11/16

FILMS SELECTED TO THE NATIONAL FILM REGISTRY,

LIBRARY OF CONGRESS - 1998


1) BRIDE OF FRANKENSTEIN (1935)

2) THE CITY (1939)

3) DEAD BIRDS (1964)

4) DON'T LOOK BACK (1967)

5) EASY RIDER (1969)

6) 42ND STREET (1933)

7) FROM THE MANGER TO THE CROSS (1912)

8) GUN CRAZY (1949)

9) THE HITCH-HIKER (1953)

10) THE IMMIGRANT (1917)

11) THE LAST PICTURE SHOW (1972)

12) LITTLE MISS MARKER (1934)

13) THE LOST WORLD (1925)

14) MODESTA (1956)

15) THE OX-BOW INCIDENT (1943)

16) PASS THE GRAVY (1928)

17) PHANTOM OF THE OPERA (1925)

18) POWERS OF TEN (1978)

19) THE PUBLIC ENEMY (1931)

20) SKY HIGH (1922)

21) STEAMBOAT WILLIE (1928)

22) TACOMA NARROWS BRIDGE COLLAPSE (1940)

23) TOOTSIE (1982)

24) TWELVE O'CLOCK HIGH (1949)

25) WESTINGHOUSE WORKS, 1904 (1904)


Credits for Films Selected to the

National Film Registry, 1998


Note: These credits are unofficial and provided for informational purposes
only.



1) The Bride of Frankenstein (Universal, 1935) 75 minutes, b&w

Producer: Carl Laemmle, Jr,
Director: James Whale
Writers: John Balderston and William Hurlbut, based on the novel by Mary W.
Shelley
Cinematographer: John J. Mescall
Editor: Ted Kent
Music: Franz Waxman

Cast: Boris Karloff, Colin Clive, Ernest Thesiger, Elsa Lanchester, Valerie
Hobson, Una O'Connor, and O.P. Heggie



2) The City (American Documentary Films, Inc., 1939) 45 minutes, b&w
Picture funded by the Carnegie Corporation and made for the American
Institute of Planners for premiere at the 1939 World's Fair

Directors/Cinematographers: Willard Van Dyke and Ralph Steiner
Writer: Henwar Rodakiewicz, based on an outline by Pare Lorentz
Music: Aaron Copland
Narration: Written by Lewis Mumford and delivered by Morris Carnovsky


3) Dead Birds (Peabody Museum, 1964) 85 minutes, Technicolor
(Study of a Western New Guinea tribe, the Dani)

Director/Narrator: Robert Gardner
Writer: Peter Mathieson
Cinematographer: Eliot Elisofon
Editors: Robert Gardner and Jestrup Lincoln
Sound: Michael Rockefeller
Titles: Peter and Joyce Chopra

4) Don't Look Back (Leacock-Pennebaker, Inc., 1967) 96 minutes, b&w

Producers: Albert Grossman and John Court
Cinematographers: D. A. Pennebaker, Jones Alk and Howard Alk
Editor: D. A. Pennebaker
Featuring: Bob Dylan, Joan Baez, Donovan, Alan Price, Albert Grossman, Bob
Neuwirth, Tito Burns, Derroll Adams, Allen Ginsberg


5) Easy Rider (Raybert Productions-Pando Co./Columbia, 1969)
94 minutes, Technicolor

Producer: Peter Fonda
Director: Dennis Hopper
Writers: Peter Fonda, Dennis Hopper and Terry Southern
Cinematographer: Laszlo Kovacs
Editor: Donn Cambern

Cast: Peter Fonda, Dennis Hopper, Jack Nicholson, Robert Walker Jr., Luane
Anders and Karen Black


6) 42nd Street (Warner Bros., 1933) 89 minutes, b&w

Director: Lloyd Bacon
Writers: Rian James and James Seymour, based on the Bradford Ropes novel
Cinematographer: Sol Polito
Music/Lyrics: Al Dubin and Harry Warren
Choreography: Busby Berkeley
Editors: Thomas Pratt and Frank Ware

Cast: Warner Baxter, Bebe Daniels, George Brent, Ruby Keeler, Guy Kibbee,
Una Merkel, Ginger Rogers, Ned Sparks, Dick Powell, Allen Jenkins

