Watch: National Film Registry
Intention: Watch at least one of these each week - more if the occasion arises... until I'm all caught up. This is my National Film Registry to watch list - films I've yet to see or I'd like to see again to refresh my memory of the experience. An incomplete list. Just getting started... A - Z so far. And a few I couldn't find in IMDB - though I may have to look again later. This will keep me way busy anyway... for now.
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- DirectorElia KazanStarsStathis GiallelisFrank WolffElena KaramA young Greek stops at nothing to secure a passage to America.
- DirectorGeorge C. StoneyStarsMary ColeyConceived as an educational film for rural midwives, the film presents a beautifully humane profile of the life and work of the midwife "Miss Mary" Coley.
- DirectorJudy CollinsJill GodmilowStarsAntonia BricoJudy CollinsA special deluxe edition of the 1974 Oscar nominated documentary film about the first female conductor to conduct major orchestras in the US and Europe, Antonia Brico!
- DirectorAlfred E. GreenStarsBarbara StanwyckGeorge BrentDonald CookA young woman, sexually exploited all her life, decides to turn the tables and exploit the hapless men at a big city bank by gleefully seducing her way to the top.
- DirectorVincente MinnelliStarsLana TurnerKirk DouglasWalter PidgeonAn unscrupulous movie producer uses an actress, a director and a writer to achieve success.
- DirectorVincente MinnelliStarsFred AstaireCyd CharisseOscar LevantA pretentiously artistic director is hired for a new Broadway musical and changes it beyond recognition.
- DirectorEdward F. ClineStarsW.C. FieldsCora WitherspoonUna MerkelHenpecked Egbert Sousé has comic adventures as a substitute film director and unlikely bank guard.
- DirectorFred NibloCharles BrabinChristy CabanneStarsRamon NovarroFrancis X. BushmanMay McAvoyA Jewish prince seeks to find his family and revenge himself upon his childhood friend who had him wrongly imprisoned.
- DirectorJames W. HorneLeo McCareyStarsStan LaurelOliver HardyJames FinlaysonOllie and Stanley are two Christmas Tree sales reps who get into one of their usual mutual-destruction fights with a disgruntled homeowner.
- DirectorFritz LangStarsGlenn FordGloria GrahameJocelyn BrandoTough cop Dave Bannion takes on a politically powerful crime syndicate.
- DirectorKing VidorGeorge W. HillStarsJohn GilbertRenée AdoréeHobart BosworthA young American soldier witnesses the horrors of the Great War.
- DirectorRaoul WalshLouis R. LoefflerStarsJohn WayneMarguerite ChurchillEl BrendelBreck Coleman leads hundreds of settlers in covered wagons from the Mississippi River to their destiny out West.
- DirectorD.W. GriffithStarsLillian GishMae MarshHenry B. WalthallThe Stoneman family finds its friendship with the Camerons affected by the Civil War, both fighting in opposite armies. The development of the war in their lives plays through to Lincoln's assassination and the birth of the Ku Klux Klan.
- DirectorAlbert ParkerStarsDouglas FairbanksBillie DoveTempe PigottSeeking revenge, an athletic young man joins the pirate band responsible for his father's death.
- DirectorCarroll BallardStarsKelly RenoMickey RooneyTeri GarrAfter being shipwrecked with a magnificent horse off the coast of Africa in the 1940s, a boy bonds with the stallion, and trains him to race after their rescue.
- DirectorMaurice TourneurStarsTula BelleRobin MacdougallEdwin E. ReedWith the aid and guidance of a magical fairy, two peasant children set out in search of the elusive "Blue Bird of Happiness".
- DirectorJames WhaleStarsBoris KarloffElsa LanchesterColin CliveMary Shelley reveals the main characters of her novel survived: Baron Henry Frankenstein, goaded by an even madder scientist, builds his monster a mate.
- DirectorD.W. GriffithStarsLillian GishRichard BarthelmessDonald CrispA frail waif, abused by her brutal boxer father in London's seedy Limehouse District, is befriended by a sensitive Chinese immigrant with tragic consequences.
- DirectorJay LeydaArrival in the Bronx is shown with a view from an elevated train as it enters the city. Then follows a montage of sights from the Bronx. Many typical neighborhood activities are shown, along with scenes from many local businesses.
