Library of Congress - National Film Registry

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Since 1989, the Library of Congress has chosen up to 25 films covering a stunning range of American filmmaking – including Hollywood features, documentaries, avant-garde and amateur productions, films of regional interest, ethnic, animated and short film subjects – all deserving recognition, preservation and access by future generations.

As of 2008, there were 500 films selected. The films that are selected must meet two criteria:
1. they must be culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant
2. they must be at least ten years old

Films are listed alphabetically.

Pages: 1 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10

  1. 1.
    Abbott & Costello Meet Frankenstein
    by Charles Barton

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  2. 2.
    Adam's Rib
    by George Cukor

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  3. 3.
    The Adventures of Robin Hood (Two-Disc Special Edition)
    by Michael Curtiz

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  4. 4.
    The African Queen
    by John Huston

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  5. 5.
    Alien
    by Ridley Scott

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  6. 6.
    All About Eve
    by Joseph L. Mankiewicz

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  7. 7.
    All My Babies (1953 Documentary)
    by George C. Stoney

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  8. 8.
    All Quiet on the Western Front
    by Lewis Milestone

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  9. 9.
    All That Heaven Allows - Criterion Collection
    by Douglas Sirk

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  10. 10.
    All That Jazz

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  11. 11.
    All the King's Men
    by Robert Rossen

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  12. 12.
    America, America (1963)
    by Elia Kazan

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  13. 13.
    American Graffiti (Collector's Edition)
    by George Lucas

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  14. 14.
    An American in Paris
    by Vincente Minnelli

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  15. 15.
    Annie Hall

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  16. 16.
    Antonia - A Portrait of the Woman
    by Jill Godmilow

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  17. 17.
    The Apartment

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  18. 18.
    Apocalypse Now

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  19. 19.
    Applause
    by Rouben Mamoulian

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  20. 20.
    The Asphalt Jungle
    by John Huston

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  21. 21.
    Atlantic City
    by Louis Malle

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  22. 22.
    The Awful Truth
    by Leo McCarey

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  23. 23.
    Baby Face
    by Alfred E. Green

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  24. 24.
    Back to the Future

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  25. 25.
    The Bad and the Beautiful
    by Vincente Minnelli

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  26. 26.
    Badlands

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  27. 27.
    The Band Wagon (Two-Disc Special Edition)
    by Vincente Minnelli

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  28. 28.
    The Bank Dick - Criterion Collection
    by Edward F. Cline

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  29. 29.
    Battle of San Pietro
    by John Huston

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  30. 31.
    Ben-Hur: A Tale of the Christ
    by Fred Niblo

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  31. 32.
    Ben-Hur
    by William Wyler

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  32. 33.
    The Best Years of Our Lives
    by William Wyler

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  33. 34.
    Big Business (1929)
    by James W. Horne

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  34. 35.
    The Big Parade
    by King Vidor

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  35. 36.
    The Big Sleep (Snap case)
    by Howard Hawks

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  36. 37.
    The Big Trail
    by Louis R. Loeffler

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  37. 38.
    The Birth of a Nation

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  38. 39.
    The Black Pirate
    by Albert Parker

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  39. 40.
    The Black Stallion
    by Carroll Ballard

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  40. 41.
    Blacksmith Scene (1893 Short)
    by William K. L. Dickson

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  41. 42.
    Blade Runner (The Director's Cut)
    by Ridley Scott

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  42. 43.
    Blazing Saddles

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  43. 44.
    The Blood of Jesus (1941) DVD [Remastered Edition]
    by A2ZCDS.com

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  44. 45.
    The Blue Bird
    by Maurice Tourneur

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  45. 46.
    Bonnie and Clyde
    by Arthur Penn

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  46. 47.
    Boyz N the Hood (2-Disc Anniversary Edition)
    by John Singleton

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  47. 48.
    The Bride of Frankenstein
    by James Whale

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  48. 49.
    The Bridge on the River Kwai
    by David Lean

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  49. 50.
    Bringing Up Baby (Two-Disc Special Edition)
    by Howard Hawks

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Pages: 1 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10

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Created by MKaiserman on Jun 08, 2006.
 

Comments

Added 2008 Selections — 24 weeks ago

Added the 25 films selected for 2008 http://www.loc.gov/today/pr/2008/08-237.html


brunswickian
Brooklyn

2008 National Film Registry — 1 year ago

Just took a look at the official list source. Hadn’t realized it, but the public is invited to submit their nominations for movies to be included in the registry in 2008, in case any of you are interested. This is according to the site:

The number of public votes a film receives is a factor seriously weighed during the selection process by the Librarian of Congress and members of the National Film Preservation Board.


Perlle
East Hampton

Untitled — 1 year ago

For those doing this list as well as the Criterion list, you might want to check out this other list:
http://www.listsofbests.com/list/47671


MKaiserman
West Orange

2007 Selections — 1 year ago

Added and alphabetized new entries for 2007.
Also did a general list clean-up and restored (with help from others – see comment) missing, duplicated movies.

List should be at 475 entries as of December 2007 (and stay that way until December 2008).

The new 25 selections for 2007 can be found here: http://www.loc.gov/film/nfr2007.html


penguinmdh
Pittsburgh

#57 Cat People — 2 years ago

Replaced the reference to the double feature Cat People/Curse of the Cat People with a reference to Cat People only to match the source.


MKaiserman
West Orange

Added 2006 Selections — 2 years ago

I added and alphabetized into the main list the 25 films selected for 2006. A list of just these films can be found here: http://www.loc.gov/film/nfr2006.html


Another replacement — 2 years ago

This time it was “Memphis Belle”, in which I replaced the 1990 feature film with the WWII-era documentary short directed by William Wyler.


Replaced ''The Tell-Tale Heart'' with the correct version... — 2 years ago

...that is, the UPA cartoon from 1953. I hope to make some other corrections, and possibly also to add the new set of 25 nominees, but have to be at work shortly


MKaiserman
West Orange

Added Pictures — 2 years ago

I was tired of seeing so many grey boxes (since many of these films won’t ever be released at all or only in compilations). So I added pictures to all of them – except the handful I couldn’t find anything on. I wish Lists of Bests had a better mechanism for adding pictures, but the list looks much better without all those question marks.