• Russia Presents Library of
Congress With Digital Copies of Lost U.S. Silent Films
A major gift from Russia—digitally
preserved copies of 10 previously lost U.S. silent films—will help the United
States reclaim its silent-film heritage.
Vladimir I. Kozhin, head of
Management and Administration of the President of the Russian Federation,
officially presented the films to Librarian of Congress James H. Billington in
a special ceremony on October 21, 2010 in the Library’s Thomas Jefferson
Building.
The 10 films constitute the
first installment of an ongoing series of "lost” films produced by U.S.
movie studios that will be given to the Library of Congress. The films were
digitally preserved by Gosfilmofond, the Russian State film archive, and
donated via the Boris Yeltsin Presidential Library.
Also in attendance at the
presentation of the gift were Alexander Vershinin, director general of the
Boris Yeltsin Presidential Library; Nikolai Borodachev, director general of
Gosfilmofond; and additional members of the Presidential Administration of the
Russian Federation and the Boris Yeltsin Presidential Library.
"The Library is committed
to reclaiming America’s cinematic patrimony,” said Librarian of Congress James
H. Billington. "I am grateful to the dedicated staff of Gosfilmofond, the
state film archive of Russia, for their efforts to save these important artifacts
of U.S. film history. I am also thankful for the commitment of Prof. Alexander
Vershinin and the staff of the Boris Yeltsin Presidential Library for their
collaboration and cooperation in making this cultural recovery effort
possible.”
The films, created for an
American public, were distributed in other countries—including Russia—during
the silent era, 1893-1930. Shown in Russian movie houses, the films had been
given Russian-language intertitles.
Because of neglect and
deterioration over time, more than 80 percent of U.S. movies from the silent
era no longer exist in the United States. In the past 20 years, the Library of
Congress and others have made great efforts to locate and repatriate missing
U.S.-produced movies from foreign archives.
This new gift to the Library is
in the form of digital copies of the preserved films. Preliminary research
conducted by the staff of the Library’s Packard Campus for Audio Visual
Conservation indicates that up to 200 movies produced by U.S. movie studios of
the silent and sound eras may survive only in the Gosfilmofond archive. Copies
of these films will eventually be sent to the Library of Congress.
The gift is the result of the
Library of Congress’ work with Russian libraries and archives on digital
exchange. Since 2007, when the Presidential Administration of the Russian
Federation decided to create an all-digital presidential library, the Library
of Congress has been regularly consulted on the project. The new library, named
the Boris Yeltsin Presidential Library, opened in 2009 in St. Petersburg. The
Library of Congress signed a Memorandum of Cooperation last year with the new
library.
The 10 films presented to Dr.
Billington are:
1.The Arab (Metro, 1924)
Director: Rex Ingram
Cast: Ramon Navarro, Alice Terry
Jamil (Ramon Navarro), son of a
Bedouin tribe leader, falls in love with the daughter of a Christian
missionary. Jamil foils an attempt to massacre the Christians when he calls the
Bedouins to his aid. Upon his father’s death, Jamil is made leader of his tribe,
while the girl (played by the director’s wife Alice Terry) promises to return
to him as she departs for America.
Rex Ingram, a stickler for
realism, shot portions ofThe
Arabon
location in Algiers, using native Bedouins as extras. His big career break came
when he directedThe
Four Horseman of the Apocalypsethree years earlier and made a star of Rudolf
Valentino. Navarro’s collaboration with Ingram on this picture and two earlier
silent versions ofThe
Prisoner of ZendaandScaramouchehelped catapult him to stardom.
2.Kick In (Famous Players, 1922)
Director: George Fitzmaurice
Cast: Betty Compson, Bert Lytell, May McAvoy
On release from prison, thief
Chick Hewes (Bert Lytell) resolves to go straight, but is harassed by the
police when he refuses to turn stool pigeon. He is further angered when the
district attorney’s son Jerry (Robert Agnew) is not prosecuted for killing a
child from the slums in a car accident. He decides to undertake one more job—at
the district attorney’s home—but discovers that Jerry is already stealing from
his father’s safe. Jerry’s sister Molly (Betty Compson) prevents the police
from arresting Chick for her brother’s crime, and they go West to begin anew.
Previously,Kick In was a successful Broadway play
starring John Barrymore. Fitzmaurice also directed an earlier version of the
film in 1917. He gained fame as a director of several successful romantic
dramas, includingThe
Cheat with
Pola Negri, which he also produced; The Son of the Sheik, Rudolph Valentino’s last
film; and The Night
of Lovewith
Ronald Colman.
3.The Conquest
of Canaan (Famous
Players, 1921)
Director: Roy William Neill
Cast: Thomas Meighan, Doris Kenyon
Defiant of polite society and
friendly with corrupt town leaders, Joe Louden (Thomas Meighan) is encouraged
by his friend Ariel (Doris Kenyon), a recent heiress, to succeed. He studies
law and opens a practice in Beaver Beach, where he defends suspected murderer
Happy Farley (Paul Everton). When the trial turns ugly and a mob threatens the
presiding judge, Farley defends the judge and is acquitted of murder. Joe wins
Ariel and is proclaimed the next mayor of Canaan.
