National Film Registry: A Sirk, Some Ghostbusters, and Zorro
Sunday, December 20, 2015 at 9:00PM 
Nooooo. I almost forgot to share the National Film Registries new titles. Each year they add 25 pictures that are deemed historically, culturally or aesthetically important. Each year I suggest that we should watch all the titles together. Well, the ones we can find at least. Perhaps we'll actually do that for 2016 -- you never know! Getting a spot on the National Film Registry is more symbolic than active. It does not guarantee preservation or restorations but it does suggest that these films should all be preserved and/or restored.
The 2015 additions are:
- Edison Kinetoscopic Record of a Sneeze (1894) - watch it now. it's six seconds long... the earliest surviving copyrighted film
- Dream of a Rarebit Fiend (1906) -watch it now. (7 minutes) from a short Winsor McCay comic strip
- A Fool There Was (1915) -watch it now. (66 minutes) Theda Bara tempts a married man! It's always the woman's fault, don't you know
- Humoresque (1920) - not the Joan Crawford film inspired by this story!
- The Mark of Zorro (1920) -watch it now (88 minutes) the Douglas Fairbanks version
- Black and Tan (1929) -watch it now -(15 minutes) short jazz film with Duke Ellington
- Dracula (1931) - the Spanish language version
- Our Daily Bread (1934) - King Vidor's socialist drama
- The Old Mill (1937) - animated short Oscar winner
- Hail the Conquering Hero (1944) - Preston Sturges comedy
- The Story of Menstruation (1946) - documentary short
- John Henry and the Inky-Poo (1946) - animated short Oscar nominee
- Winchester '73 (1950) -western with Jimmy Stewart and Shelley Winters
- Imitation of Life (1959) - Douglas Sirk's awesome melodrama
- Seconds (1966) -thriller starring Rock Hudson
- Portrait of Jason (1967) - LGBT documentary
- Symbiopsychotaxiplasm: Take One (1968) - a documentary about filmmaking
- The Inner World of Aphasia (1968) -documentary about aphasics
- Eadweard Muybridge, Zoopraxographer (1975) - a biographical doc
- Being There (1979) - the Hal Ashby dramedy with Peter Sellers
- Ghostbusters (1984) - the comic blockbuster currently undergoing a gender flip
- Top Gun (1986) -you feel the need. the need for speed
- Sink or Swim (1990) - documentary about formative childhood
- The Shawshank Redemption (1994) - that insanely beloved prison drama
- LA Confidential (1997) - the awesome neo noir
Big thanks to Matthew Rettenmund of Boy Culture for pointing out this insanely cool bit of trivia about the list:
Of special note: Mother and daughter Lupita Tovar (the world's oldest living actress at age 105) and Susan Kohner were in the Spanish-language Dracula (1931) and Imitation of Life (1959), respectively.
You may recall that Mexican actress Lupita Tovar recently took up the throne or oldest living screen star after the death of Luise Rainer. The super cool thing to know about Lupita Tovar is that she is the grandmother of Chris Weitz and Paul Weitz, both filmmakers (Paul wrote and directed Grandma this year) so her cinematic legacy lives on.
Though the titles are selected by the National Film Preservation Board and Library staff, the public can nominate titles here if you wanna get a jump start on their 2016 list. The movies have to be at least 10 years old so no "OMG THE FORCE AWAKENS WAS AMAZING!" because they will shut that right down.
Reader Comments (14)
Some great, some interesting and as always some outre choices. It's so great that they don't forget the significance of ancient films not looking at just their immediate entertainment value. A Fool There Was is an overripe piece of ridiculous twaddle but the fact that it's still in existence 100 years after being made and the glimpse it provides into the past is priceless.
That's a very cool piece of trivia about the link between the two films on the list and Imitation of Life is such a hugely entertaining film.
Also glad to see the obscure but brilliant Seconds on the list. That is one freaky movie.
Is Top Gun even a good movie?
PORTRAIT OF JASON!
I'm so happy to see some of these make it (LA Confidential! Seconds!) but I'm particularly delighted to see Shirley Clarke's 1967 doc Portrait of Jason. Has anyone seen it? It has only recently surfaced and I as lucky enough to catch it on TCM last month. It's a pretty stirring experience.
I got chance to watch Portrait of Jason when I worked on some of the German subtitles for it. Amazing. Has anyone seen Jason and Shirley, which I missed at Outfest tihs year?
Being There is such an undervalued classic!!
Patrick, I just watched it for the first time a couple of weeks back. It is extraordinary. Thankfully they included a bunch of documentaries!
