The Big Lebowski, Ferris Bueller’s Day Off among titles added to the National Film Registry
In the kind of news that leads to thousands of people going to library school in order to compete for one cool job, The National Film Registry of the Library Of Congress has released its annual list of titles that will be added to its registry of films to be saved should American culture catch on fire.
The list, which Variety describes as “eclectic,” consists of 25 films both populist and esoteric in appeal which the Library has deemed to be “culturally, historically or aesthetically” significant. This year, those films include The Big Lebowski, Ferris Bueller’s Day Off, Rosemary’s Baby, Saving Private Ryan, Rio Bravo, and Willy Wonka And The Chocolate Factory. (The upcoming gritty Wonka reboot’s chances remain unknown.) The list also includes an 18-minute Christian puppet short directed by Frank Tashlin, some very important but very depressing-sounding Holocaust footage shot by Samuel Fuller, two Carmen Miranda musicals, Pixar’s second short film Luxo Jr., and seven untitled reels believed to be the oldest surviving feature film with a black cast.
This year’s list brings the total number of titles in the National Film Registry to 650, a very small fraction of the 1.3 million films in the Library of Congress archives. Inclusion in the National Film Registry helps ensure that these films will be preserved for future generations, who will also probably have the best intentions about watching silent films but never actually get around to doing so.
Bert Williams Lime Kiln Club Field Day (1913)
The Big Lebowski (1998)
Down Argentine Way (1940)
The Dragon Painter (1919)
Felicia (1965)
Ferris Bueller’s Day Off (1986)
The Gang’s All Here (1943)
House Of Wax (1953)
Into The Arms Of Strangers: Stories Of The Kindertransport (2000)
Little Big Man (1970)
Luxo Jr. (1986)
Moon Breath Beat (1980)
Please Don’t Bury Me Alive! (1976)
The Power And The Glory (1933)
Rio Bravo (1959)
Rosemary’s Baby (1968)
Ruggles Of Red Gap (1935)
Saving Private Ryan (1998)
Shoes (1916)
State Fair (1933)
13 Lakes (2004)
Unmasked (1917)
V-E +1 (1945)
The Way Of Peace (1947)