The National Film Registry is the United States National Film Preservation Board's selection of films deserving of preservation. The NFPB, established by the National Film Preservation Act of 1988, was reauthorized by acts of Congress in 1992, 1996, 2005, and again in October 2008. The NFPB's mission, to which the NFR contributes, is to ensure the survival, conservation, and increased public availability of America's film heritage. The 1996 law also created the non-profit National Film Preservation Foundation, although affiliated with the NFPB, raises money from the private sector.
As of today, there are currently 900 films provided on the registry (including newsreels, silent films, student films, experimental films, short films, a music video, films out of copyright protection or in the public domain, film serials, home movies, documentaries, animation, and independent films), with 25 new films being added to the Registry annually.
The system was created because most of the silent era and most than half the films made before 1950 had been lost at the time. So they're making sure people of other generations will get to see different forms of the art.
The concept of preserving America's film heritage is a creative and thoughtful idea. Like trying to capture a collection of family photographs as memories.
Most of the films listed stand the test of time incredibly well and continue to remain relevant in various ways, which you can learn more about by clicking on a film's title and going to its separate page. Some even predict future events.
This kind of honor is different from receiving an Academy Award. While the Oscars focus on films that are popular and well-known at the time, the National Film Registry focuses on films that stand the test of time. They have the "minimum of 10 years old" rule so the work can get some time to connect to various kinds of audiences and become a true favorite.
There's a nice mix of the great classics of American cinema and a fair share of cult classics, crowd-pleasers, and more mainstream movies.
The Registry is also not afraid of diversity. Various films with non-white, female and LGBTQ directors have all gotten their honors, and get treated with just as much respect as the well-known films, proving that the founders and workers are perfectly willing to honor lesser-known gems if they deserve the honor.
Another thing that makes the registry unique is that (since 1992) it doesn't limit itself to full-length theatrical feature films. The Registry has also allowed short films, documentaries, independent films and other forms of motion pictures. They even have a music video in the mix.
Directors with multiple entries (2 or more)
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John Ford: The Iron Horse, The Informer, Stagecoach, Young Mr. Lincoln, The Grapes of Wrath, How Green Was My Valley, My Darling Clementine, The Quiet Man, The Searchers, The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance, How the West Was Won (segment)
10
George Cukor: Dinner at Eight, The Prisoner of Zenda (uncredited), Gone with the Wind (uncredited), The Women, The Philadelphia Story, Gaslight, Adam's Rib, Born Yesterday, A Star Is Born, My Fair Lady
Howard Hawks: Scarface, Twentieth Century, Bringing Up Baby, Only Angels Have Wings, His Girl Friday, Sergeant York, Ball of Fire, The Big Sleep, Red River, Rio Bravo
William Wyler: Dodsworth, Jezebel, Wuthering Heights, Mrs. Miniver, Memphis Belle, The Best Years of Our Lives, The Heiress, Roman Holiday, Ben-Hur, Funny Girl
9
Alfred Hitchcock: Rebecca, Shadow of a Doubt, Notorious, Strangers on a Train, Rear Window, Vertigo, North by Northwest, Psycho, The Birds
Leo McCarey: Mighty Like a Moose, Pass the Gravy (supervising director), The Battle of the Century, Big Business (supervising director), Duck Soup, Ruggles of Red Gap, Make Way for Tomorrow, The Awful Truth, Going My Way
8
Elia Kazan: A Tree Grows in Brooklyn, Gentleman's Agreement, A Streetcar Named Desire, On the Waterfront, East of Eden, A Face in the Crowd, Wild River, America America
7
Frank Capra: The Strong Man, The Power of the Press, It Happened One Night, Lost Horizon, Mr. Smith Goes to Washington, Why We Fight, It's a Wonderful Life
Wilfred Jackson: Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs (sequence director), The Old Mill, Pinocchio (sequence director), Fantasia, Dumbo (sequence director), Cinderella, Lady and the Tramp
Buster Keaton: One Week, Cops, Sherlock, Jr., The Navigator, The General, Steamboat Bill, Jr., The Cameraman
Steven Spielberg: Jaws, Close Encounters of the Third Kind, Raiders of the Lost Ark, E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial, Jurassic Park, Schindler's List, Saving Private Ryan
