Librarian of Congress Names 25 More Films to National Film Registry
news...@my-deja.com
November 16, 1999
Librarian of Congress Names 25 More Films to National Film Registry
Librarian of Congress James H. Billington today announced his annual
selection of 25 motion pictures to be added to the National Film
Registry. (See attached list.) This group of titles brings the total
number
of films placed on the Registry to 275.
Under the terms of the National Film Preservation Act, each year the
Librarian of Congress names 25 "culturally, historically or
aesthetically"
significant motion pictures to the Registry. The list is designed to
reflect
the full breadth and diversity of America's film heritage, thus
increasing
public awareness of the richness of American cinema and the need for its
preservation.
"Taken together, the 275 films in the National Film Registry represent a
stunning range of American filmmaking -- including Hollywood features,
documentaries, avant-garde and amateur productions, films of regional
interest, ethnic, animated, and short film subjects -- all deserving
recognition, preservation and access by future generations. As we
approach the Millennium, the Registry stands among the finest
summations of American cinema's wondrous first century" said Dr.
Billington.
The Librarian chose this year's titles after evaluating more than a
thousand titles nominated by the public and following intensive
discussions, both with the distinguished members and alternates of his
advisory body, the National Film Preservation Board, whom the
Librarian consults both on Registry film selection and national film
preservation policy, and the Library's own Motion Picture Division
staff.
Dr. Billington added, "I am especially pleased that several Registry
titles
this year resulted from public input gathered through the "Candidates
for
the National Film Registry" screenings here in Washington."
"Our film heritage is America's living past. It celebrates the
creativity and
inventiveness of diverse communities and our nation as a whole. By
preserving American films, we safeguard our history and build toward
the future," said the Librarian.
"Despite the heroic efforts of archives, the motion picture industry and
others, America's film heritage, by any measure, is an endangered
species. Fifty percent of the films produced before 1950 and at least 90
percent made before 1920 have disappeared forever. Sadly, our
enthusiasm for watching films has proved 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," said Dr. Billington.
For each title named to the Registry, the Library of Congress works to
ensure that the film is preserved for all time, either through the
Library's
massive motion picture preservation program at Dayton, Ohio, or
through collaborative ventures with other archives, motion picture
studios, and independent filmmakers. The Library of Congress contains
the largest collections of film and television in the world, from the
earliest
surviving copyrighted motion picture to the latest feature releases.
For more information, please consult the National Film Preservation
Board Web site: www.loc.gov/film.
Films Selected to the National Film Registry Library of Congress - 1999
1.Civilization (1916)
2.Do the Right Thing (1989)
3.The Docks of New York (1928)
4.Duck Amuck (1953)
5.The Emperor Jones (1933)
6.Gunga Din (1939)
7.In the Land of the Head-Hunters (a.k.a. In the Land of the War
Canoes) (1914)
8.Jazz On A Summer's Day (1959)
9.King: A Filmed Record ... Montgomery to Memphis (1970)
10.The Kiss (1896)
11.Kiss Me Deadly (1955)
12.Lambchops (1929)
13.Laura (1944)
14.Master Hands (1936)
15.My Man Godfrey (1936)
16.Night of the Living Dead (1968)
17.The Plow That Broke the Plains (1936)
18.Raiders of the Lost Ark (1981)
19.Roman Holiday (1953)
20.The Shop Around the Corner (1940)
21.A Streetcar Named Desire (1951)
22.The Ten Commandments (1956)
23.Trance and Dance in Bali (1938-39)
24.The Wild Bunch (1969)
25.Woman of the Year (1942)
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Before you buy.
Robert Birchard
> Films Selected to the National Film Registry Library of Congress - 1999
>
> 1.Civilization (1916)
Unfortunately, "Civilization" as we know it bears no relation to the
film produced and released by Ince in 1916. What survives is a 1930 reissue
version, re-cut and re-titled by a religious group, and at least six reels
shorter than the original.
--
Bob Birchard
bbir...@earthlink.net
http://www.mdle.com/ClassicFilms/Guest/birchard.htm
Michael Gebert
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> Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii
> Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit
>
> news...@my-deja.com wrote:
>
> > Films Selected to the National Film Registry Library of Congress - 1999
> >
> > 1.Civilization (1916)
>
> Unfortunately, "Civilization" as we know it bears no relation to the
> film produced and released by Ince in 1916. What survives is a 1930 reissue
> version, re-cut and re-titled by a religious group, and at least six reels
> shorter than the original.
I know this has been mentioned here before but do you know of some source
that talks about what the original was really like? I'm curious about the
extent to which its pacifist message existed in the original.
