N
ATIONAL FILM REGISTRY TITLES
of the U. S. LIBRARY of CONGRESS
(1989 - 2023)

Part 1

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.

Facts and Commentary about the List:

  • The films in the National Film Registry represent a stunning range of American filmmaking - including Hollywood features, documentaries, avant-garde and amateur productions, experimental films, films of regional interest, ethnic, animated and short film subjects -- all deserving recognition, preservation and access by future generations.
  • As of 2023, there have been 875 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.


National Film Registry's Selections
(1989-2023)

(part 1, alphabetical order)

A

A Movie Trip Through Filmland (1921)
Abbott and Costello Meet Frankenstein (1948)
Ace in the Hole (1951) (aka Big Carnival)
Adam's Rib (1949)
The Adventures of Robin Hood (1938)
The African Queen (1951)
Airplane! (1980)
¡Alambrista! (1977)
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)
All the President's Men (1976)
Allures (1961)
Amadeus (1984)
America, America (1963)
American Graffiti (1973)
An American In Paris (1951)
Anatomy of a Murder (1959)
Annie Hall (1977)
Antonia: A Portrait of the Woman (1974)
The Apartment (1960)
Apocalypse Now (1979)
Apollo 13 (1995)
Applause (1929)
The Asphalt Jungle (1950)
Atlantic City (1981)
The Atomic Cafe (1982)
Attica (1974)
The Augustas (1930s-1950s)
The Awful Truth (1937)

B

Baby Face (1933)
Back to the Future (1985)
The Bad and the Beautiful (1952)
Bad Day at Black Rock (1955)
Badlands (1973)
The Ballad of Gregorio Cortez (1982)
Ball of Fire (1941)
Bambi (1942)
Bamboozled (2000)
The Band Wagon (1953)
The Bank Dick (1940)
The Bargain (1914)
The Battle of San Pietro (1945)
The Battle of the Century (1927)
The Beau Brummels (1928)
Beauty and the Beast (1991)
Becky Sharp (1935)
Before Stonewall (1984)
Behind Every Good Man (1967)
Being There (1979)
Ben-Hur (1925-6)
Ben-Hur (1959)

Bert Williams Lime Kiln Club Field Day (1913)
The Best Years of Our Lives (1946)
Betty Tells Her Story (1972)
Big Business (1929)
The Big Heat (1953)
The Big Lebowski (1998)
The Big Parade (1925)
The Big Sleep (1946)
The Big Trail (1930)
The Birds (1963)
The Birth Of A Nation (1915)
Black and Tan (1929)
The Black Pirate (1926)
The Black Stallion (1979)
Blackboard Jungle (1955)
Blacksmith Scene (1893)
Blade Runner (1982)
Blazing Saddles (1974)
Bless Their Little Hearts (1984)
The Blood of Jesus (1941)
The Blue Bird (1918)
The Blues Brothers (1980)
Body and Soul (1925)
Bohulano Family Film Collection (1950s-1970s)
Bonnie And Clyde (1967)
Born Yesterday (1950)
Boulevard Nights (1979)
Boys Don't Cry (1999)
Boyz N the Hood (1991)
Brandy in the Wilderness (1969)
Bread (1918)
Breakfast at Tiffany's (1961)
The Breakfast Club (1985)
Bride of Frankenstein (1935)
The Bridge On The River Kwai (1957)
Bringing Up Baby (1938)
Broadcast News (1987)
Brokeback Mountain (2005)
Broken Blossoms (1919)
A Bronx Morning (1931)
Buena Vista Social Club (1999)
The Buffalo Creek Flood: An Act of Man (1975)
Bullitt (1968)
Bush Mama (1979)
Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid (1969)

C

Cab Calloway's (home movies) (1948-1951)
Cabaret (1972)
Cabin in the Sky (1943)
The Cameraman (1928)
Carmen Jones (1954)
Carrie (1976)

