The National Film Registry

The National Film Preservation Act of 1988 created a compendium of "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant" American cinema housed at the Library of Congress. The bulk of the registry includes narrative-based Hollywood cinema, but there are also short films, experimental films, independent films, newsreels, documentaries, and any significant event captured on film. Each year the registry adds twenty-five more titles.

Below is a listing of the registry in chronological order — first by year of induction then by year of creation. I am currently reviewing as many of the available films as I can, excepting newsreels, advertisements, and some government-sponsored or home amateur footage, which I have marked with the † symbol.

1989

Intolerance (1916)
Nanook of the North (1922)
The General (1927)
Sunrise (1927)
The Crowd (1928)
Modern Times (1936)
Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs (1937)
Gone with the Wind (1939)
Mr. Smith Goes to Washington (1939)
The Wizard of Oz (1939)
The Grapes of Wrath (1940)
Citizen Kane (1941)
The Maltese Falcon (1941)
Casablanca (1942)
The Best Years of Our Lives (1946)
Sunset Boulevard (1950)
High Noon (1952)
Singin' in the Rain (1952)
On the Waterfront (1954)
The Searchers (1956)
Vertigo (1958)
Some Like It Hot (1959)
Dr. Strangelove (1964)
The Learning Tree (1969)
Star Wars (1977)

1990

The Great Train Robbery (1903)
The Freshman (1925)
All Quiet on the Western Front (1930)
Love Me Tonight (1932)
Duck Soup (1933)
Top Hat (1935)
Dodsworth (1936)
Bringing Up Baby (1938)
† The River (1938)
Ninotchka (1939)
Fantasia (1940)
How Green Was My Valley (1941)
Sullivan's Travels (1941)
Meshes of the Afternoon (1943)
It's a Wonderful Life (1946)
Red River (1948)
The Treasure of the Sierra Madre (1948)
All About Eve (1950)
Rebel Without a Cause (1955)
Primary (1960)
The Godfather (1972)
A Woman Under the Influence (1974)
Harlan County, USA (1976)
Killer of Sheep (1977)
Raging Bull (1980)

1991

Gertie the Dinosaur (1914)
The Italian (1915)
The Poor Little Rich Girl (1917)
Greed (1924)
Sherlock Jr. (1924)
City Lights (1931)
Frankenstein (1931)
I Am a Fugitive from a Chain Gang (1932)
Trouble in Paradise (1932)
King Kong (1933)
The Prisoner of Zenda (1937)
Tevye (1939)
The Blood of Jesus (1941)
The Magnificent Ambersons (1942)
Shadow of a Doubt (1943)
The Battle of San Pietro (1945)
My Darling Clementine (1946)
Out of the Past (1947)
A Place in the Sun (1951)
Gigi (1958)
Lawrence of Arabia (1962)
David Holzman's Diary (1968)
2001: A Space Odyssey (1968)
High School (1969)
Chinatown (1974)

1992

The Birth of a Nation (1915)
Within Our Gates (1920)
The Big Parade (1925)
The Gold Rush (1925)
Big Business (1929)
Morocco (1930)
Footlight Parade (1933)
The Bank Dick (1940)
Double Indemnity (1944)
Detour (1945)
Letter From an Unknown Woman (1948)
Adam's Rib (1949)
Carmen Jones (1954)
Salt of the Earth (1954)
The Night of the Hunter (1955)
Paths of Glory (1957)
What's Opera, Doc? (1957)
Psycho (1960)
Ride the High Country (1962)
Dog Star Man (1964)
Castro Street (1966)
Bonnie and Clyde (1967)
Salesman (1969)
Nashville (1975)
Annie Hall (1977)

1993

The Cheat (1915)
Where Are My Children? (1916)
The Black Pirate (1926)
The Wind (1928)
It Happened One Night (1934)
A Night at the Opera (1935)
† March of Time: Inside Nazi Germany (1938)
His Girl Friday (1940)
Cat People (1942)
Yankee Doodle Dandy (1942)
Lassie Come Home (1943)
An American in Paris (1951)
Magical Maestro (1952)
Eaux d'artifice (1953)
Shane (1953)
Sweet Smell of Success (1957)
Touch of Evil (1958)
Shadows (1959)
Nothing But a Man (1964)
Point of Order (1964)
Badlands (1973)
The Godfather: Part II (1974)
One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest (1975)
Chulas Fronteras (1976)
Blade Runner (1982)