Previously filmed in 1916,The Conquest of Canaanwas based on a novel by Booth
Tarkington, author of a number of novels and plays that were adapted for film,
includingAlice
Adams,Monsieur Beaucaire and The Magnificent Ambersons. Meighan was a popular leading
man in silent films beginning in 1914, often appearing in such Cecil B. DeMille
productions as Male
and Female (1919)
and Why Change Your Wife? (1919).
4.The Eternal
Struggle (Metro
Pictures, Louis B. Mayer, 1923)
Director: Reginald Barker
Cast: Reneé Adoreé, Earle Williams, Barbara La Marr, Wallace Beery, Pat
O’Malley
Engaged to Canadian Mountie
Neil Tempest (Earle Williams), Andree (Reneé Adoreé) falls in love with one of
her fiancé’s underlings, Bucky O’Hara (Pat O’Malley). When Andree is suspected
of murdering a man who attacked her (Wallace Beery), she flees across Canada,
pursued over rapids by both O’Hara and Tempest. Andree’s innocence is
established and, realizing she and O'Hara are in love, Tempest gives her up.
This is one of the last feature
films produced or released by Louis B. Mayer’s Metro Pictures Corporation
before he helped to establish MGM in 1924. The Eternal Struggle also features the earliest
surviving performance of French-born actress Reneé Adoreé, who two years later
played the female lead opposite John Gilbert in MGM’s mega-hit The Big Parade.
5.You’re Fired (Famous Players, 1919)
Director: James Cruze
Cast: Wallace Reid, Wanda Hawley
In order to win the hand of
Helen Rogers, wealthy idler Billy Deering (Wallace Reid) agrees to her father’s
wager—if Billy can keep a job for one month, Gordon Rogers will agree to the
marriage. After clerking in an office and working as a xylophone
player—quitting before he gets fired—Billy eventually takes a job posing as a
knight in shining armor in a swanky theme restaurant. All goes well until
Helen, who knows nothing of the wager, arrives to dine.
This comedy has several winning
elements, among them a screenplay based on O. Henry’s story,The Halberdier, and star power in leading man
Wallace Reid. Reid’s boy-next-door good looks and affability made him a popular
star of the early teens. His career was cut short by his death from drug
addiction, which reportedly resulted from studio doctors giving him morphine to
treat an injury on the set.
6.Keep Smiling (Monty Banks, 1925)
Directors: Albert Austin, Gilbert Pratt
Cast: Monty Banks, Glen Cavender
An unnamed boy (Monty Banks),
who suffers from a fear of water, invents a special life preserver that
inflates when it hits water. Later, attempting to promote his invention, he
becomes involved with a wild speedboat race, a crooked mechanic and the
charming daughter of a boating magnate.
A prolific and versatile
filmmaker, Banks came to the U.S. as a teenager and made his film debut in 1917
under his real name Mario Bianchi. As actor, producer and director, Banks went
on to become one of the top screen comedians of the silent era, starring in his
own series of shorts for the fledgling Warner Bros. studio as well as appearing
alongside the likes of Roscoe "Fatty” Arbuckle, Buster Keaton and the
young Jean Arthur. After the coming of sound, he moved to England where he
continued his career as director of a number of popular musical comedies.
7.The Call of
the Canyon (Famous
Players, 1923)
Director: Victor Fleming
Cast: Richard Dix, Lois Wilson, Ricardo Cortez, Marjorie Daw
A complicated love triangle is
played out when war vet Glenn (Richard Dix) travels from the East to Arizona to
regain his health with the assistance of his dedicated nurse Flo (Marjorie
Daw), much to the concern of his New York fiancée (Lois Wilson).
Victor Fleming became highly
regarded as a director of outdoor action movies in the 1920s. Fleming began in
films as a cameraman, then as director of photography before starting his
career as a director in 1919. He directed such sound-era classics asTreasure Island, Captains Courageous, The Wizard of Oz and Gone with the Wind.
8.Canyon of the
Fools (R-C
Pictures, 1923)
Director: Val Paul
Cast: Harry Carey, Marguerite Clayton
In this tale of love and
revenge, set against the backdrop of the American gold rush, a young man named
Bob (Harry Carey) heads West to confront the man who once framed him for a
crime. After teaming up with a local sheriff, Bob tangles with bandits and
eventually discovers both love and gold during his quest.
Carey was one of the biggest
Western movie stars of the silent era and one of the few who bucked the trend
by making a successful transition to sound motion pictures.
9.Circus Days (First National, 1923)
Director: Edward F. Cline
Cast: Jackie Coogan, Barbara
Tennant, Russell Simpson, Claire McDowell
Jackie Coogan (Chaplin’s
"Kid”) stars as Toby Tyler, who runs away from his cruel uncle and joins a
circus to work as a lemonade boy. Eventually Toby works his way up the ladder
to become the Big Top’s star clown.
This film was based on the
novel Toby Tyler, or Ten Weeks with a
Circusby
James Otis Kaler, an extremely prolific author of boys’ novels from the
1880s-1905.