Casablanca (1942)
Castro Street (1966)
Cat People (1942)
Chan is Missing (1982)
Charade (1963)
The Cheat (1915)
The Chechahcos (1924)
Chicana (1979)
Chinatown (1974)
A Christmas Story (1983)
Chulas Fronteras (1976)
Cicero March (1966)
Cinderella (1950)
Citizen Kane (1941)
The City (1939)
City Lights (1931)
Civilization (1916)
Clash of the Wolves (1925)
Clerks (1994)
A Clockwork Orange (1971)
Close Encounters of the Third Kind (1977)
Coal Miner's Daughter (1984)
Cologne: From the Diary of Ray and Esther (1939)
Commandment Keeper Church, Beaufort South Carolina, May 1940 (1940)
A Computer Animated Hand (1972)
The Conversation (1974)
Cool Hand Luke (1967)
The Cool World (1963)
Cooley High (1975)
Cops (1922)
The Corbett-Fitzsimmons Title Fight (1897)
A Corner in Wheat (1909)
The Court Jester (1955)
Crisis: Behind a Presidential Commitment (1963)
The Crowd (1928)
Cruisin’ J-Town (1975)
Cry of Jazz (1959)
The Cry of the Children (1912)
A Cure for Pokeritis (1912)
The Curse of Quon Gwon (1916-1917)
Cyrano de Bergerac (1950)
Czechoslovakia 1968 (1968)

D

Dance, Girl, Dance (1940)
Dances With Wolves (1990)
The Dark Knight (2008)
D.O.A. (1950)
Daughter of Dawn (1929)
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)
Days of Wine and Roses (1962)
Dead Birds (1964)
Decasia (2002)
The Decline of Western Civilization (1981)
The Deer Hunter (1978)
Deliverance (1972)
Desperately Seeking Susan (1985)
Destry Rides Again (1939)
Detour (1945)
The Devil Never Sleeps (1994)
Dickson Experimental Sound Film (1894-5)
Die Hard (1988)
Dinner at Eight (1933)
Dirty Harry (1971)
Disneyland Dream (1956)
Dixon-Wanamaker Expedition to Crow Agency (1908)
Do the Right Thing (1989)
The Docks of New York (1928)
Dodsworth (1936)
Dog Day Afternoon (1975)
Dog Star Man (1964)
Don't Look Back (1967)
Double Indemnity (1944)
Down Argentine Way (1940)
Dr. Strangelove or: How I Learned To Stop Worrying... (1964)
Dracula (1931)
Dracula (Spanish-language version) (1931)
The Dragon Painter (1919)
Dream of a Rarebit Fiend (1906)
Drums of Winter (1988)
Duck Amuck (1953)
Duck and Cover (1951)
Duck Soup (1933)
Dumbo (1941)

E

Eadweard Muybridge, Zoopraxographer (1975)
Early Abstractions #1-5,7,10 (1939-56)
East of Eden (1955)
Easy Rider (1969)
E.T. - The Extra-Terrestrial (1982)
Eaux D'Artifice (1953)
Edge of the City (1957)
Edison Kinetoscopic Record of a Sneeze (1894)
El Mariachi (1992)
El Norte (1983)
Electronic Labyrinth: THX 1138 4EB (1967)
Ella Cinders (1926)
Emigrants Landing at Ellis Island (1903)
The Emperor Jones (1933)
Empire (1964)
The Empire Strikes Back (1980)
Employees Entrance (1933)
The Endless Summer (1966)
Enter the Dragon (1973)
Eraserhead (1977)
Evergreen (1965)
Eve's Bayou (1997)
Evidence of the Film (1913)
The Exiles (1961)
The Exorcist (1973)
The Exploits of Elaine (1914)

F

A Face in the Crowd (1957)
Faces (1968)
Fake Fruit Factory (1986)
The Fall of the House of Usher (1928)
Fame (1980)
Fantasia (1940)
Fargo (1996)
Fast Times at Ridgemont High (1982)
Fatty's Tintype Tangle (1915)
Felicia (1965)
Ferris Bueller's Day Off (1986)
Field of Dreams (1989)
Film Portrait (1970)
Five Easy Pieces (1970)
Flash Gordon (serial) (1936)
Flesh and the Devil (1926)
Flower Drum Song (1961)
Flowers and Trees (1932)
The Flying Ace (1926)
Fog of War (2003)
A Fool There Was (1915)
Foolish Wives (1922)
Footlight Parade (1933)
Forbidden Planet (1956)
Force of Evil (1948)
The Forgotten Frontier (1931)
Forrest Gump (1994)
42nd Street (1933)
The Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse (1921)
4 Little Girls (1997)
Fox Movietone News: Jenkins Orphanage Band (1928)
Frank Film (1973)
Frankenstein (1931)
Freaks (1932)
Free Radicals (1979)
Freedom Riders (2010)
The French Connection (1971)
The Freshman (1925)
From Here to Eternity (1953)
From Stump to Ship (1930)
From the Manger to the Cross (1912)
The Front Page (1931)
Fuentes Family Home Movies Collection (1920s and 1930s)
Fuji (1974)
Funny Girl (1968)
Fury (1936)

