It's Official

The National Film Registry has just selected 25 more titles.  You know what that means--the book I bought last year with essays on each NFR film is now dated.

Anyway, here's the list, with old and new, familiar names and experimental works.

Allures (1961)

Bambi (1942)

The Big Heat (1953)

A Computer Animated Hand (1972)

Crisis: Behind a Presidential Commitment (1963)

The Cry of Children (1912)

A Cure for Pokeritis (1912)

El Mariachi (1992)

Faces (1968)

Fruit Cake Factory (1985) .

Forrest Gump (1994)

Growing Up Female (1971)

Hester Street (1975)

I, an Actress (1977)

The Iron Horse (1924)

The Kid (1921)

The Lost Weekend (1945)

The Negro Soldier (1944)

Nicholas Brothers Family Home Movies (1930s-1940s)

Norma Rae (1979)

Porgy and Bess (1959)

The Silence of the Lambs (1991)

Stand and Deliver (1988)

Twentieth Century (1934)

War of the Worlds (1953)

I wouldn't criticize the selections, since it's regarding our film heritage and the titles can be as much about historical significance as artistry or entertainment value.

Looking over it, I see there's one from Chaplin, one from Hawks, one from Disney, one from Wilder. Good.  Always room for more of their films. There's also Lang's Big Heat--surprised it hasn't made it already.

Some of the more modern titles--Norma Rae, The Silence Of The Lambs, Forrest Gump--aren't my favorites, but were and are well regarded enough (and big enough hits) that I understand them making the list. For that matter, I find Faces--like a lot of Cassavetes--hard to sit through.  But I recognize he was in the forefront, doing something different (even if it wasn't always worth doing).