10.Valley of
the Giants (Famous
Players, 1919)
Director: James Cruze
Cast: Wallace Reid, Grace Darmond
Upon his return from college, a
young man (Wallace Reid) learns that his father is in danger of losing the
family’s beloved land to an unscrupulous lumberman. The film is highlighted
with a daring scene played out on a runaway logging train.
Reid, one of the most popular
film actors of the late teens and early 20s, teamed up with director James
Cruze for several pictures in 1919, including this outdoor adventure. Cruze,
originally trained as a stage actor, started working in films in 1911. In 1918,
he turned his attention to directing, and by 1927, was the most popular and
highest-salaried director in the business. It was on this movie, filming on
location in northern California and southern Oregon, that Reid was injured
doing stunt work. He supposedly was given morphine injections for the pain by a
studio physician, which led to his addiction and ultimate death on January 18,
1923.
Background:
Gosfilmofond, located outside
Moscow, is the Russian Federation’s primary film archive of artistic and
feature films, as well as some documentary and animated films. Established in
1948, its growing collections now include more than 55,000 motion pictures and
it is the largest such archive in the world. In addition, Gosfilmofond holds
related materials such as scenarios, film posters, photographs, press
clippings, set designs, and the personal papers of directors, actors, and film
critics, and thus serves as an important center for film research. It is
administered by the State Committee for Cinematography, under the aegis of the
Ministry of Culture.
The Boris Yeltsin Presidential
Library is one of three national libraries in Russia; the other two are the
Russian State Library in Moscow and the Russian National Library in St
Petersburg. Rather than focusing on the artifacts of a particular president,
the Boris Yeltsin Presidential Library is an all-digital library on the history
of the governance of Russia in its broadest interpretation.
Founded in 1800, the Library of
Congress is the nation’s oldest federal cultural institution. The Library has
been collecting and preserving movies and sound recordings for more than 100
years on behalf of the American people. It is the leading film preservation
archive in the U.S. and has preserved over 20,000 feature films and short
subjects since the early 1980s. The Library also preserves the nation’s largest
collections of television, radio and sound recordings and related materials. Many
of the Library’s rich resources can be accessed through its website at www.loc.govand via
interactive exhibitions on a personalized website at myLOC.gov.
All of the Library’s audiovisual
collections are stored and preserved at the Packard Campus for Audio Visual
Conservation, a $200 million state-of-the-art conservation facility donated to
the Library by the Packard Humanities Institute and located in Culpeper, Va. (www.loc.gov/avconservation/).
• Library of Congress Acquires
Innovative Music Collection from Snapshots Foundation
The provocative sounds of sitar
player and composer Anoushka Shankar and an insightful journey into the
creative process of experimental electronic performers M.C. Schmidt and Drew
Daniel of Matmos are part of a new innovative collection that will enrich the
Library of Congress’ unparalleled audiovisual holdings. On November 10, 2010
the Library of Congress announced its collaboration with Snapshots Music and
Arts Foundation to acquire video and audio tapes, along with thousands of
accompanying photographs, of in-depth interviews and exclusive performances by
some of the world’s most groundbreaking musicians and industry leaders. This
ongoing gift from the Snapshots Foundation will ensure that the works of these
cutting-edge artists and thinkers will be forever preserved and made accessible
to scholars and future generations.
"The Library’s acquisition
of the Snapshots videos fills an important niche in our collections in the
areas of world jazz, international classical, crossover, and electronic music,”
said Gregory Lukow, chief of the Library’s Motion Picture, Broadcasting and
Recorded Sound Division. "The collection not only includes unique artistic
performances, but also in-depth artist profiles through taped interviews and
master classes that provide rare insight into the personal history of each
artist.”
"We are honored to give
artists a new platform to share their stories with people everywhere,” said
Jonathan Bewley, founder and executive producer of the Snapshots Foundation.
"Our goal is to provide a lasting and valuable resource through our films,
education and industry profiles for other musicians, professionals, students
and listeners.”
In addition to Shankar and
Matmos, the collection also includes interviews and performances by an
impressive array of artists including classical guitarist Celino Romero, jazz
flutist Holly Hofmann and crossover percussionist Steven Schick. Also included
in the initial gift is the foundation’s video series, which includes
"Snapshots: Musicians on Music” and "Artists Profiles.”
The Snapshots Foundation will
add performances and interviews to the collection on a continuing basis. Among
the early installments are tapes of new-music pianist Luciane Cardassi,
composer Herb Deutsch, organ-builder and curator Manual Rosales, electronic
artist Jason Soares, composer John Eaton, organist Cherry Rhodes, performer and
Juilliard School professor David Dubal, bassist/composer Mark Dresser,
musicologist Sylviane Falcinelli, Tower Records founder Russ Soloman, and
Michelle Moog-Koussa, executive director of the Bob Moog Foundation.
A unique characteristic of the
collection is the superior audio quality of the performances, which were
recorded in such state-of-the-art venues as the Walt Disney Concert Hall in Los
Angeles, the Neurosciences Institute in San Diego, the Athenaeum Music and Arts
Library in La Jolla, Ca. and the Warren Music Center Studio at the University
of California San Diego.
