Selections for National Film Registry Announced for 2008

With the announcement of The Terminator as one of the films being added to the National Film Registry, the world can be sure that Arnold Schwarzenegger’s "I’ll be back" will be preserved in film history for future generations. This film, as well as the sounds and images of other culturally significant selections, will be guarded against deterioration in the library’s new Packard Campus of the National Audio-Visual Conservation Center, a facility built into a bunker in the hills near Culpeper, Virginia. The registry now holds 500 films.

The National Film Registry, established by Congress in 1989, works with movie studios that own the rights to ensure that original copies of films are digitized and kept safe from damage and deterioration. The registry acquires a copy for preservation in its vault among millions of other recordings. Films are selected based on their historical, cultural, or aesthetic significance, not based on movie critics’ recommendations or reviews. Patrick Loughney, head of the library’s audio-visual center, explains that "the selection of a title for the registry is not meant to duplicate the Academy Awards or anything like that." Librarian of Congress James H. Billington further explains, "The nation has lost about half of the films produced before 1950 and as much as 90% of those made before 1920."

The library accepted nominations online, specifically asking for lesser-known films including amateur movies and home-movie footage. Some of the films selected made the list because of their historical or industry value, such as films made during the transition from silent to sound or from black and white to color. Others were selected because of their impact on society at the time they were released. The following list details the 25 films that are being added to the National Film Registry collection.

The Asphalt Jungle (1950)
John Huston’s highly celebrated crime drama about a meticulously planned robbery that goes awry. Sam Jaffe, the mastermind of the plan, uses cash from a corrupt lawyer to assemble a group of skilled thugs to pull off a jewel heist. Everything goes as planned until a night watchman and a corrupt policeman arrive.

Deliverance (1972)
Four Atlanta professionals (Burt Reynolds, Ned Beatty, Ronnie Cox and Jon Voight) head out to the Appalachian backwoods for a weekend canoe trip - and instead meet up with two terrorizing villains. The film created a unique juxtaposition of civilized values versus backwoods culture and man’s taming of the natural environment.

Disneyland Dream (1956)
The Barstow family films a memorable home movie of their trip to Disneyland. Robbins and Meg Barstow, along with their children Mary, David and Daniel were among 25 families who won a free trip to the newly opened Disneyland in Anaheim, Calif., as part of a "Scotch Brand Cellophane Tape" contest sponsored by 3M. This film provides a fascinating historical snapshot of Hollywood, Beverly Hills, Catalina Island, Knott’s Berry Farm, Universal Studios and Disneyland in mid-1956.

A Face in the Crowd (1957)
Before charming television audiences with his portrayal of a small town sheriff in Mayberry, Andy Griffith he portrayed a completely different type of celebrity in this movie, his film debut that tells the tale of how sudden fame and power can corrupt a person. Griffith plays a rural drunk, drifter and country singer who becomes an overnight success when a radio station employee (Patricia Neal) plays his music on the air. In short order he becomes an egotistical, power-hungry monster.

Flower Drum Song (1961)
This film version of the Rodgers and Hammerstein musical was the first Hollywood studio film featuring performances by a mostly Asian cast. Prior to this groundbreaking film, Hollywood routinely cast white actors who were then made up to appear Asian. Starring prominent Asian-American actors Nancy Kwan and James Shigeta, the film offered a portrait of Asian America as well as a non-clichéd glimpse into the real Chinatown.

Foolish Wives (1922)
Director Erich von Stroheim tells the story of a Monte Carlo criminal who passes himself off as a Russian count in order to seduce women of society and steal their money. This costly and controversial film fully established von Stroheim’s reputation within the industry as being challenging and difficult to manage.

Free Radicals (1979)
An unusual short film by New Zealand avant-garde filmmaker Len Lye, "Free Radicals" was created by Lye simply scratching the film stock. The scratches appear as "figures of motion" that take the form of horizontal and vertical lines dancing to the music of the Bagirmi tribe in Africa..

Hallelujah (1929)
Director King Vidor created this movie without a salary because MGM was moving slowly in converting from silent to sound films and it was time for the studio to take a risk. Vidor shot silent film of a mass baptism and a murder in a Tennessee swamp, and then painstakingly synchronized the dialogue and music with the silent track. The story is about a cotton sharecropper who loses his money, his brother, and his freedom. The strength of the story and the technical breakthroughs by Vidor resulted in "Hallelujah" being one of the first masterpieces of the era of sound film.

In Cold Blood (1967)
In 1959 two men brutally murdered four members of a rural Kansas family. Truman Capote reported on the infamous killings in a series of New Yorker articles and later in his novel, "In Cold Blood." Director Richard Brooks adapted Capote’s novel in a chilling black-and-white documentary style, focusing on the motivations, backgrounds, and relationship of the killers (played by Robert Blake and Scott Wilson), society’s failure to spot potential murderers, and their eventual execution on death row.

The Invisible Man (1933)
Director James Whale, famous for creating some of the greatest low-budget horror films, filmed "The Invisible Man" using sophisticated special effects. After discovering a drug that provides the secret to invisibility, scientist Jack Griffin (Claude Rains) becomes an insane maniac and goes on a murder spree and then makes a deathbed confession to his fiancée.

Johnny Guitar (1954)
Filmed using the Trucolor process, "Johnny Guitar" is significant for being one of the few Westerns that feature women as the main stars. Joan Crawford plays the owner of a gambling saloon in an isolated town waiting for train lines to arrive so she can get rich. Often described as one of the kinkiest Westerns of all time, "Johnny Guitar" was panned by critics but has become a cult classic.