- DirectorMimi PickeringA look at the Buffalo Creek disaster, which occurred when a coal-waste dam collapsed. Includes interviews with survivors, mining officials, and union representatives, along with footage of the flood itself.
- DirectorEdward SedgwickBuster KeatonStarsBuster KeatonMarceline DayHarold GoodwinHopelessly in love with a woman working at MGM Studios, a clumsy man attempts to become a motion-picture cameraman to be close to the object of his desire.
- DirectorOtto PremingerStarsHarry BelafonteDorothy DandridgePearl BaileyContemporary version of the Bizet opera, with new lyrics and an African-American cast.
- DirectorBruce BaillieA visual documentary inspired by Erik Satie, showcasing the sights and sounds of the industrialized Castro Street in Richmond, California.
- DirectorJacques TourneurStarsSimone SimonTom ConwayKent SmithAn American man marries a Serbian immigrant who fears that she will turn into the cat person of her homeland's fables if they are intimate together.
- DirectorWayne WangStarsWood MoyMarc HayashiLaureen ChewTwo cab drivers search San Francisco's Chinatown for the mysterious Chan, who disappeared with their $4000.
- DirectorCecil B. DeMilleStarsFannie WardSessue HayakawaJack DeanA venal, spoiled stockbroker's wife impulsively embezzles $10,000 from the charity she chairs and desperately turns to a Burmese ivory trader to replace the stolen money.
- DirectorLewis H. MoomawStarsWilliam DillsAlbert Van AntwerpEva GordonFollowing a shipwreck, a family of prospectors become separated from their infant daughter in the Klondike. Years later, the grown-up daughter begins to unravel the truth about her heritage.
- DirectorLes BlankStarsRamiro CavazosLos Alegres De TeranLos Pinguinos del Norte"Chulas Fronteras" examines the origins and social significance of the traditional Tejano (or 'Tex-Mex') music that developed along the U.S.-Mexico border.
- DirectorRalph SteinerWillard Van DykeStarsMorris CarnovskyA prescient documentary about city planning, which presents idyllic suburbs and nuclear families as a solution to the chaos, poverty and social decay of industrialized inner cities.
- DirectorCharles ChaplinStarsCharles ChaplinVirginia CherrillFlorence LeeWith the aid of a wealthy erratic tippler, a dewy-eyed tramp who has fallen in love with a sightless flower girl accumulates money to be able to help her medically.
- DirectorReginald BarkerThomas H. InceRaymond B. WestStarsHoward HickmanEnid MarkeyLola MayChrist takes on the form of a pacifist count to end a senseless war.
- DirectorNoel M. SmithStarsRin Tin TinNanetteCharles FarrellA fire in the mountains drive a wolf pack into a nearby desert where they will terrorize the local residents.
- DirectorZora Neale HurstonField recordings of religious services in a South Carolina Gullah community.
- DirectorEd CatmullFrederic ParkeStarsEd CatmullDisplays the hand turning, opening and closing, pointing at the viewer, and flexing its fingers, ending with a shot that seemingly travels up inside the hand.
- DirectorShirley ClarkeStarsRony ClantonCarl LeeYolanda RodríguezA look at the horrors of Harlem ghetto slum life filled with drugs, violence, human misery, and a sense of despair due to the racial prejudices of American society.
- DirectorEdward F. ClineBuster KeatonStarsBuster KeatonEdward F. ClineVirginia FoxA series of mishaps manages to make a young man get chased by a big city's entire police force.
- DirectorEnoch J. RectorStarsJames J. CorbettBob FitzsimmonsBilly MaddenDocumentary film depicting the 1897 boxing match between James J. Corbett and Bob Fitzsimmons in Carson City, Nevada on St. Patrick's Day. Originally running for more than 100 minutes, it is the world's first feature film.
- DirectorD.W. GriffithStarsFrank PowellGrace HendersonJames KirkwoodAn unscrupulous and greedy capitalist speculator decides to corner the wheat market for his own profit, establishing complete control over the markets.
- DirectorMelvin FrankNorman PanamaStarsDanny KayeGlynis JohnsBasil RathboneA hapless carnival performer masquerades as the court jester as part of a plot against an evil ruler who has overthrown the rightful King.
