmed Record… Montgomery to Memphis(1970)
10. Kiss, The (1896)
11. Kiss Me Deadly (1955)
12. Lambchops (1929)
13. Laura (1944)
14. Master Hands (1936)
15. My Man Godfrey (1936)
16. Night of the Living Dead (1968)
17. Plow That Broke the Plains, The (1936)
18. Raiders of the Lost Ark (1981)
19. Roman Holiday (1953)
20. Shop Around the Corner, The (1940)
21. Streetcar Named Desire, A (1951)
22. Ten Commandments, The (1956)
23. Trance and Dance in Bali (1952)
24. Wild Bunch, The (1969)
25. Woman of the Year (1942)

2000

1. Apocalypse Now (1979)
2. Dracula (1931/I)
3. Fall of the House of Usher, The (1928/I)
4. Five Easy Pieces (1970)
5. GoodFellas (1990)
6. Koyaanisqatsi (1983)
7. Land Beyond the Sunset, The (1912)
8. Let’s All Go to the Lobby (1957)
9. Life of Emile Zola, The (1937)
10. Little Caesar (1930)
11. Living Desert, The (1953)
12. Love Finds Andy Hardy (1938)
13. Multiple Sidosis (1970)
14. Network (1976)
15. Peter Pan (1924)
16. Porky in Wackyland (1938)
17. President McKinley Inauguration Footage (1901)
18. Peter Pan (1924)
19. Regeneration (1915)
20. Salome (1923/I)
21. Shaft (1971)
22. Sherman’s March (1986)
23. Star Is Born, A (1954)
24. Tall T, The (1957)
25. Why We Fight (series) (1943-45)
26. Will Success Spoil Rock Hunter? (1957)

2001

1. Abbott and Costello Meet Frankenstein (1948)
2. All That Jazz (1979)
3. All the King’s Men (1949)
4. America, America (1963)
5. Cologne: From the Diary of Ray and Esther (1939)
6. Evidence of the Film (1913)
7. Hoosiers (1986)
8. House in the Middle, The (1954)
9. It (1927)
10. Jam Session (1942)
11. Jaws (1975)
12. Manhattan (1979)
13. Marian Anderson: The Lincoln Memorial Concert(1939)
14. Memphis Belle: A Story of a Flying Fortress, The(1944)
15. Miracle of Morgan’s Creek, The (1944)
16. Miss Lulu Bett (1921)
17. National Lampoon’s Animal House (1978)
18. Planet of the Apes (1968)
19. Rose Hobart (1936)
20. Serene Velocity (1970)
21. Sound of Music, The (1965)
22. Stormy Weather (1943)
23. Tell-Tale Heart, The (1953)
24. Thin Blue Line, The (1988)
25. Thing From Another World, The (1951)

2002

1. Alien (1979)
2. All My Babies (1953)
3. Bad and the Beautiful, The (1953)
4. Beauty and the Beast (1991)
5. Black Stallion, The (1979)
6. Boyz N the Hood (1991)
7. Theodore Case Sound Test: Gus Visser and his SingingDuck (1925)
8. Endless Summer, The (1966)
9. From Here to Eternity (1953)
10. From Stump to Ship (1930)
11. Fuji (1974)
12. In the Heat of the Night (1967)
13. Lady Windermere’s Fan (1925)
14. Melody Ranch (1940)
15. Pearl, The (1947)
16. Punch Drunks (1934)
17. Sa brina (1954)
18. Star Theatre (1902)
19. Stranger Than Paradise (1984)
20. This Is Cinerama (1952)
21. This Is Spinal Tap (1984)
22. Through Navajo Eyes (series) (1966)
23. Why Man Creates (1968)
24. Wild and Woolly (1917)
25. Wild River (1960)

2003

1. Antonia: A Portrait of the Woman (1974)
2. Atlantic City (1980)
3. Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid (1969)
4. Chechahcos, The (1924)
5. Dickson Experimental Sound Film (1894-5)
6. Film Portrait (1972)
7. Fox Movietone News: Jenkins Orphanage Band (1928)
8. Gold Diggers of 1933 (1933)
9. Hunters, The (1957)
10. Matrimony’s Speed Limit (1913)
11. Medium Cool (1969)
12. National Velvet (1944)
13. Naughty Marietta (1935)
14. Nostalgia (1971)
15. One Froggy Evening (1955)
16. Patton (1970)
17. Princess Nicotine; or, The Smoke Fairy (1909)
18. Show People (1928)
19. Son of the Sheik, The (1926)
20. Tarzan and His Mate (1934)
21. Tin Toy (1988)
22. Wedding March, The (1928)
23. White Heat (1949)
24. Young Frankenstein (1974)
25. Young Mr. Lincoln (1939)