Iconic movies by filmmakers ranging from Alfred Hitchcock to Sylvester Stallone are the latest to be preserved by the U.S. Library of Congress.
Hitchcock’s Notorious, the Stallone-penned Rocky, pioneering slasher film Halloween, innovative comedy Groundhog Day and early John Wayne vehicle The Big Trail were among the newest titles inducted into U.S. National Film Registry, librarian of Congress James Billington announced Wednesday.
Each year, organizers select “culturally, historically or aesthetically significant” U.S. films for preservation.
The process “involves far more than the simple naming of cherished and important films to a prestigious list,” Billington said in a statement.
The registry is a “means to advance public awareness of the richness, creativity and variety of American film heritage, and to dramatize the need for its preservation,” he said, not recognition like that offered by the Academy Awards or the Kennedy Center Honours.
According to the U.S. Library of Congress, an estimated 50 per cent of the films produced in the U.S. before 1950 have been lost forever. Approximately 80 to 90 per cent of those made before 1920 have disappeared. Films are also in constant danger of deteriorating.
Since its establishment in 1989, the registry has preserved 450 films that range from hit Hollywood features to short productions to avant-garde and amateur works.
Nearly 1,000 films nominated by the public
Billington selected this year’s 25 inductees, which span 1913 to 1996, from nearly 1,000 titles nominated by the public.
Other notable selections added this year include:
* Tess of the Storm Country (1914), the feature that launched Canadian-born actress Mary Pickford on the road to becoming an international celebrity and America’s Sweetheart.
* The Curse of Quon Gwon (1916-1917), the earliest-known Chinese-American feature and one of the first U.S. films directed by a woman.
* Applause (1929), the early sound-era film by director Rouben Mamoulian.
* Flesh and the Devil (1927), one of the last silent film classics, starring Greta Garbo and John Gilbert.
* The T.A.M.I. Show (1964), the iconic concert film featuring performances by the Rolling Stones and the late James Brown.
* sex, lies and videotape (1989), the low-key Steven Soderbergh movie that helped spark the rise of U.S. indie films during the 1990s.
* Fargo (1996), the Oscar-winning Coen Brothers dark comedy.
The Library of Congress will preserve each film either through its own facilities or in collaboration with other U.S. archives, studios or filmmakers.
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