The Killers (1946)
Based on an Ernest Hemingway short story, Burt Lancaster makes an electrifying film debut as an ex-fighter who dies leaving behind a glamorous woman (Ava Gardner) and an insurance investigator (Edmond O’Brien) to sort through the tale of crime and betrayal.

The March (1964)
Examining the 1963 Civil Rights March on Washington from the ground-level and focusing on the idealistic passion, joy and synergy of the crowds, this documentary shows the event take shape from the planning stage to the arrival of enormous crowds on parades of trains and buses. It culminates in Martin Luther King’s electrifying "I Have a Dream" speech.

No Lies (1973)
Mitchell Block’s 16-minute New York University student film begins innocently with a scene of a girl getting ready for a date, and then moves into darker territory as an interviewer tears down the girl’s emotional defenses after she is raped. One of the first films to deal with the way rape victims are treated when they seek professional help for sexual assault, "No Lies" still leaves an intense impression of the trauma rape victims endure, and the film has been widely viewed as a training exercise by nurses, therapists, and police officers.

On the Bowery (1957)
This film focuses on three alcoholic skid row denizens of the New York City zone known as the Bowery and their lives amid the gin mills, missions and flop houses. Director Lionel Rogosin and his small crew spent months on the Bowery observing and talking with residents. They crafted the film as a "synthesis" of Bowery life, and it remains a wrenching portrait of hopelessness, despair and broken dreams.

One Week (1920)
"One Week" is the first publicly released two-reel short film starring Buster Keaton. One of Keaton’s finest films and one of the greatest short comedies produced during the 1920s, the film, is rife with hilarious comic, often surrealist, sequences chronicling the ill-fated attempts of a newlywed couple to assemble their new home.

The Pawnbroker (1965)
"The Pawnbroker" was the first Hollywood film to depict in a realistic manner the trauma of a Holocaust survivor (Rod Steiger), a subject previously taboo because of the fear of poor box office or offending delicate sensitivities. In a searing performance, Steiger tries to repress his memories of the anguish, physical and emotional shame of being an internment-camp inmate.

The Perils of Pauline (1914)
Produced in 20 episodes, "The Perils of Pauline" was among the very first American movie serials. The series starred Pearl White as a young and wealthy heiress whose ingenuity, self-reliance and pluck enable her to regularly outwit a guardian intent on stealing her fortune. Although now regarded as a satirical cliché of the movie industry, "The Perils of Pauline" inspired a generation of women by showing actress Pearl White performing her own stunts and overcoming a persistent male enemy.

Sergeant York (1941)
Gary Cooper won his first Oscar for his portrayal of Tennessee pacifist Sgt. Alvin York, who in World War I battle single-handedly captured over 130 German soldiers. The film appeared six months before America entered World War II as a nation and inspired Americans through the later conflict. "Sergeant York" contains three main segments, all directed by Howard Hawks: Cooper’s life in Tennessee, the war scenes, and post-war scenes in New York City where his new found fame briefly tempts Cooper not to return to his Tennessee home.

The 7th Voyage of Sinbad (1958)
Special-effects master Ray Harryhausen creates fantastic antagonists for Sinbad, including a giant cyclops, fire-breathing dragons, and a sword-wielding animated skeleton. His stunning Dynamation process, which blended stop-motion animation and live-actions sequences, makes this one of the most thrilling fantasy films of all time.

So’s Your Old Man (1926)
W.C. Fields is better known for his verbal jabs and sarcastic remarks, but he also starred in some memorable silent films. Fields plays inventor Samuel Bisbee, whose road to financial success takes many hilarious detours including a botched suicide attempt, a disastrous demo for potential investors, and a pantomime to a Spanish princess.

George Stevens World War II Footage (1943-46)
Director George Stevens joined the U.S. Army Signal Corps and headed a motion picture unit under Gen. Eisenhower from 1943-46. He shot many hours of footage chronicling D-Day, including rare color film of the European war front; the liberation of Paris; American and Soviet forces meeting at the Elbe River; and horrific scenes from the Duben labor camp and the Dachau concentration camp. The footage has become an essential visual record of World War II and a staple of documentary films.

The Terminator (1984)
In his film "The Terminator," Director James Cameron crafted one of the sleeper hits of 1984, blending an ingenious, thoughtful script with relentless, non-stop action moved along by an outstanding synthesizer and early techno soundtrack. Most notable was Arnold Schwarzenegger’s star-making performance as the mass-killing cyborg with a wry sense of humor ("I’ll be back"). Low-budget, but made with imagination and superb Stan Winston special effects, "The Terminator" remains among the finest science-fiction films ever made.

Water and Power (1989)
Winner of a Sundance Grand Jury prize, Pat O’Neill’s influential experimental work is in his own words "a landscape film that became animated by the beginnings of human stories." O’Neill juxtaposes images of downtown Los Angeles with scenes from the Owens Valley, Los Angeles’ source of water. This film is a brilliant examination of water in all its forms and the one-sided sharing of energy between the two places, representing nature and civilization.

White Fawn’s Devotion (1910)
James Young Deer is now recognized as the first documented movie director of Native American ancestry. He began his show-business career in circus and Wild West shows in the 1890s. When Pathé Frères of France established its American studio in 1910 to produce more authentically American-style Western films, Young Deer was hired as a director and scenario writer. Many details of Young Deer’s life and movie career remain undocumented and fewer than 10 of his films have been discovered and preserved by U.S. film archives.

For more information about the National Film Preservation Board and the National Film Registry, visit the website of the Library of Congress.