Tuesday, December 15, 2009

National Film Registry

If you have not yet nominated films to be protected by the National Film Registry, your days are running out!
Here are the films I selected. I think most of them are pretty self-explanatory:
Life of an American Fireman
The Broadway Melody of 1929
The Champ
Cimarron
A Bill of Divorcement
The Most Dangerous Game
What Price Hollywood
Flying Down to Rio
Hallelujah, I'm a Bum
Private Life of Henry VIII
The Gay Divorcee
Of Human Bondage
Sadie McKee
Becky Sharp
Roberta
Camille (1936)
Follow the Fleet
Mr. Deeds Goes to Town
The Petrified Forest
Theadora Goes Wild
A Damsel in Distress
Easy Living
Lost Horizon
Make Way for Tomorrow
Shall We Dance
Stage Door
Algiers
Carefree
Jezebel
Vivacious Lady
You Can't Take it With You
Bachelor Mother
Dark Victory
Goodbye, Mr. Chips
The Hunchback of Notre Dame (1939)
Love Affair
Intermezzo: A Love Story
The Private Lives of Elizabeth and Essex
The Roaring Twenties
I know that the maximum amount that can be submitted is 50, but I was so distraught at how many films from 1939 had not yet been added that I stopped there. I have not seen about half of the films I nominated, and that is exactly why I nominated them: they are not readily available to the public, even to a sect of the pulic that thoroughly searches for them.Make Way for Tomorrow is a specific example of this. I read about it at another blog (whose name escapes me at the moment). It sounds fantastic. I have been regularly requesting it on TCM, but we all know that that doesn't mean much.
Anyway, make sure that you nominate 50 films before the year is out! I'm trying to do all I can to promote preservation among fans before it actually becomes my job.
To nominate, email your submissions to dross@loc.gov
Here is a list of notable films that have not yet been named to the registry (only a few. for example, Roberta is not listed and not in the registry), and here is a list of films that have been named.

Oh, and PS: I heard back today about an internship at the Oklahoma City Museum of Art. If I'm selected, I will intern in the film department, and perhaps aid in the curation of an exhibit of costumes ranging from Pickford to Cate Blanchett. I may actually get to handle a gown worn by Bette Davis (who is quickly rising in the ranks of my favorites).

3 comments:

  1. Thanks for sharing those links. You've got a good list of choices. I'm going to come up with a list to submit as well. That internship and the exhibit sound cool.

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  2. Wow... great work, Maggie - hope those all survive! Great to know you and others will be out there working on those for posterity, and mainly for us to continue watching and 'discovering' lost treasures!!! I will try to post some on the site...and I will TRY to 'broaden my horizons' beyond the majestic sunsets of Ginger... honest!

    By the way - This is JWalker from Gingerology...just letting you know I have changed my 'title' to VKMfan from jwalker... thanks!

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