The collection of tapes and
photos will be housed at the Library’s Packard Campus for Audio Visual
Conservation, a leading-edge facility funded as a gift to the nation by the
Packard Humanities Institute. The Packard Campus is the site where the nation’s
library acquires, preserves and provides access to the world’s largest and most
comprehensive collection of motion pictures, television programs, radio broadcasts
and sound recordings (www.loc.gov/avconservation/). The Packard Campus is home
to more than six million collection items.
Founded in 1800, the Library of
Congress is the nation’s oldest federal cultural institution. The Library seeks
to spark imagination and creativity and to further human understanding and
wisdom by providing access to knowledge through its magnificent collections,
programs and exhibitions. Many of the Library’s rich resources can be accessed
through its website at www.loc.govand via interactive exhibitions on a personalized
website at myLOC.gov.
The Snapshots Music
and Arts Foundationis a non-profit organization dedicated to using film and new
media to connect people with the musical arts. Its mission is to educate,
inspire and to preserve music history by documenting the voices of today’s most
innovative musicians and industry leaders who shape the sound and creative
direction of music.
• Universal Music Group Donates
Over 200,000 Master Recordings to the Library of Congress
On January 10, 2011, the
Library of Congress and the Universal Music Group (UMG) announced the donation
of more than 200,000 historic master recordings—many long out-of-print or never
released—to the Library’s Recorded Sound Section, which has more than 3 million
sound recordings in its collections.
Totaling in excess of 5,000
linear feet, UMG’s gift is the largest single donation ever received by the
Library’s audio-visual division and the first major collection of studio master
materials ever obtained by the nation’s oldest cultural institution. Among the
collection’s thousands of metal and lacquer discs and master mono tapes are
released and unreleased versions of recordings by such seminal artists as Louis
Armstrong, Bing Crosby, Tommy Dorsey, Billie Holiday, the Andrews Sisters,
Connee Boswell, Jimmy Dorsey, the Mills Brothers, Guy Lombardo, Ella
Fitzgerald, Fred Waring, Judy Garland, and Dinah Washington, among others.
The recordings include:
- Bing Crosby’s 1947 version of
"White Christmas”
- Louis Armstrong singing "Ain’t
Misbehavin’”
- The Mills Brothers’ "Paper Doll”
- Ella Fitzgerald’s and Louis
Armstrong’s duet "Frim Fram Sauce”
- Les Paul’s "Guitar Boogie”
- Josh White singing "Jim Crow”
- Machito and his Afro-Cuban All Stars
Mercury recordings
"It is certainly within
the national interest to acquire this recorded collection, and all its accompanying
materials, for custodial care,” said Librarian of Congress James H. Billington.
"A surprisingly high percentage of America’s recording heritage since the
early part of the 20thcentury has been lost due to neglect and deterioration.
The donation of the UMG archive to the Library of Congress is a major gift to
the nation that will help maintain the inter-generational connection that is
essential to keeping alive, in our collective national memory, the music and
sound recordings meaningful to past generations.”
UMG has one of the most
extensive catalogs of music in the world and its gift to the Library includes
historic masters from such subsidiary labels as Decca, Mercury, Vocalion and
Brunswick, dating from the late 1920s through the late 1940s. "Music is a
distinctive feature of any historical period, and this particular collection of
masters provides true insight into popular music’s humble beginnings and who we
are as a culture today,” said Zach Horowitz, UMG’s president and chief
operating officer. "We are delighted to be collaborating with the Library
of Congress to preserve and call attention to the groundbreaking musical
achievements of these amazing musical pioneers.”
The Universal Music Collection,
which consists of the company’s best existing copies, will be cataloged and
digitized at the Library’s Packard Campus for Audio Visual Conservation in
Culpeper, Va., which will permanently secure their exceptional sonic quality.
"The Packard Campus and its employees will work hard to protect the
Library’s comprehensive collection and make these recordings accessible to the
American people and this generous contribution by Universal Music will help
preserve our nation’s rich cultural heritage,” said Congressman Eric Cantor,
Majority Leader for the 112thCongress and U.S. Representative from the
7thDistrict of Virginia, which includes Culpeper.
This gift is particularly
important in the context of the findings of the first comprehensive,
congressionally mandated study ever conducted in the U.S. on a national level.
It found that only an estimated 14 percent of pre-1965 commercially released
recordings were currently available from rights holders. The study also found
that of the music released in the U.S. in the 1930s, only about 10 percent of
it could be readily accessed by the public.
The Library will stream
recordings from the collection on a website to be launched in the spring. The
additions of these recordings will significantly broaden the scope of the site
and enhance the Library’s already unprecedented authority to stream
commercially owned sound recordings online.