7) From the Manger to the Cross (Kalem, 1912) silent, b&w

Director: Sidney Olcott
Writer: Gene Gauntier
Cinematographer: George K. Hollister

Cast: R. Henderson Bland, Gene Gauntier, Percy Dyer, Alice Hollister, Helen
Lindroth, Jack J. Clark, J.P McGowan, Robert Vignola, and Sidney Baber

8) Gun Crazy (aka Deadly is the Female) (United Artists, 1949)

Producers: Frank and Maurice King
Director: Joseph H. Lewis
Writers: MacKinlay Kantor and Dalton Trumbo, based on Kantor's Saturday
Evening Post story
Cinematographer: Russell Harlan
Editor: Harry Gerstad
Music: Victor Young

Cast: Peggy Cummins, John Dall, Berry Kroeger, Morris Carnovsky, Anabel
Shaw, Harry Lewis, Nedrick Young, Rusty Tamblyn


9) The Hitch-Hiker (Filmmakers/RKO, 1953) 71 minutes, b&w

Producer: Collier Young
Director: Ida Lupino
Writers: Young, Lupino and Robert Joseph, based on a story by Daniel
Mainwaring
Cinematographer: Nicholas Musuraca
Music: Leith Stevens

Cast: Edmond O*Brien, Frank Lovejoy, William Talman, Jose Torvay, Sam Hayes,
Wendell Niles, Jean Del Val, Clark Howat, Natividad Vacio


10) The Immigrant (Mutual, 1917) Silent, b&w

Writer/Director: Charles Chaplin
Cinematographers: Roland Totheroh and William Foster

Cast: Charles Chaplin, Edna Purviance, Eric Campbell, Kitty Bradbury, Albert
Austin, Henry Bergman, John Rand.


11) The Last Picture Show (BBS/Columbia, 1971) 118 minutes, b&w

Producer: Stephen Friedman
Director: Peter Bogdanovich
Writers: Larry McMurtry and Peter Bogdanovich, based on McMurtry*s novel
Cinematographer: Robert Surtees
Editor: Donn Cambern

Cast: Timothy Bottoms, Jeff Bridges, Cybill Shepherd, Ben Johnson, Cloris
Leachman, Ellen Burstyn, Eileen Brennan, Clu Gallger, Sam Bottoms, Sharon Taggart,
Randy Quaid


12) Little Miss Marker (Paramount, 1934) 78 minutes, b&w

Producer: B.P. Schulberg
Director: Alexander Hall
Writers: William Lipman, Sam Hellman and Gladys Lehman, based on the Damon
Runyon short story
Cinematographer: Alfred Gilks
Editor: William Shea
Music/Lyrics: Ralph Rainger and Leo Robin

Cast: Adolphe Menjou, Dorothy Dell, Charles Bickford, Shirley Temple,
Lynne Overman, Warren Hymer, Sam Hardy, John Kelly, Frank McGlynn, Sr., Jack
Sheehan, Sam Hardy, Tammany Young


13) The Lost World (First National, 1925) Silent, b&w

Director: Harry O. Hoyt
Writer: Marion Fairfax, based on the Arthur Conan Doyle novel
Cinematographer: Arthur Edeson

Cast: Bessie Love, Lloyd Hughes, Lewis Stone, Wallace Beery, Arthur Hoyt,
Bull Montana


14) Modesta (Film Unit of the Division of Community Education, Puerto Rico,
1956) 35 minutes

Producer: Otoniel Vila
Director: Benji Doniger
Writers: Benji Doniger, Luis A. Maisonet and Rene Marques, based on a short
story by Domingo Silas Ortiz


15) The Ox-Bow Incident (Twentieth Century-Fox, 1943) b&w, 76 minutes

Producer: Lamar Trotti
Director: William Wellman
Cinematographer: Arthur Miller
Writer: Lamar Trotti, based on the novel by Walter van Tilburg Clark
Editor: Allen McNeil
Music: Cyril Mockridge

Cast: Henry Fonda, Henry Morgan, Dana Andrews, Anthony Quinn, Harry
Davenport, Frank Conroy, Francis Ford, Leigh Whipper, Mary Beth Hughes, Jane Darwell