Bruce Calvert
Michael Gebert <mg...@mindspring.com> wrote in message
news:mgmax-17119...@user-33qt8f9.dialup.mindspring.com...
the
> > film produced and released by Ince in 1916. What survives is a 1930
reissue
> > version, re-cut and re-titled by a religious group, and at least six
reels
> > shorter than the original.
>
> I know this has been mentioned here before but do you know of some source
> that talks about what the original was really like? I'm curious about the
> extent to which its pacifist message existed in the original.
While Kevin Brownlow doesn't mention that it survives in truncated form,
check out THE WAR, THE WEST, AND THE WILDERNESS, pages 71-77 for more
information on this film.
--
Bruce Calvert
Visit the Internet Silent Film Still Archive
http://www.crosswinds.net/dallas/~bcalvert/home.htm
Michael Gebert
<bcal...@flash.net> wrote:
> Michael Gebert <mg...@mindspring.com> wrote in message
> news:mgmax-17119...@user-33qt8f9.dialup.mindspring.com...
> > In article <3832D59E...@earthlink.net>, bbir...@earthlink.net
> wrote:
> > > Unfortunately, "Civilization" as we know it bears no relation to
> the
> > > film produced and released by Ince in 1916. What survives is a 1930
> reissue
> > > version, re-cut and re-titled by a religious group, and at least six
> reels
> > > shorter than the original.
> >
> > I know this has been mentioned here before but do you know of some source
> > that talks about what the original was really like? I'm curious about the
> > extent to which its pacifist message existed in the original.
>
> While Kevin Brownlow doesn't mention that it survives in truncated form,
> check out THE WAR, THE WEST, AND THE WILDERNESS, pages 71-77 for more
> information on this film.
Thanks, I should have mentioned that I checked that first and didn't find
that kind of info, so I wondered where else it might be.
Bruce Calvert
FILMS 1912-1920 does mention that CIVILIZATION was reedited after WWI
started to remove some of the anti-war aspects of the film.
Robert Birchard
> bbir...@earthlink.net wrote:
>
> Unfortunately, "Civilization" as we know it bears no relation to the
> > film produced and released by Ince in 1916. What survives is a 1930 reissue
> > version, re-cut and re-titled by a religious group, and at least six reels
> > shorter than the original.
>
> I know this has been mentioned here before but do you know of some source
> that talks about what the original was really like? I'm curious about the
> extent to which its pacifist message existed in the original.
The film did have a pacifist message, and they used a tie-in with Woodrow "He
Kept Us Out of War" Wilson to help promote it. Then Woodrow snookered the picture
makers by asking Congress to get us into WWI. The picture was suddenly out of
date, and its pacifist message was cited as a contributing factor to its relative
box-office failure.
All of the titles were replaced in the 1930 version. The two original titles
I've seen were in Irvin Willat's collection. Willat supervised the editing and
finishing of the film. Willat's titles had illustrated backgrounds. I do not
recall any of the titles in the surving material duplicating the text of the two
originals I've seen.
Here are a few of Willat's reminiscinces on the picture. More of his remarks
about Civilization from my interview with him should appear in a comingissue of
"Film History."
WILLAT: I looked at a picture in the projection room, a submarine story, and I
noticed
particularly that they used the same uniforms they'd used in Civilization; and
much of the
cast was the same--except the leading lady, they had a better one in Civilization,
but this
had a better story, more action. I went back to Ince, and I said, "Let's take the
submarine stuff out of this picture, and we'll put it into Civilization to give it
a little action."
But Mr. Ince was reluctant.
That night, the cutter, Dell Andrews, who was working on fixing up
Civilization, laid a
lighted cigarette on his cutting room table and some film touched it, and the
whole dark
room went up in flames--it was not a very strong shack in the first place.
Next morning I was called into Mr. Ince's office.
"Irvin, what are we going to do now?"
I said, "Have all the negative reprinted, and give it to me and I'll cut it."
I'd never cut a picture--I'd been cutting parts of pictures, but no full
pictures. So I cut
the picture, making one out of the best of the two. Then I thought of a prologue
and an
epilogue. I wanted to give it some size. So I made a prologue; it opened with the
guns
firing and men fighting, destroying a beautiful peaceful field--and then at the
end when
peace came over the land, there was the shepherd with his horn, and the sheep in
the
meadows, and only the broken down cannon remained. These I directed and
photographed, so gradually you see how I'm getting to be a director.
I put the picture together, I put in all the titles, and tinted the film from
beginning to
end; and we were able to release Civilization. It received some very good
reviews,
although I didn't think it was worth being a big picture, even then.