The NFR Class of 2004: Drop It Like It’s Hot

December 28^th, 2004: The NFR cuts it really close and announces its Class of 2004 with only three days left in the year, bringing us to a grand total of 400 films! Having just finished watching all 25, let’s take a look back at the NFR Class of 2004:

Lady Helen’s Escapade (1909): “fine if not outstanding, but it does a good job of representing Florence Lawrence”
The Blue Bird (1918): “a very simple, charming fairy tale”, “visually appealing”
Clash of the Wolves (1925): “a quick, harmless, fun adventure with Hollywood’s favorite German shepherd.”
There It Is (1928): “[Charley] Bowers’ surreal style of silent comedy is quite unique”
Pups Is Pups (1930): “An ‘Our Gang’ short should absolutely be on the National Film Registry, but this one?”
A Bronx Morning (1931): “I’m always willing to give a pass to documentaries, short films, or avant-garde pieces by influential filmmakers, and ‘A Bronx Morning’ is all three!”
Popeye the Sailor Meets Sindbad the Sailor (1936): “The whole short is, well, strong to the finish.”
Swing Time (1936): “Fred [Astaire] & Ginger [Rogers] compliment each other beautifully on screen and they’re still fun to watch”
Kannapolis, N.C. (1941): “[H. Lee] Waters’ footage paints a warm portrait of a small town in a way only film can.”
Going My Way (1944): “a welcomed addition to the NFR, if not an absolute essential in film history.”
D.O.A. (1950): “not without its flaws, but…just well known and respected enough that an argument could be made for its NFR inclusion.”
Duck and Cover (1952): “easily the best known and most-watched of [the nuclear propaganda films].”
Seven Brides for Seven Brothers (1954): “Can we just preserve the best 6 ^1/2minutes of this film and pretend it was a short this whole time?”
The Court Jester (1956): “isn’t as well remembered or celebrated as it once was, [but] I don’t begrudge one of [Danny] Kaye’s films making it onto the Registry.”
Jailhouse Rock (1957): “not the best Elvis representation”.
Ben-Hur (1959): “will always have the chariot race going for it, but the rest of the film can drag a bit.”
The Nutty Professor (1963): “highlights the comic precision that Jerry Lewis brought us in front of and behind the camera.”
Empire (1964): “stands out for its innovation and continued polarizing reception (‘Nothing happens!’)”
OffOn (1968): “Well someone had to combine film and video, and shouldn’t that someone have a place in the NFR?”
Enter the Dragon (1973): “Hats off to Bruce Lee for putting the ‘art’ in ‘martial arts’.”
Eraserhead (1977): “Well that was the most disturbing 90 minutes of my life.”
Garlic Is as Good as Ten Mothers (1980): “a fun, informative slice (forgive me) of life, but is it really worthy of preservation ahead of ‘Grey Gardens’ and ‘Hoop Dreams’?”
Daughters of the Dust (1991): “a unique look at a culture of America that tends to be ignored.”
Unforgiven (1992): “a well crafted Western and worth at least one viewing.”
Schindler’s List (1993): “another one of the ‘untouchables’ on this list.”

Other notes

The NFR’s early 2000s were all about including films that represent artists and/or genres not yet on the list, and 2004 was their ultimate: “What’s not on the list yet?” year. Making their NFR debut this year were such important film figures as David Lynch, Jerry Lewis, Bruce Lee, Andy Warhol, Elvis Presley, Florence Lawrence, Danny Kaye, Rin Tin Tin, Our Gang, and Popeye the Sailor. Not the most iconic names on the list, but the NFR would feel incomplete without them. There’s still a few iconic movies, plus the recently pre-ordained classics “Unforgiven” and “Schindler’s List”, but this year is about adding some new faces to the line-up.
For the most part, my write-ups on these 25 films are positive, even if I didn’t enjoy the film (multiple entries get my “What is happening!?” designation). It helps that because these films represent artists not yet on the list, I can vouch for their inclusion from a historical perspective, if not through their continued entertainment value.
In my “Pups is Pups” post, I complain about this short not having any of the familiar “Our Gang” cast, but Carl “Alfalfa” Switzer shows up in “Going My Way”. That has to be a coincidence, right?
A few double-dippers this year covering several branches of filmmaking: Actor Robert Middleton, producer Pandro S. Berman, costume designer Edith Head, editor Ralph E. Winters, visual effects supervisor A. Arnold “Buddy” Gillespie, and composer Walter Scharf. Honorable mention: Popeye shows up twice thanks to his brief appearance as a cardboard cutout in “Kannapolis, N.C.”.
Not as many thematic double-dippers this time (a testament to the Class of 2004’s variety) but the ones I caught were: Catchy title songs, island living, non-actors in starring roles, dogs in key supporting roles, unrehearsed footage of children playing, overcomplicated plot lines, and problematic musicals with great distracting dance numbers.
In the same vein as “double-dippers”, my Class of 2004 write-ups contain a few shared elements. These include two posts where I show off my knowledge of San Francisco and the Bay Area, and another two where I bring up the Standard Movie Fight Procedure: All henchman or gang members can only attack your hero one at a time. And while plenty of my posts contain “Simpsons” references, two of my Class of 2004 posts reference the specific episode “A Star is Burns”. Makes sense, that’s a very movie-centered episode. And it’s the only reason I know who Eudora Welty is.

Speaking of favorite TV shows, several Class of 2004 write-ups reference “Mystery Science Theater 3000”, which inspired me to choose the show as the topic of my ninth anniversary post. On a related note, both “D.O.A.” and “Duck and Cover” have been parodied by Rifftrax.
Another runner in my write-ups: two instances of me bemoaning the Academy Awards’ lack of a Best Stunt Design Oscar category, which we’re finally getting in 2028. I can’t prove that my grumbling made it happen, but I can’t not prove it either.
When the Library of Congress announced the NFR Class of 2004, “Meet the Fockers” was number one at the weekend box office. Other notable films in theaters at the time include “The Aviator”, “National Treasure”, “A Series of Unfortunate Events”, and very recent NFR inductee “The Incredibles”.
Favorite of my own subtitles: Great Scot!, Jay and Silent Job, Not Your Father’s Father, A Nuclear and Present Danger, Kaye Turn, King in the Clink, Jerry & Hyde, and David Lynch’s Adventures in Babysitting. And if my “Unforgiven” subtitle – Old West Action – seems odd, here’s a hint: It’s an anagram. Definitely the first and last time I use one of those for the blog.
Shoutout to my beloved Knights of the NFR, who were responsible for getting “Lady Helen’s Escapade” digitized and available online. Thanks to them, I was able to watch all 25 films from the Class of 2004. Okay fine, 24 and ^1/8th of the Class of 2004. I will finish you one day, “Empire”!
And continuing my own inability to satisfactorily conclude these “Year in Review” posts: I’ll follow the lesson I learned from “Clash of the Wolves” and end this post with puppies! Look at all these puppies! You can’t tell that this ending is anticlimactic because puppies!