16) Pass the Gravy (Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, 1928) silent, b&w

Producer: Hal Roach
Director: Fred L. Guiol

Cast: Max Davidson, Martha Sleeper, Bert Sprotte, Gene Morgan, "Spec" O*
Donnell


17) The Phantom of the Opera (Universal, 1925) Silent, b&w

Director: Rupert Julian
Writers: Raymond Schrock and Elliott Clawson, based on the Gaston Leroux
novel
Cinematographers: Virgil Miller, Milton Bridenbecker, and Charles J. Van
Enger
Titles: Tom Reed
Editor: Maurice Pivar

Cast: Lon Chaney, Mary Philbin, Norman Kerry, Snitz Edwards, Gibson Gowland,
John Sainpolis, Virginia Pearson, Arthur Edmund Carewe


18) Powers of Ten (Charles and Ray Eames, 1978) 9 minutes, color
 
Director: Charles and Ray Eames
Narrator: Philip Morrison
Music: Elmer Bernstein


19) The Public Enemy (Warner Bros., 1931) 83 minutes, b&w

Director: William Wellman
Writers: Kubec Glasmon and John Bright, adaptation by Harvey Thew
Cinematographer: Dev Jennings
Editors: Edward McDermott

Cast: James Cagney, Jean Harlow, Edward Woods, Joan Blondell, Donald Cook,
Leslie Fenton, Beryl Mercer, Mae Clarke


20) Sky High (Fox Film Corp., 1922) Silent, b&w

Director/Writer: Lynn Reynolds
Cinematographer: Ben Kline

Cast: Tom Mix, J. Farrell MacDonald, Eva Novak, Sid Jordan, William Buckley,
Adele Warner, Wynn Mace, Pat Chrisman



21) Steamboat Willie (Walt Disney, 1928) b&w, sound

Producers: Roy and Walt Disney
Director: Walt Disney
Writers: Walt Disney and Ub Iwerks
Music: Carl Stalling
Animation Supervisor: Ub Iwerks
Animation: Wilfred Jackson, Les Clark and Johnny Cannon


22) Tacoma Narrows Bridge Collapse (Barney Elliott & The Camera Shop in
Tacoma, 1940)

Cinematographers: Barney Elliott and co-workers at The Camera Shop in
Tacoma, WA


23) Tootsie (Columbia, 1982) 116 minutes, Technicolor

Producers: Sydney Pollack and Dick Richards
Director: Sydney Pollack
Writers: Larry Gelbart and Murray Schisgal, from a story by Don McGuire and
Gelbart
Cinematographer: Owen Roisman
Editors: Frederick Steinkamp and William Steinkamp
Music: Dave Grusin

Cast: Dustin Hoffman, Jessica Lange, Teri Garr, Dabney Coleman, Charles
Durning, Bill Murray, Sydney Pollack, George Gaynes, Geena Davis


24 Twelve O*Clock High (Twentieth Century-Fox, 1949) 132 minutes, b&w

Producer: Darryl F. Zanuck
Director: Henry King
Writer: Sy Bartlett and Beirne Lay, Jr., based on their novel
Cinematographer: Leon Shamroy
Editor: Barbara McLean
Music: Alfred Newman

Cast: Gregory Peck, Hugh Marlowe, Gary Merrill, Dean Jagger, Millard
Mitchell, Robert Arthur, Paul Stewart, John Kellogg


25) Westinghouse Works 1904 (American Mutoscope & Biograph Company, 1904)
silent, b&w

Photographed April 13-May 16, 1904 in East Pittsburgh, Wilmerding
and Trafford, PA. Footage shows manufacturing plant of Westinghouse Air
Brake and Electric Motor Company

Cinematographer: G. W. Bitzer
  




1998 Film Selections for the National Film Registry

Statement of James H. Billington

The Librarian of Congress

Los Angeles, November 16, 1998


Good evening. Tonight, I have the honor of announcing the tenth list of
films I have chosen for the National Film Registry, located in the Library
of Congress. I have named 25 films each year during the nine years since the National Film Preservation Act was enacted by Congress. Today's selection will bring the number of films in the Registry to 250. Taken together, these 250 films
represent a broad range of American filmmaking--all deserving recognition,
preservation, and access by future generations.