Universal Music Group is the
world’s leading music company with wholly owned record operations or licensees
in 77 countries. Its businesses also include Universal Music Publishing Group,
the industry's leading global music publishing operation. UMG’s record labels
include: A&M/Octone, Decca, Deutsche Grammophon, Disa, Emarcy, Fonovisa,
Interscope Geffen A&M Records, Island Def Jam Music Group, Lost Highway
Records, Machete Music, MCA Nashville, Mercury Nashville, Mercury Records,
Polydor Records, Show Dog–Universal Music, Universal Motown Republic Group,
Universal Music Latino and Verve Music Group as well as a multitude of record
labels owned or distributed by its record company subsidiaries around the
world. UMG owns the most extensive catalog of music in the industry, which
includes the last 100 years of the world's most popular artists and their
recordings. UMG’s catalog is marketed through two distinct divisions, Universal
Music Enterprises (in the U.S.) and Universal Strategic Marketing (outside the
U.S.). UMG also includes eLabs, its new media and technologies division;
Bravado, its merchandising company; and Twenty-First Artists, its full service
management division. UMG is a unit of Vivendi, a global media and
communications company.
2. PRESERVATION
• 2010 National Film Registry
Titles Announced
On December 28, 2010, Librarian
of Congress James H. Billington named 25 motion pictures—Hollywood classics,
documentaries and innovative shorts reflecting genres from every era of
American filmmaking—to the National Film Registry of the Library of Congress.
Spanning the period 1891-1996,
the films named to the registry range from a rare glimpse of San Francisco
before the 1906 earthquake and the political thrillerAll the President’s Mento George Lucas’ student film
in 1967 and his sci-fi special-effects extravaganzaThe Empire Strikes Back. Also included in the registry
are lesser-known, but culturally vital films such as the black independent filmCry of Jazz,Luis Valdez’sI Am Joaquinand John Huston’s war
documentaryLet
There Be Light, which
was banned by the War Department for 35 years. This year’s selections bring the
number of films in the registry to 550.
Under the terms of the National
Film Preservation Act, each year the Librarian of Congress names 25 films to
the National Film Registry that are "culturally, historically or
aesthetically” significant, to be preserved for all time. These films are not
selected as the "best” American films of all time, but rather as works of
enduring significance to American culture. Annual selections to the registry
are finalized by the Librarian after reviewing hundreds of titles nominated by
the public (this year 2,112 films were nominated) and having extensive
discussions with the distinguished members of the National Film Preservation
Board, as well as the Library’s motion-picture staff. The Librarian urges the
public to make nominations for next year’s registry at the Film Board’s
website: www. loc.gov/film.
In other news about the
National Film Registry,These
Amazing Shadows, a
documentary on the National Film Registry independently produced by Gravitas
Docufilms, will premiere at the Sundance Film Festival in January 2011. More
information can be found at the website www.theseamazingshadows.com/.
For each title named to the
registry, the Library of Congress Packard Campus for Audio Visual Conservation
works to ensure that the film is preserved for future generations, either
through the Library’s massive motion-picture preservation program or through
collaborative ventures with other archives, motion-picture studios and
independent filmmakers. The Packard Campus is a state-of-the-art facility where
the nation’s library acquires, preserves and provides access to the world’s
largest and most comprehensive collection of films, television programs, radio
broadcasts and sound recordings (www.loc.gov/avconservation/). The Packard Campus is
funded as a gift to the nation by the Packard Humanities Institute and is home
to more than six million collection items. The facility provides staff support
for the Library of Congress National Film Preservation Board, the National
Recording Preservation Board and the National Registries for film and recorded
sound.
Included on the list for 2010
were the following films:
Airplane! (1980)
Airplane!emerged
in 1980 as a sharply perceptive parody of the big-budget disaster films that
dominated Hollywood during the 1970s. Characterized by a freewheeling style
reminiscent of comedies of the 1920s,Airplane!introduced a much-needed deflating assessment of
the tendency of theatrical film producers to push successful formulaic movie
conventions beyond the point of logic. One of the film’s most noteworthy
achievements was to cast actors best known for careers in melodrama
productions, e.g., Leslie Nielsen, and provide them with opportunities to
showcase their comic talents.
All the President’s Men (1976)
Based on the memoir by Washington Post reporters Bob Woodward and Carl
Bernstein about political dirty tricks in the nation’s capital,All the President’s Menis a rare example of a
best-selling book that was transformed into a hit theatrical film and a
cultural phenomenon in its own right.
The Bargain (1914)
After beginning his career on the stage (where he originated the role of
Messala inBen-Hurin 1899), William S. Hart found
his greatest fame as the silent screen’s most popular cowboy. His 1914The Bargain, directed by Reginald Barker,
was Hart’s first film and made him a star. The second Hart Western to be named
to the National Film Registry, the film was selected because of Hart’s
charisma, the film’s authenticity and realistic portrayal of the Western genre
and the star’s good/bad man role as an outlaw attempting to go straight.
Cry of Jazz (1959)
Cry of Jazzis a
34-minute, black-and-white short subject that is now recognized as an early and
influential example of African American independent filmmaking. Director Ed
Bland, with the help of more than 60 volunteer crew members, intercuts scenes
of life in Chicago’s black neighborhoods with interviews of interracial artists
and intellectuals.Cry of
Jazzargues
that black life in America shares a structural identity with jazz music. With
performance clips by the jazz composer, bandleader and pianist Sun Ra and his
Arkestra, the film demonstrates the unifying tension between rehearsed and
improvised jazz.Cry of
Jazzis a
historic and fascinating film that comments on racism and the appropriation of
jazz by those who fail to understand its artistic and cultural origins.