Paul, I have a screener that I have yet to watch yet keep meaning to
I love the National Film Registry and I look forward to its selections every year. I remember watching the 1965 documentary short Felicia last year after it was included. I'll be taking a look at some of these other older movies that you've provided links to, Nathaniel. Thank you for that.
Edison Kinetoscopic Record of a Sneeze (1894) - The image of a man sneezing is a major part of American film history, so I'm surprised it took so long to be included here.
Dream of a Rarebit Fiend (1906) - I saw some Winsor McCay shorts last year, but this one escaped me.
A Fool There Was (1915) - I think there was a Theda Bara episode of the podcast "You Must Remember This" recently. I could be wrong.
Humoresque (1920) - just saw the Joan Crawford-John Garfield version recently. I do love silent films so maybe this one is better.
The Mark of Zorro (1920) - As with Humoresque, I've seen the 1940s remake, but I suppose Douglas Fairbanks > Tyrone Power. I'll have to watch this one to make sure that comparison is legitimate.
Black and Tan (1929) - I'll definitely be watching this ASAP.
Dracula (1931) - Had the chance to see this in NYC along with the Bela Lugosi version, which is on my Top 100, but I missed out on it. Good thing I own the DVD.
Our Daily Bread (1934) - Just saw this on TCM a few months back not realizing it's a sequel to King Vidor's masterpiece "The Crowd." It's not as good as that film, but it's worth watching, especially these days.
The Old Mill (1937) - An Oscar-winning short is right up my alley.
Hail the Conquering Hero (1944) - I remember enjoying this one more than, say, The Great McGinty, but all the best Sturges movies are probably in the National Film Registry already.
The Story of Menstruation (1946) - This certainly SOUNDS interesting. I wonder how much of the information it provides is outdated 70 years later.
John Henry and the Inky-Poo (1946) - Another Oscar-nominated short? Yes, please!
Winchester '73 (1950) - My favorite Anthony Mann movies star Jimmy Stewart, but I haven't seen this one yet for whatever reason.
Imitation of Life (1959) - This is a good movie, but I prefer the 1934 version with Claudette Colbert and Louise Beavers. Thankfully, it's already a part of the National Film Registry.
Seconds (1966) - Gotta love a movie so unique that the closest film like it is probably 1997's Face/Off and only through their high-concept plots.
Portrait of Jason (1967) - I DVRed this when it aired on TCM, but my over-recording of everything TCM knocked it off my DVR. Hopefully they air it again soon.
Symbiopsychotaxiplasm: Take One (1968) - I saw this a few months ago, too, thanks to TCM and it is totally fascinating. Something that's even more fun to talk about than actually watch.
The Inner World of Aphasia (1968) - Hadn't heard of this one before, so thank you National Film Registry for putting it on my radar.
Eadweard Muybridge, Zoopraxographer (1975) - I remember Jonathan Rosenbaum including this on his alternative list when AFI did its top 100 in 1998. It must be good.
Being There (1979) - Is this Peter Sellers' best performance? I say no.
Ghostbusters (1984) - Is this Bill Murray's best movie? Again, I say no.
Top Gun (1986) - Is this Tom Cruise's best movie? I think you know the answer by now.
Sink or Swim (1990) - A movie from the year of my birth. That makes it even more interesting to me anyway.
The Shawshank Redemption (1994) - It may be insanely beloved, but it's insanely good.
LA Confidential (1997) - Interesting to think this made it in before Titanic. Is it a better movie? I'll let others decide while I watch Jackie Brown again.
Go L.A. Confidential! ("I thought I was helping you.")
I'll be nominating Brokeback Mountain next year, thank you.
"Top Gun" ?!
Winchester 73 is so good, but still is not my favorite of those Mann-Stewart movies. The best is The Man From Laramie, a magnificent and pitch-black dark Greek tragedy. It's one of my favorite movies ever. I love Anthony Mann, specially The Man From Laramie, Raw Deal (Claire Trevor!) and The Furies, in which Barbara Stanwyck delivered the best performance of career (yes, I am saying that).
That said, for some reason people only remember Winchester 73!
The good thing about that list is that it makes you curious about films one has never heard of.
The Story of Menstruation sounds like a good remake for Jennifer Lawrence.
What's great is that so many of these are online. Whether they should be or not is another question, but they are so I'm going to watch The Old Mill, The Story of Mestruation, John Henry and the Inky Poo, Dream of the Rarebit, Humoresque and Symbiopsychotaxiplasm: Take One as well as the ones that are linked in the article.