George Stevens: Swing Time, Gunga Din, Woman of the Year, George Stevens' World War II footage, A Place in the Sun, Shane, Giant
Billy Wilder: The Lost Weekend, Double Indemnity, Sunset Boulevard, Ace in the Hole, Sabrina, Some Like It Hot, The Apartment
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Charlie Chaplin: The Immigrant, The Kid, The Gold Rush, City Lights, Modern Times, The Great Dictator
William Kennedy Dickson: Newark Athlete, Blacksmith Scene, Edison Kinetographic Record of a Sneeze, The Dickson Experimental Sound Film, Annabelle's Serpentine Dance, Rip Van Winkle
D. W. Griffith: Lady Helen's Escapade, A Corner in Wheat, The Musketeers of Pig Alley, The Birth of a Nation, Intolerance, Broken Blossoms
John Huston: The Maltese Falcon, The Battle of San Pietro, Let There Be Light, The Treasure of the Sierra Madre, The Asphalt Jungle, The African Queen
Stanley Kubrick: Paths of Glory, Spartacus, Dr. Strangelove, 2001: A Space Odyssey, A Clockwork Orange, The Shining
Vincente Minnelli: Cabin in the Sky, Meet Me in St. Louis, An American in Paris, The Bad and the Beautiful, The Band Wagon, Gigi
King Vidor: The Big Parade, The Crowd, Show People, Hallelujah, Our Daily Bread, The Wizard of Oz (uncredited)
5
Michael Curtiz: The Adventures of Robin Hood, Angels with Dirty Faces, Yankee Doodle Dandy, Casablanca, Mildred Pierce
Spike Lee: She's Gotta Have It, Do the Right Thing, Malcolm X, 4 Little Girls, Bamboozled
Ernst Lubitsch: Lady Windermere's Fan, Trouble in Paradise, Ninotchka, The Shop Around the Corner, To Be or Not to Be
Sidney Lumet: 12 Angry Men, The Pawnbroker, King: A Filmed Record... Montgomery to Memphis, Dog Day Afternoon, Network
Otto Preminger: Laura, Carmen Jones, The Man with the Golden Arm, Porgy and Bess, Anatomy of a Murder
Martin Scorsese: Mean Streets, Taxi Driver, The Last Waltz, Raging Bull, Goodfellas
Ben Sharpsteen: Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs (sequence director), Pinocchio (supervising director), Fantasia, Dumbo (supervising director), Cinderella (supervising director)
William Wellman: Wings, The Public Enemy, Wild Boys of the Road, The Ox-Bow Incident, The Story of G.I. Joe
4
Robert Altman: M*A*S*H, McCabe and Mrs. Miller, The Long Goodbye, Nashville
Francis Ford Coppola: The Godfather, The Godfather Part II, The Conversation, Apocalypse Now
Stanley Donen: On the Town, Singin' in the Rain, Seven Brides for Seven Brothers, Charade
Dave Fleischer: Koko's Earth Control, Snow White, Popeye the Sailor Meets Sindbad the Sailor, Let's All Go to the Lobby (uncredited)
Clyde Geronimi: Bambi (sequence director; uncredited), Cinderella, Lady and the Tramp, Sleeping Beauty (supervising director)
Mervyn LeRoy: Little Caesar, I Am a Fugitive from a Chain Gang, Gold Diggers of 1933, The House I Live In (uncredited)
Hamilton Luske: Pinocchio (supervising director), Fantasia, Cinderella, Lady and the Tramp
Rouben Mamoulian: Applause, Love Me Tonight, Becky Sharp, The Mark of Zorro
Edwin S. Porter: Life of an American Fireman, The Great Train Robbery, Dream of a Rarebit Fiend, Tess of the Storm Country
Martin Ritt: Edge of the City, Hud, Sounder, Norma Rae
Preston Sturges: The Lady Eve, Sullivan's Travels, The Miracle of Morgan's Creek, Hail the Conquering Hero
Maurice Tourneur: The Wishing Ring: An Idyll of Old England, The Poor Little Rich Girl, The Blue Bird, The Last of the Mohicans
Josef von Sternberg: It (uncredited), The Last Command, The Docks of New York, Morocco
Raoul Walsh: Regeneration, The Thief of Bagdad, The Big Trail, White Heat
Orson Welles: Citizen Kane, The Magnificent Ambersons, The Lady from Shanghai, Touch of Evil
James Whale: Frankenstein, The Invisible Man, Bride of Frankenstein, Show Boat
3
James Algar: Fantasia, Bambi (sequence director), The Living Desert
Samuel Armstrong: Fantasia, Dumbo (sequence director), Bambi (sequence director)
Lloyd Bacon: 42nd Street, Footlight Parade, Knute Rockne, All American
Clarence G. Badger: Jubilo, Hands Up!, It
Reginald Barker: The Bargain, The Italian, Civilization
Mel Brooks: The Producers, Blazing Saddles, Young Frankenstein
Clarence Brown: The Last of the Mohicans, Flesh and the Devil, National Velvet
James Cameron: The Terminator, Terminator 2: Judgment Day, Titanic
John Cassavetes: Shadows, Faces, A Woman Under the Influence
Edward F. Cline: One Week, Cops, The Bank Dick
Joel and Ethan Coen: Fargo, The Big Lebowski, No Country for Old Men
Merian C. Cooper: Grass, King Kong, This Is Cinerama
Blake Edwards: Days of Wine and Roses, The Pink Panther, Breakfast at Tiffany's
Rob Epstein: Word Is Out: Stories of Some of Our Lives, The Times of Harvey Milk, Common Threads: Stories from the Quilt