James H. Billington, The Librarian of Congress recently named 25 motion pictures to the National Film Registry of the Library of Congress. These selections join 450 others in the registry. The selections were made as part of a program to assure the nation’s movie heritage with the aim preserving the movies for all times. Billington cites some sobering statistics about the deterioration of an important part of our nation’s history, the movies. He notes, “Even as Americans fill the movie theatres to see the latest releases, few are aware that up to half the films produced in this country before 1950 – and as much as 90 percent of those made before 1920 are lost forever.”
The 2007 choices span genres and across time. The most recently produced films to be nominated are Back to the Future(1985) and Dances with Wolves (1990). The earliest film on the list proves that directors have long seen the value of movies as a medium to convey a social message, Tol’able David (1921) is a coming of age story about a youth who must overcome savage, bullying neighbors. Watch our catalog, the library is planning to purchase a copy on DVD.