1994

A Corner of Wheat (1909)
The Exploits of Elaine (1914)
Hell's Hinges (1916)
Safety Last! (1923)
Tabu (1931)
Freaks (1932)
Scarface (1932)
Snow White (1933)
Pinocchio (1940)
The Lady Eve (1941)
Meet Me in St. Louis (1944)
Force of Evil (1948)
Louisiana Story (1948)
The African Queen (1951)
Marty (1955)
Invasion of the Body Snatchers (1956)
A Movie (1958)
The Apartment (1960)
The Manchurian Candidate (1962)
The Cool World (1963)
† The Zapruder film (1963)
Midnight Cowboy (1969)
Hospital (1970)
Taxi Driver (1976)
E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial (1982)

1995

† Blacksmith Scene (1893)
† Rip Van Winkle (1896)
Fatty's Tintype Tangle (1915)
The Last of the Mohicans (1920)
The Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse (1921)
Manhatta (1921)
Seventh Heaven (1927)
Fury (1936)
The Adventures of Robin Hood (1938)
Stagecoach (1939)
The Philadelphia Story (1940)
Jammin' the Blues (1944)
The Day the Earth Stood Still (1951)
Gerald McBoing-Boing (1951)
The Band Wagon (1953)
All That Heaven Allows (1955)
North by Northwest (1959)
To Kill a Mockingbird (1962)
The Hospital (1971)
Cabaret (1972)
American Graffiti (1973)
The Conversation (1974)
To Fly! (1976)
Chan Is Missing (1982)
El Norte (1983)

1996

Broken Blossoms (1919)
The Thief of Bagdad (1924)
The Jazz Singer (1927)
† The Forgotten Frontier (1931)
She Done Him Wrong (1933)
Flash Gordon Serial (1936)
Show Boat (1936)
The Awful Truth (1937)
Destry Rides Again (1939)
Verbena Tragica (1939)
Road to Morocco (1942)
To Be or Not to Be (1942)
Mildred Pierce (1945)
† Topaz (1945)
The Heiress (1949)
Pull My Daisy (1959)
Shock Corridor (1963)
The Graduate (1967)
The Producers (1968)
MASH (1970)
Woodstock (1970)
Frank Film (1973)
The Outlaw Josey Wales (1976)
The Deer Hunter (1978)
The Life and Times of Rosie the Riveter (1980)

1997

Cops (1922)
Ben-Hur (1925)
Grass (1925)
The Life and Death of 9413: a Hollywood Extra (1927)
Wings (1927)
The Music Box (1932)
The Thin Man (1934)
† Hindenburg Disaster Newsreel Footage (1937)
† Republic Steel Strike Riot Newsreel Footage (1937)
The Great Dictator (1940)
Knute Rockne, All American (1940)
Tulips Shall Grow (1942)
The Big Sleep (1946)
Motion Painting No. 1 (1947)
Little Fugitive (1953)
The Naked Spur (1953)
Rear Window (1954)
The Bridge on the River Kwai (1957)
The Hustler (1961)
West Side Story (1961)
How the West Was Won (1962)
Czechoslovakia 1968 (1969)
Harold and Maude (1972)
Mean Streets (1973)
Return of the Secaucus 7 (1980)

1998

† Westinghouse Works, 1904 (1904)
From the Manger to the Cross (1912)
The Immigrant (1917)
Sky High (1922)
The Phantom of the Opera (1925)
The Lost World (1925)
Pass the Gravy (1928)
Steamboat Willie (1928)
The Public Enemy (1931)
42nd Street (1933)
Little Miss Marker (1934)
Bride of Frankenstein (1935)
† The City (1939)
† Tacoma Narrows Bridge Collapse (1940)
The Ox-Bow Incident (1943)
Gun Crazy (1949)
Twelve O'Clock High (1949)
The Hitch-Hiker (1953)
Modesta (1956)
Dead Birds (1964)
Dont Look Back (1967)
Easy Rider (1969)
The Last Picture Show (1971)
Powers of Ten (1978)
Tootsie (1982)

1999

† The Kiss (1896)
In the Land of the Head Hunters (1914)
Civilization (1916)
The Docks of New York (1928)
Lambchops (1929)
The Emperor Jones (1933)
† Master Hands (1936)
My Man Godfrey (1936)
† The Plow That Broke the Plains (1936)
† Trance and Dance in Bali (1936-1939)
Gunga Din (1939)
The Shop Around the Corner (1940)
Woman of the Year (1942)
Laura (1944)
A Streetcar Named Desire (1951)
Duck Amuck (1953)
Roman Holiday (1953)
Kiss Me Deadly (1955)
The Ten Commandments (1956)
Jazz on a Summer's Day (1959)
Night of the Living Dead (1968)
The Wild Bunch (1969)
King: A Filmed Record, Montgomery To Memphis (1970)
Raiders of the Lost Ark (1981)
Do the Right Thing (1989)

