Earlier this week, the Library of Congress announced its annual additions to the National Film Registry. This year, unfortunately, the choices smelled of woke politics \u2013 there were a glut of obscure and, quite frankly, unworthy films that were only included because they were not directed by white men \u2013 coupled with some cheesy popcorn flicks that fell far short of the \u201cculturally, historically, or aesthetically significant films\u201d definition that is supposed to be Registry\u2019s judging criteria.<\/p>\n
Rather than pick apart each dismal selection on this year\u2019s Registry, here is an attempt to talk up some far more deserving titles for consideration in the 2021 slate. In chronological order, here are 10 films that should be on the National Film Registry.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Admiral Cigarette (1897)<\/strong><\/p>\n Historically notable as the first filmed advertisement, this Edison-produced 30-second offering for the National Cigarette and Tobacco Company\u2019s Admiral Cigarette brand was unusual in having an American Indian chief as an equal among a group of male smokers, as well as having a woman join the men in their tobacco habit.<\/p>\n Frankenstein (1910)<\/strong><\/p>\n One might imagine that the Registry would be eager to include a film that was considered to be among the sought-after lost films for decades \u2013 not to mention the first film adaptation of the Mary Shelley class and what many believe to be the first American-produced horror film. Oddly, this Edison-produced work has never been considered worthy of Registry inclusion.<\/p>\n Way Down East (1920)<\/strong><\/p>\n D.W. Griffith was initially criticized for bringing Lottie Blair Parker\u2019s 1897 melodrama to the screen at the dawn of the Jazz Age, but the master director created a work of vibrant emotionalism capped with a thrilling climax on the edge of an icy waterfall. One of the most commercially successful films of the silent era, it seems to have been forgotten by the Registry.<\/p>\n Waltzing Around (1929)<\/strong><\/p>\n The Broadway comedy team of Bobby Clark and Paul McCullough made a series of shorts in the early years of the sound era, This offering, which was considered lost for many years, is among their best \u2013 they play a pair of troublemakers who somehow wind up crashing a boxing tournament, first as rowdy food vendors and then going into the ring with wild and unpredictable results. \u201cWaltzing Around\u201d is a fast, imaginative and wonderfully rude comedy.<\/p>\n Safe in Hell (1931)<\/strong><\/p>\n William Wellman directed this Pre-Code gem has tough blonde Dorothy Mackaill as a New Orleans prostitute who hides out on a Caribbean island to avoid a murder rap, only to find herself ensnared in the local courts when her past unexpectedly catches up with her. The film\u2019s Caribbean setting enabled the casting of Black singer-actress Nina Mae McKinney as a hotel owner, a rare opportunity for a Black woman to be cast in a studio film as something other than a maid.<\/p>\n White Zombie (1932)<\/strong><\/p>\n Victor Halperin\u2019s brilliantly eerie horror production marked the first film to incorporate zombies into the story. Bela Lugosi \u2013 in what some film scholars consider to be his best screen work \u2013 is mesmerizing as a voodoo master in Haiti who coordinates evil schemes to trap unsuspecting rivals into his warped control.<\/p>\n Killer Diller (1948)<\/strong><\/p>\n While the Registry goes out of its way to highlight multiculturalism in film production, it curiously has very few entries from the \u201crace film\u201d genre of all-Black movies created for segregated audiences during the Jim Crow years. This musical-comedy revue features a stellar line-up of African-American talent including Nat \u201cKing\u201d Cole, Moms Mabley, Dusty Fletcher and Butterfly McQueen in a very rare non-maid role (she plays a secretary).<\/p>\n The Mariana UFO Footage (1950)<\/strong><\/p>\n The Registry includes several amateur films of historic events, including the 1940 collapse of the Tacoma Narrows Bridge and the Zapruder Film of the Kennedy Assassination. Another amateur film worthy of inclusion is Nick Mariana\u2019s 16mm footage shot in Great Falls, Montana, in August 1950 that became the first motion picture record of unidentified flying objects. The footage would become the subject of controversy \u2013 Mariana claimed the U.S. Air Force removed frames that showed a closer view of the objects \u2013 and, to date, no be-all\/end-all explanation of what was captured on film has ever been put forth.<\/p>\n It\u2019s a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World (1963)<\/strong><\/p>\n Stanley Kramer\u2019s all-star slapstick extravaganza has been a conspicuous omission from the Registry for decades, despite endless attempts by the film\u2019s many fans who\u2019ve advocated for its inclusion. Then again, Kramer is also not a Registry favorite \u2013 while \u201cJudgment at Nuremberg\u201d (1961) and \u201cGuess Who\u2019s Coming to Dinner\u201d (1967) are on the Registry, important works including \u201cThe Defiant Ones\u201d (1958), \u201cOn the Beach\u201d (1959), \u201cInherit the Wind\u201d (1960) and \u201cShip of Fools\u201d (1965) are absent.<\/p>\n The Iceman Cometh (1973)<\/strong><\/p>\n None of the films produced for the groundbreaking American Film Theatre series have been included on the Registry. John Frankenheimer\u2019s adaptation of the Eugene O\u2019Neill classic might have been the best of that series, thanks in large part to the director\u2019s fidelity to its source \u2013 even with edits, the film has an epic four-hour running time \u2013 along with an astonishing cast including Lee Marvin, Fredric March, Robert Ryan and Jeff Bridges.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Earlier this week, the Library of Congress announced its annual additions to the National Film Registry. This year, unfortunately, the choices smelled of woke politics \u2013 there were a glut of obscure and, quite frankly, unworthy films that were only included because they were not directed by white men \u2013 coupled with some cheesy popcorn […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":19,"featured_media":34283,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[12],"tags":[2602,2617,128,1691,2605,2610,2603,2614,532,2611,2601,2609,1588,2612,2607,2615,2616,2613,2606,2604,2343,2608],"class_list":["post-34282","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-movie-reviews","tag-admiral-cigarette","tag-american-film-theatre","tag-bela-lugosi","tag-clark-and-mccullough","tag-d-w-griffith","tag-dorothy-mackaill","tag-frankenstein-1910","tag-its-a-mad-mad-mad-mad-world","tag-jeff-bridges","tag-killer-diller","tag-national-film-registry","tag-nina-mae-mckinney","tag-pre-code","tag-race-film","tag-safe-in-hell","tag-stanley-kramer","tag-the-iceman-cometh","tag-the-mariana-ufo-footage","tag-waltzing-around","tag-way-down-east","tag-white-zombie","tag-william-wellman"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.cinema-crazed.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/34282","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.cinema-crazed.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.cinema-crazed.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.cinema-crazed.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/19"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.cinema-crazed.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=34282"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.cinema-crazed.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/34282\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":34285,"href":"https:\/\/www.cinema-crazed.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/34282\/revisions\/34285"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.cinema-crazed.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/34283"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.cinema-crazed.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=34282"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.cinema-crazed.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=34282"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.cinema-crazed.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=34282"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}