Library of Congress: National Film Registry

The US National Film Preservation Board established a National Film Preservation Act in 1988. Each year 25 films are selected to be included in the National Film Registry at the Library of Congress. Each 25 films are culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant films from America's history and the National Film Preservation Foundation is the non-profit organization established to restore many of these films.

The following are some short films I have watched over the last week, all can be found doing a search at the Internet Archive, a complete listing of films can be found on wikipedia here. Also, the full list is at listofbests as well.

Gertie the Dinosaur (1914) [left]
Winsor McCay's animated short film. Thought by some to be the first animated film, it was not. It was however the first character in animation, and more than just a camera trick. 8/10





Cops (1922) [right]
An 18 minute Buster Keaton short film that has some excellent stunts. Very much worth a watch. 8/10



Manhatta (1921) [left]
An 11 minute silent film showing different parts of Manhattan, very very boring. 5/10



Hindenburg Disaster Newsreel Footage (1937) [right]
Amazing footage of the Hindenburg going down. At only 5 minutes this is historical footage worth watching if you haven't seen in history class already. 8/10

Snow-White (1933) [left]
The Betty Boop version, a fun watch, cool animation. 9/10





San Francisco: Aftermath of Earthquake (1906 ) [right]
This doesn't even capture the earthquake, it is just the aftermath, so really really boring. At only 1 minute, its not worth watching. 4/10

White Fawn's Devotion (1910) [left]
A play about Indians, at 11 minutes it is just long enough to tell the story. Just ok. 6/10



Princess Nicotine (1909) [right]
The smoke fairy, this is a strange film. The fantasy and optical illusion is probably the reason for the inclusion. 6/10



Westinghouse Works (1904) [left]
A 6 minute film showing the working of a factory. Not really much here, just a historic piece. 6/10



Star Theatre (1901)
[right]
Probably the first time lapse film, a really cool watch. Shows the theatre from completely build to just a small pile, really good watch, especially in fast forward. 8/10

President McKinley Inauguration (1901) [left]
With no audio this is really boring, the first filmed presidential inauguration, not much more. 6/10



Rip Van Winkle (1903) [right]
A compilation of 6 different films, probably one of the first stories captured on him, not sure why this is so special though... 5/10


The Kiss (1896) [left]
The Mary Irwin kiss, the first kiss captured on film. 6/10






A Corner in Wheat (1909) [right]
I would be lying if I said I looked at all D.W. Griffith films objectively after seeing The Birth of a Nation. Before he made racist epic films he made countless short films... over 500! This is one... and it isn't very good. 4/10


The Fall of the House of Usher (1928) [left]
An early horror film based on the Edgar Allen Poe story. 6/10





Blacksmith Scene (1893) [right]
The oldest film in the registry, just a minute long. 6/10





Dickson Experimental Sound Film (1894) [left]
The first film with live sound, pretty boring. 5/10





Reading about some of these is better than watching them, worth looking around on archive.org in your free time instead of youtube, you might find some pretty cool videos.

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