Film-Tech Forum ARCHIVE: 2006 National Film Registry Selections

This is topic 2006 National Film Registry Selections in forum Film-Yak at Film-Tech Forum ARCHIVE.

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Posted by Mike Schindler (Member # 1309) on 12-27-2006, 03:44 PM:

Here are the films that the Library of Congress is vowing to protect this year:

APPLAUSE (1929)
THE BIG TRAIL (1930)
BLAZING SADDLES (1974)
THE CURSE OF QUON GWON (1916-17)
DAUGHTER OF SHANGHAI (1937)
DRUMS OF WINTER [UKSUUM CAUYAI] (1988)
EARLY ABSTRACTIONS #1-5, 7,10 (1939-56)
FARGO (1996)
FLESH AND THE DEVIL (1927)
GROUNDHOG DAY (1993)
HALLOWEEN (1978)
IN THE STREET (1948)
THE LAST COMMAND (1928)
NOTORIOUS (1946)
RED DUST (1932)
REMINISCENCES OF A JOURNEY TO LITHUANIA (1971-72)
ROCKY (1976)
SEX, LIES AND VIDEOTAPE (1989)
SIEGE (1940)
ST. LOUIS BLUES (1929)
THE T.A.M.I. SHOW (1964)
TESS OF THE STORM COUNTRY (1914)
THINK OF ME FIRST AS A PERSON (1960-75)
A TIME OUT OF WAR (1954)
TRAFFIC IN SOULS (1913)

Posted by Tim Reed (Member # 137) on 12-27-2006, 04:52 PM:

I thought they already did "The Big Trail"?

Posted by Mark Lensenmayer (Member # 134) on 12-27-2006, 05:02 PM:

I just checked the master list up through 2005, and BIG TRAIL isn't there. It has been nominated before, but never selected.

The official list can be found at the National Registry site.

I see 2 3-strip Cinerama films on the list. Maybe Mr. Coate can tell us how many had 70mm releases?

Posted by Phil Hill (Member # 371) on 12-27-2006, 06:16 PM:

I'm glad they're finally going to do "BLAZING SADDLES" and "HALLOWEEN".

BUT, I question their judgement when they choose something as awful as that POS "ROCKY"! Barf city! Yukkie poo poo! [puke]

Posted by Rick Raskin (Member # 1561) on 12-28-2006, 07:49 AM:

I wonder if the 70mm elements from "The Big Trail" still exist?

Posted by Dan Lyons (Member # 1454) on 12-28-2006, 01:06 PM:

FARGO?!?!
[Eek!]

Posted by Leo Enticknap (Member # 534) on 12-28-2006, 02:42 PM:

Some sort of restoration work on The Big Trail has been done, though I can't remember when or by who. When the National Film Theatre in London did a John Wayne season a few years ago they showed a 35mm anamorphic print of a restoration of the film, in its original ratio. It was one of the sharpest 35 'scope prints I've ever seen, matched only by an original release print of Forty Guns I saw a couple of years afterwards.

I hope that as part of the National Film Registry preservation project, NARA (or whichever archive actually does the work) makes systematic preservation materials of both the Fox Grandeur and the 35mm 1:1.15 version, together with notes/explanations/curatorial stuff about the provenance of and differences between the two. AFAIK it's the only Grandeur film to survive in both versions.

Glad to see Traffic in Souls on that list - it's a fantastic film, and, like Hell's Hinges way ahead of its time for script/editing/acting/pacing - both are films from the mid-teens that have the feel of Hollywood features from the late '20s.

Posted by Phil Hill (Member # 371) on 12-28-2006, 06:00 PM:

quote: Dan the Man!
FARGO?!?!

Danny, I personally think our friend JJ paid BIG bribe bux to them to include that title... [Razz]

Posted by Tim Reed (Member # 137) on 12-29-2006, 11:05 AM:

quote: Rick Raskin
I wonder if the 70mm elements from "The Big Trail" still exist?

For the restored version I saw on American Movie Classics several years ago (back when I still watched that channel -- before they started running commercials), they said some of it was from 70mm elements. The whole show was letterboxed, regardless. It was beautiful.

Cool to see something from 1930 in that ratio. [thumbsup]

Posted by Jeffry L. Johnson (Member # 453) on 12-30-2006, 12:36 PM:

The Bat Whispers in 65mm

quote:
In 1929 and 1930 11 features, 2 shorts, and some newsreel footage have been definitely confirmed as being photographed on negatives larger than 35mm with frames wider than 1.33:1. Only two of those features and some of the newsreel footage survive and have been preserved: Fox's 70mm Grandeur version "THE BIG TRAIL", preserved as a 35mm anamorphic fine grain, dupe negative, and print by Ralph Sargent of Film technology; 70mm Grandeur newsreel footage preserved by Karl Malkames, ASC; and Roland West's 65mm Magnifilm version of "The Bat Whispers", preserved to a 65mm fine grain by Bob Gitt of the UCLA Film Archives and YCM Laboratories, with the sound track upgraded by Film technology, from which a 35mm anamorphic dupe negative was made, the source of the excellent 35mm anamorphic print shown recently by the American Cinematheque at the Egyptian Theater.

Posted by Josh Jones (Member # 447) on 01-04-2007, 11:37 PM:

Why would I care? Even I think that film sucks [Wink]