G

The Gang's All Here (1943)
Garlic Is As Good As Ten Mothers (1980)
Gaslight (1944)
The General (1927)
Gentleman's Agreement (1947)
George Washington Carver at Tuskegee Institute (1937)
Gerald McBoing Boing (1951)
Gertie the Dinosaur (1914)
Ghostbusters (1984)
Giant (1956)
Gigi (1958)
Gilda (1946)
The Girl Without a Soul (1917)
Girlfriends (1978)
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 Goonies (1985)
The Graduate (1967)
Grand Hotel (1932)
The Grapes of Wrath (1940)
Grass (1925)
Grease (1978)
The Great Dictator (1940)
The Great Train Robbery (1903)
Greed (1924)
Grey Gardens (1976)
The Ground (1993-2001)
Groundhog Day (1993)
Growing Up Female (1971)
Guess Who's Coming to Dinner (1967)
Gun Crazy (1949)
Gunga Din (1939)

H

H2O (1929)
Hail the Conquering Hero (1944)
Hairspray (1988)
Hair Piece: A Film for Nappy Headed People (1984)
Hallelujah (1929)
Halloween (1978)
Hands Up (1926)
Harlan County, U.S.A. (1976)
Harold and Maude (1972)
He Who Gets Slapped (1924)
Hearts and Minds (1974)
The Heiress (1949)
Helen Keller: In Her Story (1954)
Hellbound Train (1930)
Hell's Hinges (1916)
Heroes All (1920)
Hester Street (1975)
High Noon (1952)
High School (1968)
Hindenburg Disaster Newsreel Footage (1937)
His Girl Friday (1940)
The Hitch-hiker (1953)
The Hole (1962)
Home Alone (1990)
Hoop Dreams (1994)
Hoosiers (1986)
Hospital (1970)
The Hospital (1971)
Hot Dogs for Gauguin (1972)
Hours for Jerome: Parts 1 and 2 (1980-82)
The House I Live In (1945)
The House in the Middle (1954)
House of Usher (1960)
House of Wax (1953)
House Party (1990)
How Green Was My Valley (1941)
How the West Was Won (1962)
Hud (1963)
Humoresque (1920)
The Hunters [Kalahari Desert tribe anthropological film] (1957)
The Hurt Locker (2008)
The Hustler (1961)

I

I Am A Fugitive From A Chain Gang (1932)
I Am Joaquin (1969)
I Am Somebody (1970)
I, An Actress (1977)
Illusions (1982)
Imitation of Life (1934)
Imitation of Life (1959)
The Immigrant (1917)
In a Lonely Place (1950)
In Cold Blood (1967)
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)
The Incredible Shrinking Man (1957)
The Informer (1935)
The Inner World of Aphasia (1968)
Interior New York Subway, 14th Street to 42nd Street (1905)
Into the Arms of Strangers: Stories of the Kinder-transport (2000)
Intolerance (1916)
Invasion of the Body Snatchers (1956)
The Invisible Man (1933)
The Iron Horse (1924)
Iron Man (2008)
It (1927)
It Happened One Night (1934)
Itam Hakim, Hopiit (1984)
It's A Gift (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)
Jezebel (1938)
John Henry and the Inky-Poo (1946)
Johnny Guitar (1954)
The Joy Luck Club (1993)
Jubilo (1919)
Judgment at Nuremberg (1961)
The Jungle (1967)
Jurassic Park (1993)

K

Kannapolis, NC (1941)
The Kid (1921)
Kid Auto Races at Venice (1914)
The Kidnappers Foil (1930s-1950s)
Killer of Sheep (1977)
The Killers (1946)
King: A Filmed Record...Montgomery to Memphis (1970)
King Kong (1933)
King of Jazz (1930)
The Kiss (1896)
Kiss Me Deadly (1955)
Knute Rockne, All American (1940)
Kodachrome Color Motion Picture Tests (1922)
Koyaanisqatsi (1982)



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