Welcome Guest [Log In] [Register]
Welcome to In The Balcony. We hope you enjoy your visit.

You're currently viewing our forum as a guest. This means you are limited to certain areas of the board and there are some features you can't use. If you join our community, you'll be able to access member-only sections, and use many member-only features such as customizing your profile, sending personal messages, and voting in polls. Registration is simple, fast, and completely free. Plus, you'll be eligible for the monthly $1 million prize. (Not really.)

Join our community!

If you're already a member please log in to your account to access all of our features:

Username:   Password:
Add Reply
2014 National Film Registry entries
Topic Started: Dec 22 2014, 11:07 AM (192 Views)
JazzGuyy
Member Avatar
Balcony Gang, Foist Class
[ *  *  * ]
The Library of Congress has identified these as the newest official national film treasures:

13 Lakes (2004)
Bert Williams Lime Kiln Club Field Day (1913)
The Big Lebowski (1998)
Down Argentine Way (1940)
The Dragon Painter (1919)
Felicia (1965)
Ferris Bueller’s Day Off (1986)
The Gang’s All Here (1943)
House of Wax (1953)
Into the Arms of Strangers: Stories of the Kindertransport (2000)
Little Big Man (1970)
Luxo Jr. (1986)
Moon Breath Beat (1980)
Please Don’t Bury Me Alive! (1976)
The Power and the Glory (1933)
Rio Bravo (1959)
Rosemary’s Baby (1968)
Ruggles of Red Gap (1935)
Saving Private Ryan (1998)
Shoes (1916)
State Fair (1933)
Unmasked (1917)
V-E + 1 (1945)
The Way of Peace (1947)
Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory (1971)
TANSTAAFL!
Offline Profile Quote Post Goto Top
 
JazzGuyy
Member Avatar
Balcony Gang, Foist Class
[ *  *  * ]
I mistyped the title and you can't correct these things. It should say "National Film Registry entries". Sorry, gang.
TANSTAAFL!
Offline Profile Quote Post Goto Top
 
panzer the great & terrible
Member Avatar
Mouth Breather
[ *  *  * ]
No problem, jazzy.

Random thoughts:

I hate to see a movie I loathe on the list - Ferris Bullhockey.

In general, there should be more Lubitsch and less, um, diversity. "Unmasked" is a particularly odd choice. All I know is, it's a Francis Ford short with Grace Cunard that practically nobody has seen. I guess it's kind of cool that somebody likes it well enough to elevate it to this status, but would he or she please tell us why?

I don't measure movies by their depiction of minorities, so the P.C. choices don't mean a lot to me; but really, does anybody think "Felicia" is a great movie?

As for the rest, well, there are fine pictures not yet on the register, and most of these choices are fluff.😒
Edited by panzer the great & terrible, Dec 23 2014, 06:37 AM.
Life is just a bowl of cherries, it's too mysterious, don't take it serious...
Offline Profile Quote Post Goto Top
 
riddlerider
Member Avatar
Balcony Gang, Foist Class
[ *  *  * ]
panzer the great & terrible
Dec 22 2014, 08:33 PM
"Unmasked" is a particularly odd choice. All I know is, it's a Francis Ford short with Grace Cunard that practically nobody has seen. I guess it's kind of cool that somebody likes it well enough to elevate it to this status, but would he or she please tell us why?

You already alluded to the reason Unmasked made the list: the politically correct obsession with "diversity." The short still exists, which also justifies the inclusion. And some sources list Grace Cunard as both writer and director, so you can bet that some bean counter looked at it and said, "Hey, we need another woman filmmaker on the list." The prevailing academic narrative holds that pioneering female auteurs have been neglected by film historians, so Unmasked — a competent but undistinguished one-reel melodrama, probably no better or worse than dozens Ford and Cunard turned out together — suddenly gets elevated from routine program fodder to forgotten cultural treasure. What a joke.

Of course, the real joke — which obviously escaped the knuckleheads who compile the annual NFR list — is that however the main titles read, Ford and Cunard directed their films jointly. And while Grace actually did write most of the scenarios, she did so only after working out the plots with Frank. Theirs was a truly collaborative relationship. Together they wrote,directed and starred in roughly 100 shorts, features and serials. After the partnership dissolved, Grace wrote and directed three or four Western short subjects. They were flops. After 1921 she confined her film work to acting. A talented woman, to be sure, but hardly a Lois Weber or Dorothy Arzner.

This is a good place for me to slip in a plug for Handsome Heroes and Vicious Villains, which covers the Universal silent serials. I did a lot of research on Ford and Cunard, and my friend Bob Birchard (who obtained some of Cunard's personal files and uncovered the original one-page typewritten synopsis for what became their first serial, Lucille Love: The Girl of Mystery) graciously shared his own findings on the team.

By the way, Unmasked (along with many other archivally preserved early silents) used to be available for free viewing on line at the Eastman House website, but they seem to have taken it down. It came at the tail end of the Ford-Cunard relationship.
Offline Profile Quote Post Goto Top
 
Laughing Gravy
Member Avatar
Look for In The Balcony on Facebook!
[ *  *  * ]
I have no problem with the list reflecting diversity and not just being a list of '25 great films made by white guys' every year.
"I'm glad that this question came up, because there are so many ways to answer it that one of them is bound to be right." - Robert Benchley
Offline Profile Quote Post Goto Top
 
Frank Hale
Balcony Gang, Foist Class
[ *  *  * ]
I tend to agree with Paul and RR on the diversity business, but the stated guidelines are "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant", which covers a lot of territory.

In any case, my interest is fairly minimal because I've never been able to figure out if the list is anything more than a public awareness beauty poll. AFAIK there has never been any money for actual preservation. Perhaps someone can set me straight on that.

And, really, how can you take seriously a list which does not include "The Atomic Submarine"?

For those interested. here is a link to the main site which, among other things, has all the prior choices:

http://www.loc.gov/programs/national-film-preservation-board/film-registry/
Offline Profile Quote Post Goto Top
 
JazzGuyy
Member Avatar
Balcony Gang, Foist Class
[ *  *  * ]
One of the benefits of being on the list is that it is supposed to prevent a film from being tampered with: no colorization, no surround sound synthesized from a mono soundtrack, etc. Does this really hold? I don't know.
TANSTAAFL!
Offline Profile Quote Post Goto Top
 
Frank Hale
Balcony Gang, Foist Class
[ *  *  * ]
I can't imagine it does. The copyright law is the only weapon to keep the jackals at bay that I'm aware of.

So, this is this just another exercise along the lines of the AFI polls? Anyone?

Offline Profile Quote Post Goto Top
 
panzer the great & terrible
Member Avatar
Mouth Breather
[ *  *  * ]
The website Frank cites above should interest youse guys. Check out the films nominated but not chosen, and guess what? We can nominate films to that list. And somebody who knows movies sure as heck should.
Life is just a bowl of cherries, it's too mysterious, don't take it serious...
Offline Profile Quote Post Goto Top
 
« Previous Topic · Balcony Banter · Next Topic »
Add Reply