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Posted by: Cary O’Dell
For the Library of Congress’ National Film Registry, it is not just big studio blockbusters and learned documentaries that populate its esteemed list. Any type of film–as long as it has had a profound artistic or cultural or historical impact on the nation–is open to being added. A case in point: even a home movie. …
Posted in: Film Essay, Motion Pictures, National Film Registry
Posted by: Cary O’Dell
Not surprisingly, the Library of Congress’ National Film Registry is well populated with animated works. Along with such vintage Disney classics as “Snow White” and more recent Disney classics like “Beauty & the Beast,” the work of other legendary animators (working in both long and short forms) are recognized. Additionally, while many of the animated …
Posted in: Film Essay, National Film Registry, World War II
Posted by: Cary O’Dell
Has it really been half a century? Yes, 50 years ago TODAY–June 30, 1971–actor Gene Wilder put on his top hat and we all made our first trip to the world’s most beloved candy factory. In 2014, this version of “Willy” was added to the Library of Congress’ National Film Registry. In the original essay …
Posted in: Film Essay, Motion Pictures, National Film Registry
Posted by: Cary O’Dell
It’s the good ole’ summer time and that means a trip to the fair–even in the movies. One of Will Rogers’ great cinema achievements as this 1933 State Fair-set fan fave. Though remade a couple of times and even brought to television, the original “Fair,” with its homespun humor, is the best known and best …
Posted in: Film Essay, Motion Pictures, National Film Registry
Posted by: Cary O’Dell
In 1992, Bruce Baillie’s film “Castro Street” (subtitled: “The Coming of Consciousness”) was added to the Library of Congress’ National Film Registry. As it turns 55 years old, film professor Scott MacDonald looks back at the impressionistic, non-narrative documentary that is, now over half a century on, still as evocative as ever. For Bruce Baillie, …
Posted in: Film Essay, Motion Pictures, National Film Registry
Posted by: Cary O’Dell
In our ongoing series of looking at–and analyzing–films from the Library of Congress’ National Film Registry, here scholar Ian Scott looks at one of the classiest of classics, “It Happened One Night.” Film scholar Charles Maland reminds us that, “Frank Capra was an auteur long before the auteur theory” ever existed. And it was true …
Posted in: Film Essay, Motion Pictures, National Film Registry
Posted by: Cary O’Dell
This past Sunday, the great character actor Ned Beatty passed away at the age of 83. Over the years, several of Mr. Beatty’s films have been named to the Library’s National Film Registry including “Deliverance” (1972), “Nashville” (1975), “Network” (1976) and “Superman” (1978). His role in 1976’s Oscar-winning Best Picture, Paddy Chayefsky’s scathing indictment of …
Posted in: Film Essay, Motion Pictures, National Film Registry, Uncategorized
Posted by: Cary O’Dell
The countdown to the newest titles to be added to the Library of Congress’s National Film Registry continues. Those films will be disclosed on December 12th. Back in 2015, the Library named the film “Being There,” starring Peter Sellers and Shirley MacLaine to its Registry. “Being There” is beloved for many things, including Sellers’s quiet …
Posted in: Film Essay, Motion Pictures, National Film Registry
Posted by: Cary O’Dell
Next Wednesday, the Library announces its newest titles to the Registry. But, first, we look back at 2014…. In 2014, the National Film Registry of the Library of Congress added to its esteemed list the short documentary film, “Felicia,” about the life of a teenage girl, named Felicia Bragg, growing up in the Watts section of Los Angeles. …
Posted in: Film Essay, Motion Pictures, National Film Registry