Electronic Labyrinth:
THX 1138 4EB (1967)
This 15-minute film, produced by George Lucas while a student at the University
of Southern California, won the 1968 United States National Student Film
Festival drama award and inspired Warner Bros. studio to sign Lucas to produce
the expanded feature lengthTHX
1138under
the tutelage of Francis Ford Coppola. This film has evoked comparisons to
George Orwell’s1984and impressed audiences with
its technical inventiveness and cautionary view of a future filled with
security cameras and omnipresent scrutiny.
The Empire Strikes Back (1980)
The much anticipated continuation of theStar Warssaga, Irvin Kershner’s 1980 sequel sustained the
action-adventure and storytelling success of its predecessor and helped lay the
foundation for one of the most commercially successful film series in American
cinematic history.
The Exorcist (1973)
The Exorcistis one
of the most successful and influential horror films of all time. Its influence,
both stylistically and in narrative, continues to be seen in many movies of the
21st century. The film’s success, both commercially and cinematically, provides
a rare example of a popular novel being ably adapted for the big screen.
The Front Page (1931)
The Front Pageis a
historically significant early sound movie that successfully demonstrates the
rapid progress achieved by Hollywood filmmakers in all creative professions
after realizing the capabilities of sound technology to invent new film
narratives. The film is based on one of the best screenplays of the 1930s, by
Ben Hecht and Charles MacArthur. It was directed by Lewis Milestone and
featured great performances by Pat O’Brien, Adolphe Menjou, Mary Brian, Edward
Everett Horton, Walter Catlett, Mae Clark, Slim Summerville, Matt Moore and
Frank McHugh.
Grey Gardens (1976)
Grey Gardensis an
influential cinema verité documentary by Albert and David Maysles that has
provided inspiration for creative works on the stage and in film. Through its
close and sometimes disturbing look at the eccentric lives of "Big Edie”
and "Little Edie” Beale, two women (cousins of former First Lady
Jacqueline Kennedy) living in East Hampton, N.Y., the film documents a complex
and difficult mother-daughter relationship and a vanished era of decayed
gentility.
I Am Joaquin (1969)
I Am Joaquinis a
20-minute short film based on an epic poem published by Rodolfo "Corky”
Gonzales in 1967. Gonzales’ poem weaves together the long tangled roots of his
Mexican, Spanish, Indian and American parentage and a past mythology of
pre-Columbian cultures. The film is important to the history and culture of
Chicanos in America, spotlighting the challenges they have endured because of
discrimination. Luis Valdez, often described as the father of Chicano theater,
produced and directedI Am
Joaquinas a
project of Teatro Campesino (the Farmworkers Theater), which he founded in 1965
to inform, encourage and entertain Chicano farm workers. Valdez later directed
the Chicano-themedZoot
Suitin
1981, a retelling of the early 1940s Los Angeles race riots, andLa Bambain 1987.
It’s a Gift (1934)
The popularity and influence of W.C. Fields continues with each succeeding
generation, distinguishing him as one of the greatest American comedians of the
20th century.It’s a
Gifthas
survived a perilous preservation history and is the third Fields film to be
named to the National Film Registry. The film’s extended comic sequence
featuring Baby LeRoy, and depicting Fields’ travails while trying to sleep on
the open-air back porch of a rooming house, was adapted from one of his most
successful live theatrical sketches.
Let There Be Light (1946)
Director John Huston directed three classic war documentaries for the U.S. Army
Signal Corps during the period of 1943-46:Report from the Aleutians,Battle of San PietroandLet There Be Light.Let There Be Lightwas blocked from public
distribution by the War Department for 35 years because no effort was made
during filming to disguise or mask the identities of combat veterans suffering
from various forms of psychological trauma. The film provides important
historical documentation of the efforts of psychiatric professionals during
World War II to care for emotionally wounded veterans and prepare them to
return to civilian life.Let
There Be Lightwas
filmed by cinematographer Stanley Cortez and its score was composed by Dimitri
Tiomkin.
Lonesome (1928)
Lonesomeis one
of the few American feature films directed by the gifted Hungarian-born
filmmaker and scientist Paul Fejös (1897-1963). The film has been recognized
for its success as both a comic melodrama (about young lovers who become
separated during the chaos of a thunderstorm at Coney Island) and for its early
use of dialogue and two-color Technicolor. The film was restored by the George
Eastman House and has found renewed popularity with repertory and film-festival
audiences.
Make Way for Tomorrow (1937)
Make Way for Tomorrowis a
sensitive, progressive, issue-oriented Depression-era film by director Leo
McCarey. It concerns an aged and indigent married couple forced by their
self-absorbed children to live separately in order to save money. The final
scene, depicting the husband and wife parting company in a train station,
counters the belief that late-30s Hollywood films always had happy endings.Make Way for Tomorrowdeftly explores themes of
retirement, poverty, generational dissonance and the nuances of love and regret
at the end of a long married life.
Malcolm X (1992)
Director Spike Lee’s biographical film about the life of civil rights leader
Malcom X was produced in the classical Hollywood style. Featuring an
Oscar-nominated performance by Denzel Washington, the film exemplifies the
willingness of the American film industry in the early ‘90s to support the
making of mainstream films about earlier generations of social leaders.