- DirectorRobert DrewStarsJames LipscombJohn F. KennedyGeorge WallaceGovernor George Wallace will not let two black students into an Alabama school, against the wishes of President Kennedy. Loud shouts come from both sides of the issue as JFK stands by his decisions.
- DirectorKing VidorStarsEleanor BoardmanJames MurrayBert RoachThe life of a man and woman together in a large, impersonal metropolis through their hopes, struggles, and downfalls.
- DirectorGeorge NicholsStarsMarie ElineEthel WrightJames CruzeAn indictment of the evils of child labor, the film was controversial in its time for its use of actual footage of children employed in a working mill.
- DirectorLaurence TrimbleStarsJohn BunnyFlora FinchLeah BairdWife plots to cure her husband of his inveterate poker playing.
- DirectorMarian E. WongStarsViolet WongHarvey Soo HooMarian E. WongThe members of a Chinese family living in the US have a curse put upon them for becoming too "westernized".
- DirectorRobert M. FrescoDenis SandersStarsLeonid BrezhnevNeville ChamberlainAlexander DubcekShort documentary about 50 years of history of Czechoslovakia, with archive images.
- DirectorRobert FloreyStarsAnna May WongCharles BickfordBuster CrabbeA Chinese-American woman tries to expose an illegal-alien smuggling ring.
- DirectorRobert GardnerStarsRobert GardnerAn ethnographic documentary with allegorical undertones about the Dani people of Papua Barat and their social values based on an elaborate system of tribal warfare and revenge.
- DirectorJohn BoormanStarsJon VoightBurt ReynoldsNed BeattyIntent on seeing the Cahulawassee River before it's dammed and turned into a lake, outdoor fanatic Lewis Medlock takes his friends on a canoeing trip they'll never forget into the dangerous American back-country.
- DirectorWilliam K.L. DicksonStarsWilliam K.L. DicksonThe earliest extant sound film. William K.L. Dickson stands in the background next to a huge sound pickup horn connected to a Thomas Edison phonograph recorder. As he plays a violin, two men dance in the foreground. This film was made to demonstrate a new Thomas Edison machine, the Kinetophone. These machines were Kinetoscope peepshow viewers mated with Thomas Edison wax cylinder phonographs. But the Kinetophone never caught on and this film was never released. The film still exists, but the phonograph soundtrack has been lost.
- DirectorRobbins BarstowStarsDaniel BarstowDavid BarstowMary BarstowThe Barstow family, winners of a free trip to the newly-opened Disneyland theme park, produce a memorable home movie documenting their experience.
- DirectorRudolph MatéStarsEdmond O'BrienPamela BrittonLuther AdlerFrank Bigelow, told he's been poisoned and has only a few days to live, tries to find out who killed him and why.
- DirectorWilliam WylerStarsWalter HustonRuth ChattertonPaul LukasA retired auto manufacturer and his wife take a long-planned European vacation only to find that they want very different things from life.
- DirectorStan BrakhageStarsStan BrakhageJane WodeningThe fourth and final part of Dog Star Man (1964), an experimental film wherein a man climbs a mountain along with his dog.
- DirectorTod BrowningKarl FreundStarsBela LugosiHelen ChandlerDavid MannersTransylvanian vampire Count Dracula bends a naive real estate agent to his will, then takes up residence at a London estate where he sleeps in his coffin by day and searches for potential victims by night.
- DirectorSarah ElderLeonard KamerlingA rare, intimate look at the spiritual and social life of the Yup'ik Eskimo people of Emmonak, Alaska - a culture centered around traditional gift-giving ceremonies featuring dances and drum music.
- DirectorChuck JonesStarsMel BlancThe short-tempered Daffy Duck must improvise madly as the backgrounds, his costumes, the soundtrack, even his physical form, shifts and changes at the whim of the animator.
- DirectorLeo McCareyStarsGroucho MarxHarpo MarxChico MarxRufus T. Firefly is named the dictator of bankrupt Freedonia and declares war on neighboring Sylvania over the love of his wealthy backer Mrs. Teasdale, contending with two inept spies who can't seem to keep straight which side they're on.
- DirectorOscar MicheauxStarsEvelyn PreerFlo ClementsJames D. RuffinAbandoned by her fiancé, an educated black woman with a shocking past dedicates herself to helping a near bankrupt school for impoverished black youths.
