In 1988, the Library of Congress passed the National Film Preservation Act, and thus established the National Film Preservation Board. The law authorizes the Librarian of Congress to select and preserve up to 25 films each year to add to the National Film Registry. The films in the National Film Registry represent 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 2007, there were 475 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

The selection takes place after the Librarian of Congress reviews public suggestions and consults with film experts and the 40 members (and alternates) of the National Film Preservation Board. According to Librarian of Congress Dr. James H. Billington:

taken together, the...films in the National Film Registry represent 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." He also observed that "the films we choose are not necessarily either the 'best' American films ever made or the most famous. But they are films that continue to have cultural, historical or aesthetic significance -- and in many cases represent countless other films also deserving of recognition.

For each title named to the Registry, the Library of Congress works to ensure that the film is preserved for all time, either through the Library's massive motion picture preservation program at Dayton, Ohio, or through collaborative ventures with other archives, motion pictures studios, and independent film makers. The Library of Congress contains the largest collection of film and television in the world, from the earliest surviving copyrighted motion picture to the latest feature releases.

Note: The films that are marked with a yellow star are the films that "The Greatest Films" site has also selected as the "100 Greatest Films".

A

Abbott and Costello Meet Frankenstein (1948)
Adam's Rib (1949)
The Adventures of Robin Hood (1938)
The African Queen (1951)
Alien (1979)
All About Eve (1950)
All My Babies (1953)
All Quiet On The Western Front (1930)
All That Heaven Allows (1955)
All That Jazz (1979)
All the King's Men (1949)
America, America (1963)
American Graffiti (1973)
An American In Paris (1951)
Annie Hall (1977)
Antonia: A Portrait of the Woman (1974)
The Apartment (1960)
Apocalypse Now (1979)
Applause (1929)
Atlantic City (1980)
The Awful Truth (1937)

B

Baby Face (1933)
Back to the Future (1985)
The Bad and the Beautiful (1952)
Badlands (1973)
The Band Wagon (1953)
The Bank Dick (1940)
The Battle of San Pietro (1945)
Beauty and the Beast (1991)
Ben-Hur (1925-6)
Ben-Hur (1959)
The Best Years of Our Lives (1946)
Big Business (1929)
The Big Parade (1925)
The Big Sleep (1946)
The Big Trail (1930)
The Birth Of A Nation (1915)
The Black Pirate (1926)
The Black Stallion (1979)
Blacksmith Scene (1893)
Blade Runner (1982)
Blazing Saddles (1974)
The Blood of Jesus (1941)
The Blue Bird (1918)
Bonnie And Clyde (1967)
Boyz N the Hood (1991)
Bride of Frankenstein (1935)
The Bridge On The River Kwai (1957)
Bringing Up Baby (1938)
Broken Blossoms (1919)
A Bronx Morning (1931)
The Buffalo Creek Flood: An Act of Man (1975)
Bullitt (1968)
Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid (1969)

C

Cabaret (1972)
The Cameraman (1928)
Carmen Jones (1954)
Casablanca (1942)
Castro Street (1966)
Cat People (1942)
Chan is Missing (1982)
The Cheat (1915)
The Chechahcos (1924)
Chinatown (1974)
Chulas Fronteras (1976)
Citizen Kane (1941)
The City (1939)
City Lights (1931)
Civilization (1916)
Clash of the Wolves (1925)
Close Encounters of the Third Kind (1977)
Cologne: From the Diary of Ray and Esther (1939)
Commandment Keeper Church, Beaufort South Carolina, May 1940 (1940)
The Conversation (1974)
Cool Hand Luke (1967)
The Cool World (1963)
Cops (1922)
A Corner in Wheat (1909)
The Court Jester (1956)
The Crowd (1928)
The Curse of Quon Gwon (1916-1917)
Czechoslovakia 1968 (1968)

