National Film Registry

[TikiSoo]

Mardi Gras Carnival (1898)
Cab Calloway Home Movies (1948-1951)
Hairspray (1988)
When Harry Met Sally (1989)

I do think WHEN HARRY MET SALLY and HAIRSPRAY are outstanding movies that will be enjoyed through the ages. Do they really need a restoration? Or is this just a list of films deemed culturally "significant"?

But very popular films sometimes are shown so often that they are in surprisingly poor shape. This was true of The Godfather, and I think it was also true of The Exorcist.

The problem with THE GODFATHER and BUTCH CASSIDY (not so sure about EXORCIST) is they used weird vegetable dyes on the film that faded badly. The 70's: all orange-all the time. I also think film of that era is particularly grainy.

As a cultural historian, choices like Mardi Gras Carnival from 1898 and Cab Calloway's home movies strike me as thrilling little documents of the past. But really-NO other silent films?

[drednm]

In past years, they GENERALLY tried to get at least one film from each decade. Or at least it seemed so. Maybe that was just a coincidence.