It is fitting that I am naming these films today in Los Angeles and here at
the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. The Academy*s interest in
film preservation ranges from at least the 1940's, when the Academy helped
the preservation of the Library of Congress* historic paper print
collection, to 1997 when the Academy made the first substantial donation to
the National Film Preservation Foundation. The Academy*s own film archive,
where we meet tonight, is a leading player in film preservation activities.
Of even more importance are two persons (one here in person, the other
[alas] only in spirit) long closely tied to film preservation and the
Academy. Fay Kanin--the first and only and extraordinary chair of the
National Film Preservation Board is the Academy*s representative, who
represents the strong commitment of many people in the film industry to
preserving the creative legacy of this city. And Roddy McDowall (a charter
member of the National Film Preservation Board and long-time Academy Board
governor), who, during his too-brief life, elevated the valued concepts of
friendship, generosity and love of culture to rarely-attained heights.

Our film heritage is America*s living past. It celebrates the creativity and
inventiveness of our nation as a whole and the diverse communities that make
it up. By preserving American films, we safeguard our history and build
toward the future.

Since we began naming works to the National Film Registry in 1989, the
importance of film preservation has won the acceptance of many in the
Hollywood film community. Most studios now invest in protecting their film
libraries.

But for the works outside commercial preservation programs the future is
less clear. More than one-third of the films added to this year*s Registry
are documentaries, silent films, and films produced outside the commercial
mainstream. Along with its other work in film preservation, the Library of
Congress is mandated to protect all Registry films and works to ensure that
these treasures are preserved for future generations. I am proud to report
that the Library of Congress has, since the late 1960*s preserved over
15,000 films at its Motion Picture Conservation Center in Dayton, Ohio. And
that 75% of the surviving portions of the American film, television and
radio heritage is at the Library and accessible for free study and research.

For each film added to the Registry this year, there are many more of
lasting cultural and historical value that deserve recognition and
preservation. Newsreels, documentaries, silent films, experimental works,
actuality footage, significant home movies, and other films produced outside
the commercial mainstream are our endangered species. These are the films
that America is in most danger of losing.

Luckily, the U.S. Congress astutely noted this problem in 1992 and mandated
that the Library and Film Board 1) prepare a national study on the state of
film preservation and 2) then develop and implement a national plan/program
to address these problems. Thanks to the active efforts of hundreds of
institutions and individuals throughout the film community under the
leadership of the Library and Film Board, these programs were designed and
are presently being implemented.

In past years I have singled out the valiant efforts of archives to rescue
endangered films: the Library of Congress, the UCLA Film and Television
Archive, the Museum of Modern Art, George Eastman House, the Academy Film
Archive and others in the nation*s archival community have long worked to
save the broadest cross section of our film heritage.

What is especially encouraging this year is the advent of a new
organization--the National Film Preservation Foundation--dedicated to
helping archives accomplish their critical cultural mission. Created by
Congress at the request of the Library of Congress, the NFPF grew from a
national planning initiative led by the Library of Congress in partnership
with archival and film industry representatives. Continuing this
collaborative approach, the NFPF raises private funding to help nonprofit
archives protect America*s orphan films. It started operations late last
year thanks to start-up grants from the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and
Sciences and The Film Foundation. In these few months, it has already
awarded grants to support film preservation activities in twelve archives in
nine states and the District of Columbia.

It promises to do even more next year, thanks to the support it is gaining
in the entertainment community. I serve as an ex officio member on the Board
of this new organization and I am proud to say that it is beginning to make
a difference under the very effective leadership of my nominee as chair,
Roger Mayer.

Now to the task at hand. The National Film Preservation Act of 1996, truly
landmark legislation, signifies vital congressional interest in ensuring
that motion pictures will survive as an art form and a record of our times.
Among other provisions, this legislation mandates 1) the realization of the
previously noted Library of Congress/National Film Preservation Board*s
comprehensive national film preservation plan, undertaken by Congressional
mandate, which provides an innovative framework to address the still unmet
problems of preserving films as they were originally created; and 2) the
selection of 25 "culturally, historically or aesthetically significant
films" per year for addition to the National Film Registry at the Library of
Congress.