2000

† President McKinley Inauguration Footage (1901)
Land Beyond the Sunset (1912)
Regeneration (1915)
Salomé (1923)
Peter Pan (1924)
The Fall of the House of Usher (1928)
Little Caesar (1930)
Dracula (1931)
The Life of Emile Zola (1937)
Love Finds Andy Hardy (1938)
Porky in Wackyland (1938)
Why We Fight (Series) (1943–1945)
The Living Desert (1953)
A Star Is Born (1954)
† Let's All Go to the Lobby (1957)
The Tall T (1957)
Will Success Spoil Rock Hunter? (1957)
Five Easy Pieces (1970)
Multiple Sidosis (1970)
Shaft (1971)
Network (1976)
Apocalypse Now (1979)
Koyaanisqatsi (1983)
Sherman's March (1986)
Goodfellas (1990)

2001

Evidence of the Film (1913)
Miss Lulu Bett (1922)
It (1927)
Rose Hobart (1936)
† Cologne: From the Diary of Ray and Esther (1939)
Marian Anderson: Lincoln Memorial Concert (1939)
Jam Session (1942)
Stormy Weather (1943)
Memphis Belle (1944)
The Miracle of Morgan's Creek (1944)
Abbott and Costello Meet Frankenstein (1948)
All the King's Men (1949)
The Thing from Another World (1951)
The Tell-Tale Heart (1953)
The House in the Middle (1954)
America, America (1963)
The Sound of Music (1965)
Planet of the Apes (1968)
Serene Velocity (1970)
Jaws (1975)
National Lampoon's Animal House (1978)
All That Jazz (1979)
Manhattan (1979)
Hoosiers (1986)
The Thin Blue Line (1988)

2002

† Star Theatre (1901)
Wild and Woolly (1917)
Lady Windermere's Fan (1925)
† Theodore Case Sound Test: Gus Visser and his Singing Duck (1925)
† From Stump to Ship (1930)
Punch Drunks (1934)
Melody Ranch (1940)
The Pearl (1948)
The Bad and the Beautiful (1952)
† This is Cinerama (1952)
All My Babies (1953)
From Here to Eternity (1953)
Sabrina (1954)
Wild River (1960)
The Endless Summer (1966)
Through Navajo Eyes (1966)
In the Heat of the Night (1967)
Why Man Creates (1968)
Fuji (1975)
Alien (1979)
The Black Stallion (1979)
Stranger Than Paradise (1984)
This is Spinal Tap (1984)
Beauty and the Beast (1991)
Boyz n the Hood (1991)

2003

† Dickson Experimental Sound Film (1894-1895)
Princess Nicotine; or, The Smoke Fairy (1909)
Matrimony's Speed Limit (1913)
The Chechahcos (1924)
The Son of the Sheik (1926)
† Jenkins Orphange Band (Fox Movietone News) (1928)
Show People (1928)
The Wedding March (1928)
Gold Diggers of 1933 (1933)
Tarzan and His Mate (1934)
Naughty Marietta (1935)
Young Mr. Lincoln (1939)
National Velvet (1944)
White Heat (1949)
One Froggy Evening (1956)
The Hunters (1957)
Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid (1969)
Medium Cool (1969)
Film Portrait (1970)
Patton (1970)
(nostalgia) (1971)
Antonia: A Portrait of the Woman (1974)
Young Frankenstein (1974)
Atlantic City (1980)
Tin Toy (1988)

2004

Lady Helen's Escapade (1909)
The Blue Bird (1918)
Clash of the Wolves (1925)
There It Is (1928)
Pups is Pups (1930)
A Bronx Morning (1931)
Popeye the Sailor Meets Sinbad the Sailor (1936)
Swing Time (1936)
† Kannapolis, NC (1941)
Going My Way (1944)
D.O.A. (1950)
Duck and Cover (1951)
Seven Brides for Seven Brothers (1954)
The Court Jester (1956)
Jailhouse Rock (1957)
Ben-Hur (1959)
The Nutty Professor (1963)
Empire (1964)
OffOn (1968)
Enter the Dragon (1973)
Eraserhead (1977)
Garlic Is As Good As Ten Mothers (1980)
Daughters of the Dust (1991)
Unforgiven (1992)
Schindler's List (1993)

