Time to Lobby the Library of Congress About the National Film Registry

Happy Thanksgiving!

In one month, the Library of Congress will announce the next 25 films added to the National Film Registry. Last year's list spanned the years 1910-89, and included: Foolish Wives (1922), Hallelujah (1929), Sergeant York (1941), The Asphalt Jungle (1950), A Face in the Crowd (1957), Flower Drum Song (1961), Deliverance (1972), and The Terminator (1984). Also included were historically important films such as White Fawn's Devotion (1910), the earliest surviving film directed by a Native American; George Stevens WWII footage (1943-46); the amateur home movie of a trip to newly opened Disneyland, Disneyland Dream (1956); and Len Lye's experimental animated short Free Radicals (1979).

The National Film Registry started in 1989, and there are currently 500 films on the list. Although the obscure films and historically important documentaries fulfill the mandate of the Registry, there does seem to be a movement, at least in recent years, to include those fictional feature films that are great films (more of a Sight and Sound approach) or cult films (such as The Killers and Johnny Guitar last year) and not just historically or culturally important ones (there are still many Oscar-winning Best Pictures not on the list, for example).

You can e-mail your list to the Library of Congress and they'll consider your choices. Link to their website.

Below are my picks for what should be added to this year's list (I only do the narrative feature films: I'll let the Library of Congress decide on the obscure works). To me, the film that most needs to be added above all (my choice last year as well) is Blue Velvet. Just one film I picked last year got in!... The Terminator (1984).

My choices for this go-round, by year:

1910s and 20s
A Tale of Two Cities (1917)
Male and Female (1919)
The Love Light (1921)
The Sheik (1921)

1930s
The Guardsman (1931)
Queen Christina (1933)
The Merry Widow (1934)
Mutiny on the Bounty (1935)
Holiday (1938)

1940s
Bambi (1942)
First Comes Courage (1943)
Lifeboat (1944)
The Postman Always Rings Twice (1946)
The Lady From Shanghai (1948)

1950s
Strangers on a Train (1951)
Limelight (1952)
Stalag 17 (1953)
The Seven Year Itch (1955)
The Killing (1956)

1960s
Lolita (1962)
The Birds (1963)
The Great Escape (1963)
Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf? (1966)
Rosemary’s Baby (1968)

1970s
Carnal Knowledge (1971)
Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory (1971)
The Exorcist (1973)
The Front (1976)
Kramer Vs. Kramer (1979)

1980s
Coal Miner’s Daughter (1980)
The Empire Strikes Back (1980)
Arthur (1981)
The World According to Garp (1982)
Aliens (1986)
Blue Velvet (1986)
Hannah and Her Sisters (1986)
Raising Arizona (1987)
Die Hard (1988)

1990s
JFK (1991)
El Mariachi (1992)
Husbands and Wives (1992)
Ed Wood (1994)
Pulp Fiction (1994)
Before Sunrise (1995)
Sling Blade (1996)
Good Will Hunting (1997)
Titanic (1997)
Rushmore (1998)
Election (1999)