McCabe and Mrs. Miller (1971)
McCabe and Mrs. Milleris an
aesthetically acclaimed film that demonstrates why the Western genre,
especially when reinvented by acclaimed Robert Altman, endured in the 20th
century as a useful model for critically examining the realities of
contemporary American culture. The film’s credits include notable
cinematography by Vilmos Zsigmond and a music score by Leonard Cohen.
Newark Athlete (1891)
Produced May-June 1891, this experimental film was one of the first made in
America at the Edison Laboratory in West Orange, N.J. The filmmakers were
W.K.L. Dickson and William Heise, both of whom were employed as inventors and
engineers in the industrial research facility owned by Thomas Edison. Heise and
especially Dickson made important technical contributions during 1891-1893,
leading to the invention of the world’s first successful motion picture
camera—the Edison Kinetograph—and to the playback device required for viewing
early peepshow films—the Edison Kinetoscope.
Our Lady of the Sphere (1969)
A leading figure in the California Bay Area independent film movement, Lawrence
Jordan has crafted more than 40 experimental, animation and dramatic films.
Jordan uses "found” graphics to produce his influential animated collages,
noting that his goal is to create "unknown worlds and landscapes of the
mind.” Inspired byThe
Tibetan Book of the Dead,Our
Lady of the Sphereis one
of Jordan’s best-known works. It is a surrealistic dream-like journey blending
baroque images with Victorian-era image cut-outs, iconic space age symbols,
various musical themes and noise effects, including animal sounds and buzzers.
The Pink Panther (1964)
This comic masterpiece by Blake Edwards introduced both the animated Pink
Panther character in the film’s opening-and-closing credit sequences, and actor
Peter Sellers in his most renowned comic role as the inept Inspector Clouseau.
The influence of the great comics of the silent era on Edwards and Sellers is
apparent throughout the film, which is recognized for its enduring popularity.
The musical score composed by Henry Mancini is also memorable.
Preservation of the Sign
Language (1913)
Presented without subtitles,Preservationis a short, one-reel film
featuring George Veditz, onetime president of the National Association of the
Deaf (NAD) of the United States, demonstrating in sign language the importance
of defending the right of deaf people to sign as opposed to verbalizing their
communication. Deafened by scarlet fever at the age of eight, Veditz was one of
the first to make motion-picture recordings of American Sign Language. Taking
care to sign precisely and in large gestures for the cameras, Veditz chose
fiery biblical passages to give his speech emotional impact. In some of his
films, Veditz used finger spelling so his gestures could be translated directly
into English in venues where interpreters were present. On behalf of the NAD,
Veditz made this film specifically to record sign language for posterity at a
time when oralists (those who promoted lip reading and speech in lieu of sign
language) were gaining momentum in the education of the hearing-impaired. The
film conveys one of the ways that deaf Americans debated the issues of their
language and public understanding during the era of World War I.
Saturday Night Fever (1977)
Produced long after the heyday of classic Hollywood musicals, this cinematic
cultural touchstone incorporated set-piece music and dance numbers into a story
of dramatic realism. With its success,Saturday Night Feverproved that the American movie
musical could be reinvented. The film’s soundtrack, featuring hits by the Bee
Gees and others, sold millions of copies and gave musical life to a movie
significant for much more than just its celebration of the mid-70s disco
phenomenon.
Study of a River (1996)
Experimental filmmaker Peter Hutton is best known for his thoughtful and
beautifully photographed ruminations on the co-existence of urban areas and
natural waterways. His most renowned films focused on the Hudson River.Study of a Riveris a meditative examination of
the winter cycle of the Hudson River over a two-year period, showing its
environment, ships plying its waterways, ice floes, and the interaction of
nature and civilization. Some critics have described Hutton’s work as
reminiscent of the 19th century artist Thomas Cole and other painters of the
Hudson River School.
Tarantella (1940)
Tarantellais a
five-minute color, avant-garde short film created by Mary Ellen Bute, a pioneer
of visual music and electronic art in experimental cinema. With piano
accompaniment by Edwin Gershefsky,Tarantellafeatures rich reds and blues that Bute uses to
signify a lighter mood, while her syncopated spirals, shards, lines and
squiggles dance exuberantly to Gershefsky’s modern beat. Bute produced more
than a dozen short films between the 1930s and the 1950s and once described
herself as a "designer of kinetic abstractions” who sought to "bring
to the eyes a combination of visual forms unfolding with the … rhythmic
cadences of music.” Bute’s work influenced many other filmmakers working with
abstract animation during the ‘30s and ‘40s, and with experimental electronic
imagery in the ‘50s.
A Tree Grows in Brooklyn (1945)
Elia Kazan’s first feature film, based on the novel by Betty Smith, focuses on
a theme that he returned to many times during his film career: the struggle of
a weak or ill-prepared individual to survive against powerful forces. A timely
film,A Tree Grows in Brooklynwas released at the end of
World War II, helping to remind post-war audiences of the enduring importance
of the American dream.