2005

† San Francisco Earthquake and Fire (1906)
† Jeffries-Johnson World's Championship Boxing Contest (1910)
Making of an American (1920)
Hands Up! (1926)
The Cameraman (1928)
The Power of the Press (1928)
H2O (1929)
Baby Face (1933)
Imitation of Life (1934)
† Commandment Keeper Church, Beaufort, SC (May 1940) (1940)
Mom and Dad (1944)
Miracle on 34th Street (1947)
Giant (1956)
House of Usher (1960)
A Raisin in the Sun (1961)
The Music Man (1962)
A Time for Burning (1966)
Cool Hand Luke (1967)
The French Connection (1971)
The Sting (1973)
The Buffalo Creek Flood: An Act of Man (1975)
The Rocky Horror Picture Show (1975)
Fast Times at Ridgemont High (1982)
Hoop Dreams (1994)
Toy Story (1995)

2006

Traffic in Souls (1913)
Tess of the Storm Country (1914)
The Curse of Quon Gwon (1916-1917)
Flesh and the Devil (1927)
The Last Command (1928)
Applause (1929)
St. Louis Blues (1929)
The Big Trail (1930)
Red Dust (1932)
Daughter of Shanghai (1937)
Early Abstractions (1939-1956)
Siege (1940)
Notorious (1946)
In the Street (1948)
A Time Out of War (1954)
Think of Me First as a Person (1960-1975)
The T.A.M.I. Show (1964)
Reminiscences of a Journey to Lithuania (1971-1972)
Blazing Saddles (1974)
Rocky (1976)
Halloween (1978)
Drums of Winter (1988)
sex, lies, and videotape (1989)
Groundhog Day (1993)
Fargo (1996)

2007

Tol'able David (1921)
Mighty Like a Moose (1926)
The Strong Man (1926)
The Sex Life of the Polyp (1928)
Grand Hotel (1932)
Three Little Pigs (1933)
† Our Day (1938)
The Women (1939)
Wuthering Heights (1939)
Dance, Girl, Dance (1940)
Now, Voyager (1942)
The House I Live In (1945)
The Naked City (1948)
In a Lonely Place (1950)
Oklahoma! (1955)
12 Angry Men (1957)
Glimpse of the Garden (1957)
The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance (1962)
Bullitt (1968)
Tom, Tom, the Piper's Son (1969-1971)
Peege (1972)
Close Encounters of the Third Kind (1977)
Days of Heaven (1978)
Back to the Future (1985)
Dances with Wolves (1990)

2008

White Fawn's Devotion (1910)
The Perils of Pauline (1914)
One Week (1920)
Foolish Wives (1922)
So's Your Man (1926)
Hallelujah (1929)
The Invisible Man (1933)
Sergeant York (1941)
† George Stevens World War II Footage (1943-1946)
The Killers (1946)
The Asphalt Jungle (1950)
Johnny Guitar (1954)
† Disneyland Dream (1956)
A Face in the Crowd (1957)
On the Bowery (1957)
The 7th Voyage of Sinbad (1958)
Flower Drum Song (1961)
The March (1964)
The Pawnbroker (1965)
In Cold Blood (1967)
Deliverance (1972)
No Lies (1973)
Free Radicals (1979)
The Terminator (1984)
Water and Power (1989)

2009
Little Nemo (1911)
Mabel's Blunder (1914)
Heroes All (1920, 1931)
Stark Love (1927)
The Revenge of Pancho Villa (1930–1936)
A Study in Reds (1932)
Jezebel (1938)
Under Western Stars (1938)
The Mark of Zorro (1940)
Mrs. Miniver (1942)
The Story of G.I. Joe (1945)
The Lead Shoes (1949)
The Incredible Shrinking Man (1957)
Pillow Talk (1959)
The Exiles (1961)
The Jungle (1967)
Once Upon a Time in the West (1968)
Hot Dogs for Gauguin (1972)
Dog Day Afternoon (1975)
Quasi at the Quackadero (1975)
The Muppet Movie (1979)
Thriller (1983)
Precious Images (1986)
The Red Book (1994)
Scratch and Crow (1995)

2010
Newark Athlete (1891)
A Trip Down Market Street (1906)
Preservation of the Sign Language (1913)
The Bargain (1914)
Lonesome (1928)
The Front Page (1931)
It’s a Gift (1934)
Make Way for Tomorrow (1937)
Tarantella (1940)
A Tree Grows in Brooklyn (1945)
Let There Be Light (1946)
Cry of Jazz (1959)
The Pink Panther (1963)
Electronic Labyrinth: THX 1138 4EB (1967)
I Am Joaquin (1969)
Our Lady of the Sphere (1969)
McCabe & Mrs. Miller (1971)
The Exorcist (1973)
All the President’s Men (1976)
Grey Gardens (1976)
Saturday Night Fever (1977)
Airplane! (1980)
The Empire Strikes Back (1980)
Malcolm X (1992)
Study of a River (1996)