DAVID DUNN

The National Film Registry has added it’s newest selection to it’s ever-growing collection of classic films.

Compiled by the United States Nation Film Preservation Board, the National Film Registry is a selection of films that are stored for preservation in the Library of Congress because they are “culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant.” Each year, the NFPB is allowed to add 25 films to the constantly growing list, and this year is no different. Here is this year’s selection of films to be included on the National Film Registry:

13 Lakes (2004)
Bert William’s Lime Kiln Field Day (1913)
The Big Lebowski (1998)
Down Argentine Way (1940)
The Dragon Painter (1919)
Felicia (1965)
Ferris Bueller’s Day Off (1986)
The Gang’s All Here (1943)
House of Wax (1953)
Into the Arms of Strangers: Stories of the Kindertransport (2000)
Little Big Man (1970)
Luxo Jr. (1986)
Moon Breath Beat (1980)
Please Don’t Bury Me Alive! (1976)
The Power and the Glory (1933)
Rio Bravo (1959)
Rosemary’s Baby (1968)
Ruggles of Red Gap (1935)
Saving Private Ryan (1998)
Shoes (1916)
State Fair (1933)
Unmasked (1917)
V-E + 1 (1945)
The Way of Peace (1947)
Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory (1971)

There are some films on this list that you might recognize. There is the Coen Brother’s The Big Lebowski, starring John Goodman as Walter and Jeff Bridges as “The Dude.” There is John Hughes’ comedy classic Ferris Bueller’s Day Off, starring Matthew Broderick. There is Roman Polanski’s horror classic Rosemary’s Baby, Steven Spielberg’s war epic Saving Private Ryan, and even the childhood visual wonder Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory.

But what about all of these other films? You probably haven’t heard of most of them. Into the Arms of Strangers is an Academy Award-winning documentary about the Kindertransport, a British rescue operation that saved the lives of over 10,000 Jewish children during the Holocaust. Luxo Jr. is the Academy Award-nominated CGI animated short written and directed by Toy Story filmmaker John Lasseter and officially spring boarding Pixar into prominence. Perhaps the least oblique would be Little Big Man, which stars Dustin Hoffman and tells the story of a white male child being raised by the Cheyenne nation during the 1800’s.

Regardless of how well-known these movies are or aren’t isn’t the point. The National Film Registry is a prestigious institution that honors the most unique in film, and I’m personally looking forward to adding these films to my ‘need to see’ list.

– David Dunn

SOURCE: Library of Congress, TIME