A Trip Down Market
Street (1906)
A Trip Down Market Streetis a
13-minute "actuality” film recorded by placing a movie camera on the front
of a cable car as is proceeds down San Francisco’s Market Street. A fascinating
time capsule from over 100 years ago, the film showcases the details of daily
life in a major American city, including the fashions, transportations and
architecture of the era. The film was originally thought to have been made in
1905, but historian David Kiehn, who examined contemporary newspapers, weather
reports and car license plates recorded in the film, later suggested thatA Trip Down Market Streetwas likely filmed just a few
days before the devastating earthquake on April 18, 1906.
• Library of Congress Releases
Study Showing Dire State of Sound Recording Preservation and Access
Digital technology alone will
not ensure the preservation and survival of the nation’s sound history. That is
one of the findings in a major study released September 29, 2010 by the Library
of Congress National Recording Preservation Board (NRPB) detailing the state of
sound-recording preservation and access. The study was mandated by the U.S.
Congress under the "National Recording Preservation Act of 2000” (P.L.
106-474) and is the first comprehensive study on a national level that examines
the state of America’s sound-recording preservation ever conducted in the
United States.
Titled "The State of
Recorded Sound Preservation in the United States: A National Legacy at Risk in
the Digital Age,” the study outlines the interlocking issues that now threaten
the long-term survival of America’s sound-recording history. It also identifies
the public and private policy issues that strongly bear on whether the nation's
most culturally and historically important sound recordings will be preserved
for future generations.
Although public institutions,
libraries and archives hold an estimated 46 million recordings, the study finds
that major areas of America’s recorded sound heritage have already deteriorated
or remain inaccessible to the public. Only an estimated 14 percent of pre-1965
commercially released recordings are currently available from rights-holders.
Of music released in the United States in the 1930s, only about 10 percent of
it can now be readily accessed by the public.
In his introduction to the
study, Librarian of Congress James H. Billington noted: "Sound recordings
have existed as one of the most salient features of America’s cultural landscape
for more than 130 years. As a nation, we have good reason to be proud of our
historical record of creativity in the sound-recording arts and sciences.
However, our collective energy in creating and consuming sound recordings in
all genres has not been matched by an equal level of interest, over the same
period of time, in preserving them for posterity.”
Authored by Rob Bamberger and
Sam Brylawski under the auspices of NRPB, the study points out the lack of
conformity between federal and state laws, which has adversely affected the
survival of pre-1972 sound recording. One of the major conclusions in the
report is that the advent of digital technologies and distribution platforms
has made inseparable the issues surrounding both the preservation of sound recordings
and access to them.
The authors also conclude that
analog recordings made more than 100 years ago are likelier to survive than
digital recordings made today. In addition, the report warns that there must be
a coordinated effort by the various stakeholders to address the scope of the
problem, the complexity of the technical landscape, the need for preservation
education and the copyright conundrum.
Finally, the report notes that
newer materials such as born-digital audio are at greater risk of loss than
older recordings, such as 78-rpm discs; that there is a lack of a comprehensive
program to preserve born-digital audio; and that open-reel preservation tapes
made in the 1970s and 1980s are deteriorating faster than older tape
recordings. For more findings from the report, review the appendix at www.loc.gov/today/pr/2010/PR10-194SRstudyAppendixwithkeyfindings.pdfand the introduction/executive
summary at www.loc.gov/today/pr/2010/CLIRpub148Intro.pdf.
"The State of Recorded
Sound Preservation in the United States: A National Legacy at Risk in the
Digital Age” is available for purchase and as a free download at www.clir.org/pubs/abstract/pub148abst.html.Information for this study was
gathered through interviews, public hearings and written submissions. NRPB
previously commissioned five ancillary studies in support of this final report,
which will lay the groundwork for the National Recording Preservation Plan, to
be developed and published later.
The Library of Congress Packard
Campus for Audio Visual Conservation has already begun initiatives to solve
some of the problems identified during preparation of the study. For example,
the Recorded Sound Section of the Packard Campus has obtained a license to
stream acoustical recordings controlled by the Sony Music Entertainment for the
Library of Congress National Jukebox, which debuted later in 2010.
The Library of Congress Packard
Campus for Audio Visual Conservation is a state-of-the-art facility funded as a
gift to the nation by the Packard Humanities Institute. The Packard Campus is
the site where the nation’s library acquires, preserves and provides access to
the world’s largest and most comprehensive collection of motion pictures,
television programs, radio broadcasts and sound recordings (www.loc.gov/avconservation/). The Packard Campus is home
to more than six million collection items, including nearly three million sound
recordings. It provides staff support for the Library of Congress National Film
Preservation Board, the National Recording Preservation Board, and the National
Registries for film and recorded sound.
Founded in 1800, the Library of
Congress is the nation’s oldest federal cultural institution. The Library seeks
to spark imagination and creativity and to further human understanding and
wisdom by providing access to knowledge through its magnificent collections,
programs and exhibitions. Many of the Library’s rich resources can be accessed
through its website at www.loc.govand via interactive exhibitions on a personalized
website at myLOC.gov.
3. INSTITUTIONS AND ORGANIZATIONS
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