Twenty-five more for the ages
By Marcy Magiera -- Video Business, 12/28/2006
DEC. 28 | Blazing Saddles; sex, lies and videotape; and Mary Pickford’s Tess of the Storm Country may seem to have little in common, but just days before the end of 2006, all three were added to the National Film Registry, placing them in an elite group of 450 films to be preserved for all time by the Library of Congress.
Twenty-five films per year are chosen. The 2006 selections—as diverse a group as one could imagine, spanning the years 1913 to 1996—were picked from almost 1,000 titles nominated by the public and vetted by the Library’s motion picture division and the National Film Preservation Board.
At first glance, the list is an odd mix of high- and low-brow fare. Groundhog Day? The Library’s criteria includes films that are “culturally, historically or aesthetically” significant, and that cuts a pretty wide swath.
But it’s because of their diversity—comedies, modern classics, silent films, documentaries and music—that these 25 provide a great opportunity for retail promotion, give stores a chance to introduce new films to customers and show off the breadth that is so far not offered anywhere but in good old packaged media. No matter how mainstream or “buff” your customer base, there are a half dozen here appropriate to be recognized as among the best ever.
2006 National Film Registry
(DVD labels included where possible. The list was released at deadline so “NA” may not mean a title is unavailable, just that we couldn’t identify the distributor in time.)
Applause (1929, Kino)
Early sound-era tearjerker was the first film for director Rouben Mamoulian and cabaret star Helen Morgan.
The Big Trail (1930, Fox)
Early John Wayne film.
Blazing Saddles (1974, Warner)
Mel Brooks’ classic raunchy Western spoof.
The Curse of Quon Gwon (1916-17, NA)
Earliest known Chinese-American feature.
Daughter of Shanghai (1937, NA)
Thriller starring Anna May Wong.
Drums of Winter (Uksuum Cauyai, 1988, NA)
Documentary about the Yup’ik Eskimo people.
Early Abstractions #1-5, 7, 10 (1939-56, NA)
Collages by revolutionary animator Harry Smith.
Fargo (1996, MGM)
Coen brothers’ dark comedic spin on murder.
Flesh and the Devil (1927, Warner)
One of the last silent film classics, starring John Gilbert and Greta Garbo in their first on-screen pairing.
Groundhog Day (1993, Sony)
Comedy starring Bill Murray as a weatherman who relives one day over and over.
Halloween (1978, Anchor Bay)
John Carpenter film introduced homicidal maniac Michael Myers and ushered in the era of the slasher film.
In the Street (1948, NA)
Children’s documentary about life in East Harlem.
The Last Command (1928, NA)
Academy Award winner for Emil Jannings performance as an exiled Russian general.
Notorious (1946, Anchor Bay, Criterion)
Ingrid Bergman and Cary Grant star in Hitchcock’s romantic thriller.
Red Dust (1932, NA)
Steamy melodrama pairs Clark Gable and Jean Harlow.
Reminiscences of a Journey to Lithuania (1971-72, NA)
Documentarian Jonas Mekas’ diary of a trip back to his birthplace.
Rocky (1976, MGM)
Sylvester Stallone’s boxing classic.
Sex, lies and videotape (1989, Sony)
Steven Soderbergh’s complex tale of adultery sparked an indie film renaissance.
Siege (1940, NA)
Cameraman Julien Bryan’s powerful footage of the Germans invading Warsaw.
St. Louis Blues (1929, NA)
The only film recording of Bessie Smith.
The T.A.M.I. Show (1964, NA)
Campy concert film with the Rolling Stones, James Brown and others.
Tess of the Storm Country (1914, Image)
Film credited with making Mary Pickford a superstar.
Think of Me First as a Person (1960-75, NA)
Home movie portrait by a father of his son with Down syndrome.
A Time Out of War (1954, NA)
Civil War-set student film won Oscar for best short film.
Traffic in Souls (1913, Kino)
Early exposé of “white slavery.”