- DirectorMaurice TourneurStarsVivian MartinAlec B. FrancisChester BarnettAfter being expelled from college, Giles runs away from home and meets and falls for a young lady.
- DirectorWilliam A. WellmanHarry d'Abbadie d'ArrastStarsClara BowCharles 'Buddy' RogersRichard ArlenTwo young men, one rich, one middle class, who are in love with the same woman, become fighter pilots in World War I.
- DirectorElia KazanStarsMontgomery CliftLee RemickJo Van FleetA TVA bureaucrat comes to the river to do what none of his predecessors have been able to do - evict a stubborn octogenarian from her island before the rising waters engulf her.
- DirectorJohn EmersonStarsDouglas FairbanksEileen PercyCalvert CarterThe civilized inhabitants of a formerly "wild" western town scramble to recreate the town's rough and rowdy heyday in order to indulge the fantasies of a rich newcomer.
- 191011mUnrated5.7 (535)ShortDirectorJames Young DeerStarsLucille YoungA frantic child reports to the tribal chief that her father killed her mother. The tribe chases and captures the man, dragging him back for tribal justice.
- DirectorPhillips SmalleyLois WeberStarsTyrone Power Sr.Mrs. Tyrone PowerMarie WalcampA District Attorney's outspoken stand on abortion lands him in trouble with the local community.
- DirectorChuck JonesStarsMel BlancArthur Q. BryanElmer Fudd is again hunting rabbits - only this time it's an opera. Wagner's Siegfried with Elmer as the titular hero and Bugs as Brunnhilde. They sing, they dance, they eat the scenery.
- DirectorAndré HugonStarsPierre BlancharLouise LagrangePaul Guidé
- DirectorByron HaskinStarsGene BarryAnn RobinsonLes TremayneA small town in California is attacked by Martians, beginning a worldwide invasion.
- DirectorCharles LamontStarsFernando SolerLuana AlcañizJuan TorenaReleased after eight months in jail, a boxer returns home to discover that his wife has recently become pregnant. His realization of her infidelity and search for the identity of the father soon turn into a dangerous obsession.
- DirectorJoseph KaneStarsRoy RogersSmiley BurnetteCarol HughesRoy is elected to Congress to bring the misery of the "dustbowl" of the 1930s to the attention of Washington politicians.
- DirectorWilliam Robert DalyStarsSam LucasWalter HitchcockHattie DelaroA black and white silent film based on Harriet Beecher Stowe's novel documenting the life and times of Uncle Tom.
- DirectorHoward HawksStarsJohn BarrymoreCarole LombardWalter ConnollyA flamboyant Broadway impresario who has fallen on hard times tries to get his former lover, now a Hollywood diva, to return and resurrect his failing career.
- DirectorHenry KingStarsGregory PeckHugh MarloweGary MerrillA tough-as-nails general (Gregory Peck as General Savage) takes over a B-17 bomber unit suffering from low morale and whips them into fighting shape.
- DirectorGeorge PalStarsRex IngramVictor JoryA carefree boy and a young girl find their idyllic countryside invaded by an army of mindlessly destructive robots.
- DirectorErnst LubitschStarsMiriam HopkinsKay FrancisHerbert MarshallA gentleman thief and a lady pickpocket join forces to con a beautiful perfume company owner. Romantic entanglements and jealousies confuse the scheme.
- From the front of a cable car, a motion picture camera records a trip down Market Street, San Francisco, California, from a point between 8th & 9th Streets, Eastward to the cable car turnaround at the Ferry Building.
- DirectorGregory BatesonMargaret MeadStarsMargaret MeadA Bali ritual depicting the struggle of good (dragons) versus evil (witches) with dancers falling into and being revived from trances.
- DirectorGeorge Loane TuckerStarsJane GailEthel GrandinWilliam H. TurnerWith aid from her police-officer sweetheart, a woman endeavors to uncover the prostitution ring that has kidnapped her sister and the philanthropist who secretly runs it.
- DirectorDave TatsunoA compilation of two years' worth of footage taken surreptitiously by internee Dave Tatsuno inside the Topaz concentration camp in Millard County, Utah.