D

Dance, Girl, Dance (1940)
Dances With Wolves (1990)
D.O.A. (1950)
Daughter of Shanghai (1937)
Daughters of the Dust (1991)
David Holzman's Diary (1968)
The Day the Earth Stood Still (1951)
Days of Heaven (1978)
Dead Birds (1964)
The Deer Hunter (1978)
Destry Rides Again (1939)
Detour (1945)
Dickson Experimental Sound Film (1894-5)
Do the Right Thing (1989)
The Docks of New York (1928)
Dodsworth (1936)
Dog Star Man (1964)
Don't Look Back (1967)
Double Indemnity (1944)
Dr. Strangelove or: How I Learned To Stop Worrying... (1964)
Dracula (1931)
Drums of Winter (1988)
Duck Amuck (1953)
Duck and Cover (1951)
Duck Soup (1933)

E

Early Abstractions #1-5,7,10 (1939-56)
Easy Rider (1969)
E.T. - The Extra-Terrestrial (1982)
Eaux D'Artifice (1953)
El Norte (1983)
The Emperor Jones (1933)
Empire (1964)
The Endless Summer (1966)
Enter the Dragon (1973)
Eraserhead (1978)
Evidence of the Film (1913)
The Exploits of Elaine (1914)

F

The Fall of the House of Usher (1928)
Fantasia (1940)
Fargo (1996)
Fast Times at Ridgemont High (1982)
Fatty's Tintype Tangle (1915)
Film Portrait (1970)
Five Easy Pieces (1970)
Flash Gordon (serial) (1936)
Flesh and the Devil (1927)
Footlight Parade (1933)
Force of Evil (1948)
The Forgotten Frontier (1931)
42nd Street (1933)
The Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse (1921)
Fox Movietone News: Jenkins Orphanage Band (1928)
Frank Film (1973)
Frankenstein (1931)
Freaks (1932)
The French Connection (1971)
The Freshman (1925)
From Here to Eternity (1953)
From Stump to Ship (1930)
From the Manger to the Cross (1912)
Fuji (1974)
Fury (1936)

G

Garlic Is As Good As Ten Mothers (1980)
The General (1927)
Gerald McBoing Boing (1951)
Gertie the Dinosaur (1914)
Giant (1956)
Gigi (1958)
Glimpse of the Garden (1957)
The Godfather (1972)
The Godfather, Part II (1974)
Going My Way (1944)
Gold Diggers of 1933 (1933)
The Gold Rush (1925)
Gone With The Wind (1939)
Goodfellas (1990)
The Graduate (1967)
Grand Hotel (1932)
The Grapes of Wrath (1940)
Grass (1925)
The Great Dictator (1940)
The Great Train Robbery (1903)
Greed (1924)
Groundhog Day (1993)
Gun Crazy (1949)
Gunga Din (1939)

H

H2O (1929)
Halloween (1978)
Hands Up (1926)
Harlan County, U.S.A. (1976)
Harold and Maude (1972)
The Heiress (1949)
Hell's Hinges (1916)
High Noon (1952)
High School (1968)
Hindenburg Disaster Newsreel Footage (1937)
His Girl Friday (1940)
The Hitch-hiker (1953)
Hoop Dreams (1994)
Hoosiers (1986)
Hospital (1970)
The Hospital (1971)
The House I Live In (1945)
The House in the Middle (1954)
House of Usher (1960)
How Green Was My Valley (1941)
How the West was Won (1962)
The Hunters [Kalahari Desert tribe anthropological film] (1957)
The Hustler (1961)

I

I Am A Fugitive From A Chain Gang (1932)
Imitation of Life (1934)
The Immigrant (1917)
In a Lonely Place (1950)
In the Heat of the Night (1967)
In the Land of the Head-Hunters (aka In the Land of the War Canoes) (1914)
In the Street (1948/52)
Intolerance (1916)
Invasion of the Body Snatchers (1956)
It (1927)
It Happened One Night (1934)
It's A Wonderful Life (1946)
The Italian (1915)

J

Jailhouse Rock (1957)
Jammin' the Blues (1944)
Jam Session (1942)
Jaws (1975)
Jazz on a Summer's Day (1959)
The Jazz Singer (1927)
Jeffries-Johnson World's Championship Boxing Contest (1910)

K

Kannapolis, NC (1941)
Killer of Sheep (1977)
King: A Filmed Record...Montgomery to Memphis (1970)
King Kong (1933)
The Kiss (1896)
Kiss Me Deadly (1955)
Knute Rockne, All American (1940)
Koyaanisqatsi (1983)