The NFR Class of 2008: Single Ladies (Put a Ring on It)

December 30th, 2008: The NFR reaches 500 movies (and 20 years) with the Class of 2008. As always, here’s my retrospective on those 25 films:

White Fawn’s Devotion (1910): “barely passes by my standards for preservation, but hey, so do a lot of movies on this list.”
The Perils of Pauline (1914): “the film serial that started it all”
One Week (1920): “you can see how much of [Buster Keaton’s] comic genius was already on display”
Foolish Wives (1922): “excess for the sake of excess…this one may just be for the film buffs.”
So’s Your Old Man (1926): “[W.C.] Fields’ best work was in the sound era”, “this spot could have gone to someone else.”
Hallelujah (1929): “‘Hallelujah’ crawled so that other, better movies could run.”
The Invisible Man (1933): “certainly holds up better than most other monster films of the era.”
Sergeant York (1941): “a memorial to a real-life American hero”
George Stevens’ World War II Footage (1943-1946): “as close as we’ll ever get to seeing the war as it actually was.”
The Killers (1946): “a great noir film with a well-crafted mystery”
The Asphalt Jungle (1950): “quite possibly the best ensemble of ‘50s character actors in one film”
Johnny Guitar (1954): “What the hell was that?”
Disneyland Dream (1956): “a home movie that commands repeat viewings”.
On the Bowery (1956): “a capsule of a long-forgotten American life, told in a unique, enticing format.”
A Face in the Crowd (1957): “ahead of its time, and just keeps getting more and more accurate.”
The 7th Voyage of Sinbad (1958): “on this list by virtue of its kick-ass stop-motion technology”
Free Radicals (1958/1979): “hits by trifecta for NFR experimental entries: It’s engaging, it’s representative of an important artist…and above all, it’s short.”
Flower Drum Song (1961): “a second-rate film adaptation of a second-rate Rodgers and Hammerstein musical”
The March (1964): “a succinct film that gives you a healthy sample of what that day was like.”
The Pawnbroker (1964): “successfully translates the novel’s themes of isolation and grief into a visual medium”
In Cold Blood (1967): “more-or-less invent[ed] the true crime film genre.”
Deliverance (1972): “a strong movie with an equally strong legacy…complete with iconic banjo music!”
…No Lies (1973): “a pass for NFR inclusion for its strong emotional resonance”
The Terminator (1984): “The film’s lasting influence cannot be denied.”
Water and Power (1989): “I just wish I knew what it all meant.”

Other notes

What is going on with the Class of 2008? Aside from “Deliverance” and “The Terminator” there’s not a lot of movies on here that are NFR essentials. Apparently Librarian of Congress James Billington requested more obscure titles for this class, which explains why it’s mostly comprised of stepping stone/minor classic movies. Granted I liked most of the movies in this class, but most of my write-ups give these movies slight passes for their induction.
The big NFR news of 2008 is the Reauthorization Act that extended both the National Film Registry and the National Recording Registry through FY16. As best I can tell that reauthorization went smoothly and quickly in both the House and the Senate, so fingers crossed for this year’s reauthorization.
When the Class of 2008 was announced, “Marley & Me” was #1 at the US box office. Future NFR titles “The Dark Knight” and “WALL-E” were still playing, as was the roundly-panned remake of “The Day the Earth Stood Still”. Other notable titles included “The Curious Case of Benjamin Button”, “Doubt”, “Twilight”, “Milk”, and “Slumdog Millionaire”.
Double-dippers: Actors Ward Bond, Jeff Corey, Sterling Hayden, and Charles McGraw, producers Carl Laemmle Jr. and Jesse L. Lasky, composers Quincy Jones and Miklós Rózsa, director/screenwriter John Huston, cinematographer Harry Stradling, and cameraperson Alec Hirschfeld. Bonus double-dipper Richard Brooks, director of “In Cold Blood” and uncredited writer on “The Killers”.
Thematic double-dippers: Extended flashbacks, historical footage, dangerous boat journeys, murder, footage of Los Angeles, movies reappraised by the French, the Appalachians, cultural appropriation, racial diversity (sometimes both in the same movie!), and all the crime/noir overlap between “The Killers” and “The Asphalt Jungle”.
Favorites of my own subtitles: Pearl Interrupted, Claude Rain’s Easiest Paycheck, Swede and Lowdown, Joan on the Range, When You Wish Upon Scotch Tape, Rod Forsaken, and Die Robot.
A reminder that my teleplay “Sargent/York” about the fictional rivalry between the two Darrins from “Bewitched” is still available. I’m trying to re-tool it as a season of “Beef”.
And finally, shoutout to the late Mitchell Block, the second NFR director to comment on the blog (the first was “Hair Piece” helmer Ayoka Chenzira). Block was very complimentary about my “…No Lies” post (which was interesting because I was not that film’s biggest fan) and even offered his contact information if anyone wanted to reach out or set up a screening. Regrettably, I never took him up on his offer before he passed in 2024.