- DirectorHenry KingStarsRichard BarthelmessGladys HuletteWalter P. LewisWhen three thuggish men are responsible for the death of his father and the crippling of his brother, young David must choose between supporting his family or risking his life and exacting vengeance.
- DirectorJohn LasseterA one-man-band tin toy tries to escape a destructive baby.
- DirectorBarbara ConnellBill JerseyStarsErnie ChambersRay CristensenBill YoungdahlDuring the civil rights movement, a Lutheran minister in Nebraska sets out to integrate his church.
- DirectorBurt GillettStarsBilly BletcherPinto ColvigDorothy ComptonThe Three Little Pigs each build a house of different material. The Big Bad Wolf comes along and blows away the straw and stick homes, but is unable to destroy the house of bricks.
- DirectorDwight CoreGeorge IngmireStarsDwight Core Jr.Dwight CoreA short documenting the life of a mentally handicapped boy and a family who struggles to provide what's best for him.
- DirectorChristian NybyHoward HawksStarsKenneth TobeyMargaret SheridanJames ArnessScientists and American Air Force officials fend off a bloodthirsty alien organism while at a remote arctic outpost.
- DirectorErrol MorrisStarsRandall AdamsDavid HarrisGus RoseA film that successfully argued that a man was wrongly convicted for murder by a corrupt justice system in Dallas County, Texas.
- DirectorHarold L. MullerCharles R. BowersStarsCharles R. BowersKathryn McGuireMelbourne MacDowellTwo Scotland Yard detectives travel to New York to investigate the "Fuzz-Faced Phantom": a strange entity who seemingly has the power to cause bizarre, surreal incidents.
- DirectorTed ParmeleeStarsJames MasonJack MatherA madman tells his tale of murder, and how a strange beating sound haunted him afterward.
- DirectorCedric GibbonsJames C. McKayJack ConwayStarsJohnny WeissmullerMaureen O'SullivanNeil HamiltonThe idyllic life of Tarzan and Jane is challenged by men on safari who come seeking ivory, and come seeking Jane as well.
- DirectorMary Ellen ButeTed NemethColorful abstract shapes and lines move exuberantly to the syncopated modernistic piano music of Edwin Gershefsky.
- A film documenting the 1940 collapse of the Tacoma Narrows Bridge during a severe windstorm.
- DirectorAlexander MackendrickStarsBurt LancasterTony CurtisSusan HarrisonPowerful but unethical Broadway columnist J.J. Hunsecker coerces unscrupulous press agent Sidney Falco into breaking up his sister's romance with a jazz musician.
- DirectorDudley MurphyStarsBessie SmithJimmy MordecaiIsabel WashingtonIn her only known film appearance, legendary blues singer Bessie Smith witnesses her lover's betrayal, then sings a powerful rendition of the title song.
- DirectorPeter B. HuttonThe first part (winter) of a seasonal study of the Hudson river in New York.
- DirectorMiriam BennettA woman's club ponders what life would be like under Soviet rule.
- DirectorFrank CapraStarsHarry LangdonPriscilla BonnerGertrude AstorA meek Belgian soldier, fighting in World War I, receives a letter and a photo from "Mary Brown", an American girl he has never met. After the war, he travels to America searching for her.
- DirectorWilliam A. WellmanStarsBurgess MeredithRobert MitchumFreddie SteeleAt the close of WWII, Pulitzer Prize-winning war correspondent Ernie Pyle travels with the U.S. Army's Company C Division during their liberation of Italy.
- DirectorAndrew L. StoneStarsLena HorneBill RobinsonCab Calloway and His Cotton Club OrchestraThe relationship between an aspiring dancer and a popular songstress provides a retrospective of the great African-American entertainers of the early 1900s.
- DirectorUb IwerksWalt DisneyStarsWalt DisneyMickey Mouse is a mischievous deckhand on a riverboat that is under the command of the tyrannical Captain Pete.
- DirectorKarl BrownStarsHelen MundyForrest JamesReb GroganA literate young hillbilly plans to attend college to learn about chivalry and escape the brutal, rigid mountain society with the love of his life, but his tyrannical father interferes.
- DirectorWilliam A. SeiterStarsStan LaurelOliver HardyCharley ChaseWhen Stan and Ollie trick their wives into thinking that they are taking a medicinal cruise while they're actually going to a convention, the wives find out the truth the hard way.