I am pleased to announce that the Association of Moving Image Archivists is
joining with the Library and National Film Preservation Board in the massive
effort needed to implement the important recommendations found in both the
film preservation plan and the television and video preservation plan
undertaken by the Library of Congress at the direction of Congress. In these
austere times, Congress demands that as much as possible be done through
collaboration, cooperation, and fresh thinking among all the custodians of
America*s cultural heritage. The Library, the National Film Preservation
Board, AMIA, and others working together can rally support from institutions
throughout the United States for the benefit of America*s moving image
heritage.

It is not a moment too soon. Despite the heroic efforts of archives, the
motion picture industry and others, America's film heritage, by any measure,
is an endangered species.

50 percent of films produced before 1950 and at least 90 percent made before
1920 have disappeared forever from the "American Memory." Sadly, our
enthusiasm for watching films has proven far greater than our commitment to
preserving them. And ominously, more films are lost each year -- through the
ravages of nitrate deterioration, color-fading and the recently discovered
"vinegar syndrome," which threatens the acetate-based (safety) film stock on
which the vast majority of motion pictures, past and present, have been
preserved.

The annual selection of films for the National Film Registry involves much
more than the simple naming of cherished and important films to a
prestigious list. This process serves as an invaluable means to advance
public awareness of the richness and variety of the American film heritage,
and to dramatize the need for its preservation. The Library of Congress does
not take lightly its responsibility here; this is not simply another list of
great films.

Given that Congress established the Registry, and the Registry list is
chosen by broad input from the American public and the diverse organizations
on the Board, the Registry stands as a key record of America*s great
diversity.

For the 1998 Registry, I selected films after three levels of review: by the
general public; by the distinguished members and alternates of the National
Film Preservation Board and outside experts they recommended; and, finally,
by me in consultation with the Library's motion picture staff. My emphasis,
when making these decisions, has been, as Congress intended, to examine each
film according to its historical, cultural or aesthetic significance. To
make these judgments knowledgeably, I held a full day of discussions with
the Board in June, and then screened and reviewed many of the films with our
specialists in the Library's Motion Picture Division.

This selection process should not be seen as "The Kennedy Center Honors,"
"The Academy Awards," "The People's Choice Awards," or "America*s Most
Beloved Films."

The films we choose are not necessarily either the "best" American films
ever made, or the most famous. But they are films that continue to have
cultural, historical or aesthetic significance-- and in many cases represent
countless other films deserving of recognition.

The 1996 Act allows me great latitude in naming obscure but important films,
rarely viewed today by the film-going public. Such films deserve to be
preserved so that we may study them as cultural artifacts, especially now
that the Internet will in coming years make it possible for the public to
access these films more readily, in full compliance with U.S. Copyright law.
The selection of a film, I stress, is not an endorsement of its ideology or
content, but rather a recognition of the film's importance to American film
and cultural history and to history in general.

Although we have made progress in preservation, we need to do even more. I
hope that this year*s Registry announcement will not only draw attention to
the titles we are honoring and the history they represent but also inspire
greater support for film preservation. Let us make the Registry announcement
an opportunity to affirm our public commitment to work together to save the
full spectrum of America*s endangered film heritage.

And now, let me read the 1998 list of films....

The last film in this year's list and the 250th added to the Registry thus
far is the American classic "Twelve O'Clock High." In recalling this film,
some note the expert direction of Henry King, others allude to the marvelous
acting of Dean Jagger. EVERYONE, however, mentions the extraordinary
performance of Gregory Peck, who, I am so personally thrilled and honored to
have at tonight*s announcement. I'll spare Mr. Peck a retelling of the
incredible feats in his life and career--for truly I doubt I can top his
reception at the White House recently. But I will say, honestly and
intently, that each time I see his stunning performance in "To Kill a
Mockingbird," I feel my faith in human nature restored. And this faith is
restored anew whenever one thinks of the magnificent work he has done in
life outside film. Ladies and gentlemen, one of the finest acting talents of
this century and an even better human being, Gregory Peck.

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