This year, the Library of Congress has selected another 25 American films to be included in their National Film Registry, which under the terms of the National Film Preservation Act is supposed to preserve "for all time" short and feature films that are "culturally, historically or aesthetically" significant. (See full list.)
Among the selected films are Howard Hawks‘ flag-waving 1941 war drama Sergeant York (right), which earned Gary Cooper his first best actor Oscar; John Boorman’s Oscar-nominated 1972 drama Deliverance; John Huston’s 1950 film noir The Asphalt Jungle, starring Sterling Hayden and featuring a pre-stardom Marilyn Monroe; and Nicholas Ray’s campy 1954 Western Johnny Guitar, which stars Hayden in the title role, plus Joan Crawford and Mercedes McCambridge as a lesbian with an unrequited-love complex.
Also, Elia Kazan’s 1957 political drama A Face in the Crowd, starring Andy Griffith and Patricia Neal; King Vidor’s all-black 1929 musical drama Hallelujah!; Erich von Stroheim’s extravagant 1922 effort Foolish Wives; the 1914 adventure serial The Perils of Pauline, starring Pearl White; James Cameron’s 1984 thriller The Terminator, starring Arnold Schwarzenegger; and Henry Koster’s 1961 musical Flower Drum Song, which is described in the LOC’s press release as "the first Hollywood studio film featuring performances by a mostly Asian cast, a break from past practice of casting white actors made up to appear Asian."
(I’m assuming they’ve never heard of Sessue Hayakawa [right] and Tsuru Aoki, who starred in their own vehicles back in the 1910s. By the way, Nancy Kwan, described in the text below as an "Asian-American" was actually born in Hong Kong to British-Chinese parents. The Oscar-winning Japanese actress Myoshi Umeki was the actual star of Flower Drum Song, playing, ahem, a Chinese character. Juanita Hall, who was about as "Asian American" as Sidney Poitier, has one of the leading roles in the film — even getting to sing a song about chop suey. But then again, it is true. There were no white actors made up to appear Asian in Flower Drum Song.)
Additionally, the Registry added a couple of amateur films, Disneyland Dream, a filmed record of a Connecticut family’s trip to Disneyland in the mid-1950s, and the sixteen-minute 1973 student film No Lies, about date rape.
The National Film Registry now lists a total of 500 shorts and features. Sounds like a whole lot, no? Well, to put things in perspective: in a single year in the 1920s, they’d make as many as 700 motion pictures. And I mean features.
My point: There’s an ocean of film (read: cultural) deterioration out there that the National Film Registry does next to nothing to prevent from continuing — I mean, how endangered, really, are Deliverance, Sergeant York, or The Terminator? — and that few out there, including the vast majority of those film-loving multimillionaire Hollywood big-shots, care about.
** Initially, I’d written the following: "Only films made between 1910–1989 are eligible to be added to the Registry (tough luck for those D.W. Griffith, Edwin S. Porter, Mary Pickford, or Florence Lawrence shorts made in the first decade of the 20th century)."
I removed that bit because the pre-1910/post-1989 limitation isn’t true. I misread the Registry’s press release, which states that this year’s selection includes films made between 1910 and 1989. (See the comments section below.) In addition to a dozen pre-1910 titles, the Registry also includes 11 post-1989 titles.
Considering the fact that over half the films made before 1950 are lost, shouldn’t the registry concentrate on preserving as many as they can of those that are left? Are films made just 9 years ago really in need of preservation? What about newsreel footage of famous events? I mean really, “Free Radicals,” a film of scratches on film that become lines and shapes dancing to the music of the Bagirmi tribe in Africa! Geez. Let’s forget about footage of Teddy Roosevelt, Babe Ruth, the First World War. etc. so that we can preserve some idiotic experimental film and a family’s home movie of their trip to Disneyland. The NFR is a joke.
“The Cheat” is available on DVD, and three more Sessue Hayakawa films were released on DVD last year (I believe). An online search should yield some results.
And “The Bridge on the River Kwai” is available as well.
Are there any Hayakawa movies available?
My complaint about Sessue Hayakawa is not incorrect. I mentioned him within the context of what the Registry’s press release says about “Flower Drum Song.” If you chose to misrepresent my comment, that’s not my fault.
As for pre-1910s movies, I must admit that I misread info found in the press release (this year’s list alone included films made from 1910-1989). Adding insult to injury, I failed to look at the Registry list instead of taking (my misreading of) their own release at face value. (I was going to, but forgot.) There are, in fact, a dozen pre-1910 titles, most of which are newsreel bits or five-minute-long documentaries.
Wow. Our cultural heritage has been saved for the ages.
Now, you imply that there are two pre-1910 Mary Pickford shorts in the list. That’s wrong. Thank you for contributing to the ocean of cultural… Oh, never mind. That would be an infantile way to make a point about nothing. What truly matters is that hundreds of film reels are deteriorating while we argue over the Registry’s inclusion of one or two pre-1910 Florence Lawrence shorts.
Since the Registry includes The Cheat (selected in 1993), your complaint about Sessue Hayakawa et al. is incorrect. Furthermore, the Registry includes over a dozen titles made during or before 1910, making your snarky complaint about D.W. Griffith (represented by two 1909 films), Edwin S. Porter (also with two titles), Mary Pickford (ditto), and Florence Lawrence incorrect as well. Thanks for contributing to the ocean of cultural deterioration. Great job copying the LOC press release, though.
I’m not sure if Johnny Guitar is in dire need of preservation, but I’m glad it’s part of the list. At the very least, some of those listed movies are receiving some good publicity at the moment and that can’t be bad.
Aren’t there other Gary Cooper movies they should preserve? how many Gary Cooper silents survive? How many Gary Cooper silents are in dire need of restoration before they disappear forever? How many Gary Cooper silents are available for viewing on TV/DVD/Video?
I have some old home movies the LoC might be willing to preserve for all eternity. I probably should contact them.