National Film Registry 2011
December 28th 2011 09:13
"Bambi" (1942)
Producer Walt Disney and director David Hand sought greater realism in their 1942 animated feature "Bambi," compared to the more buoyant and lighthearted animation in "Pinocchio" and "Dumbo." Based on a novel by Felix Salten, "Bambi" beautifully captures the lushness of Nature as it follows a young deer's life in the forest, including the very real threats of fire and of human hunters. The shooting death of Bambi's mother affected more than one generation.
Credit: Walt Disney Pictures
"Life is like a box of chocolates - you never know what you're gonna get."
"Forrest Gump" (1994), in which Tom Hanks' character takes a picaresque journey through recent American history, is among the most recent additions to the Library of Congress' National Film Registry, a repository of motion pictures judged to be culturally, historically or aesthetically significant.
By CBSNews.com producer David Morgan
Credit: Paramount Pictures
Under the National Film Preservation Act that created the National Film Registry, the Library of Congress works with studios and archives to make sure copies of movies named to the Registry are protected and preserved for future generations.
This is crucial because more than half of motion pictures produced before 1950, including as much as 90 percent of films from the silent era, are lost - their negatives discarded, destroyed by fire, or deteriorated into dust.
Left: Deborah Stoiber brushes off a reel of decomposing film at the George Eastman House Louis B. Mayer Conservation Center in Chili, N.Y., in this April 2008 file photo.
Credit: AP Photo/David Duprey
"The Silence of the Lambs" (1991)
Anthony Hopkins wasn't the first first actor to appear on-screen as murderous psychiatrist Hannibal Lecter - Brian Cox portrayed him in 1986's "Manhunter" - but his gripping performance made the character his own. In "Silence of the Lambs" Lecter begrudgingly teams up with green FBI agent Clarice Starling (Jodie Foster) to locate a serial killer.
This masterfully acted and directed (and gory) thriller became only the second film to win Oscars in the five top categories - Best Picture, Director (Jonathan Demme), Actor (Hopkins), Actress (Foster) and screenplay (Ted Tally, adapting Thomas Harris' novel). But it was also a rarity in being a horror movie that won an Oscar for Best Picture. A horror movie!
Credit: Orion Pictures
"The Kid" (1921)
Charlie Chaplin's first full-length feature mixes slapstick comedy with social commentary and pathos, as the Little Tramp takes in a foundling (played by Jackie Coogan).
Credit: First National
"Porgy and Bess" (1959)
Produced in Todd-AO widescreen and stereo sound, with an all-star cast that featured Sidney Poitier, Dorothy Dandridge, Sammy Davis, Jr., Pearl Bailey, and Diahann Carroll, "Porgy and Bess" has been screened rarely in recent years owing to rights issues. However, Otto Preminger's film adaptation of the Gershwins' folk opera was troubled from the start - Preminger replaced original director Rouben Mamoulian, prompting legal actions; a fire destroyed sets and costumes; and the film's tepid reception led to its being withheld from theaters for decades. It's that rare Academy Award-winning film that has never been released on home video or DVD.
Credit: Samuel Goldwyn
"Crisis: Behind a Presidential Commitment" (1963)
With the contributions of such noted documentary filmmakers as D. A. Pennebaker, Richard Leacock, Gregory Shuker, James Lipscomb, and Patricia Powell, "Crisis" captures the deliberations between President John F. Kennedy and his staff as the federal government addressed a major civil rights crisis: Gov. George Wallace's attempt to prevent two African-American students from enrolling in the University of Alabama. The fly-on-the-wall camerawork was riveting, though the Oval Office access the filmmakers obtained led to tut-tutting from The New York Times editorial board. Making its debut at the first New York Film Festival, "Crisis" was later aired on ABC.
Credit: Drew Associates
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