The NFR Class of 2006: SexyBack

December 27^th 2006: The Library of Congress gives the world a belated Christmas/Hanukkah present (or a right on time Kwanzaa present) with 25 more films on the National Film Registry, making it a total of 450 movies. Here now for the 20^th anniversary is the Class of 2006 (with selections from my posts on each film):

Traffic in Souls (1913): “a heavy-handed, oft-confusing film”

Tess of the Storm Country (1914): “I have nothing to say about this film. It happened, I saw it, I can cross it off the list. Moving on.”

The Curse of Quon Gwon (1916/1917): “written and directed by a Chinese woman, a rarity of both ethnicity and gender.”

Flesh and the Devil (1927): “helped launch [Greta] Garbo’s star.”

The Last Command (1928): “a fine showing for [Josef] von Sternberg, but can it stand on its own as a classic?”

Applause (1929): “the film’s usage of its soundtrack…is downright revolutionary by 1929 standards.”

St. Louis Blues (1929): “the only existing footage of Bessie Smith.”

The Big Trail (1930): “a unique enough curio in film history to warrant a spot on the NFR.”

Red Dust (1932): “[Clark] Gable and [Jean] Harlow are irresistible together”

Daughter of Shanghai (1937): “an underrated, largely forgotten film that was vastly ahead of its time.”

Early Abstractions #1-5, 7, 10 (1939-1956 or 1946-1957): “a seven-part collision of art, film, shapes, and music.”

Siege (1940): “an on-the-ground account of [World War II’s] first two weeks.” “lightning in a bottle documentation”.

Notorious (1946): “an excellent example of [Hitchcock’s] signature style.”

In the Street (1948): “a unique collaboration between three people who, as far as I know, had never made a movie prior to this.”

A Time Out of War (1954): “proved there was an audience for [student] films outside of the classroom.”

Think of Me First as a Person (1960-1975): “strikes the right tone with its delicate subject matter”

The T.A.M.I. Show (1964): “the greatest American film ever made, and I will fight you on this one.”

Reminiscences of a Journey to Lithuania (1971-1972): “a sort of film collage…[with] an emotional story at this film’s core.”

Blazing Saddles (1974): “my favorite Mel Brooks movie”, “uproariously funny”.

Rocky (1976): “gave the world something that had been missing from the ‘70s movie scene: Hope.”

Halloween (1978): “an effectively scary movie”, “a fresh 90-minute adrenaline rush”

sex, lies, and videotape (1989): “an erotically charged character study with a well-cast ensemble.”

Uksuum Cauyai: The Drums of Winter (1989): “an engaging glimpse at an oft-ignored culture.”

Groundhog Day (1993): “may in fact be a perfect movie”.

Fargo (1996): “one of [the Coen brothers’] more accessible, twistedly funny films.”

Other notes

This is one of the more extreme NFR rosters I’ve come across. We only get a handful of heavy-hitters this time (The inclusion of “Rocky” starts getting us into “How was that not already on the list?” territory), but this class is comprised mainly of obscure shorts and deep cuts. An eclectic group, if not the most outstanding. Still, it has one of my favorite movies (“Blazing Saddles”), plus a new favorite I watched for the first time for this blog (“The T.A.M.I. Show”. Seriously, it’s great).
One common thread I noticed this time around is how many of these films circle around the steamier aspects of love and sex. We get multiple entries with love triangles, extra marital affairs, sex workers, one night stands, and a few doomed romances for sentimental sake. Every NFR class has a few of these elements, but it seemed to be a dominant theme this time.
Not much new in the official Library of Congress press release, but Dr. James Billington makes his annual plea for film preservation, including mention of the recently discovered “vinegar syndrome”, which greatly effects acetate-based “safety film”. I imagine this is why so many documentaries and amateur films are included this go-round; to highlight the increased fragility of these lesser-known titles.
Much like the extreme genre selections in the Class of 2006, my responses to these moves run the gamut from “I adore this movie” to “I am so over this movie.” Despite my objections, most of these films got a pass from me for their NFR inclusion.
The “Red Dust” post introduced one of my favorite bits on the blog: the Clark Gable Prize for Best Reaction to Being Shot. I’m surprised how often it comes up on this blog.
Once again, I question how “Think of Me First as a Person” made the NFR only four months after its official premiere. That is not a knock against the movie, which I thought was great, but we have a technicality on our hands and I want to know who’s responsible for this. Looking at you, NFPB member Dwight Swanson. Don’t think I forgot about you!
A few double dippers this year: Actors Evelyn Brent, Andie McDowell, and Tully Marshall, cinematographer Arthur Edeson, and producer Irving Thalberg.
Among the thematic double-dippers (aside from all the love/sex ones listed above): movies that spawned franchises, struggling immigrants, Hollywood studio gate crashing, movie stars in their breakout roles, positive Asian representation, Black entertainers performing their hits, wartime trauma, personal documentaries, and people stuck where they are due to weather.
One coincidence worth noting: Two of our filmmakers – James Agee and Terry Sanders – worked on another future NFR entry: “The Night of the Hunter”; Agee as screenwriter, Sanders as second unit director.
Speaking of “Night” movies, “Night at the Museum” was number one at the US box office when the Class of 2006 was announced. Also playing in theaters at the time was “Rocky Balboa”, the fifth sequel to concurrent NFR inductee “Rocky”. Other noteworthy films include “Happy Feet”, “Casino Royale”, “Borat”, “The Departed”, “Dreamgirls”, and a 3D re-release of “The Nightmare Before Christmas”.
And finally, some favorites of my own subtitles: Squatter Knows Best, Garbo Cheats!, From Russia Without Love, Kitty Foiled, Harlow If You Hear Me, Showtime Near the Apollo, Life with Mikey, Spader Neutered, and all the various “Groundhog Day” subtitles.