NFR Films by Year

Here’s the full list of 800 films on the National Film Registry, arranged for the more chronologically inclined. As always, you can nominate films for future induction, and be sure to take a look at this list of eligible films.

1891

1893

Blacksmith Scene

1894

The Dickson Experimental Sound Film

Edison Kinetoscopic Record of a Sneeze

1896

1897

The Corbett-Fitzsimmons Fight

1898

Something Good – Negro Kiss

1901

President McKinley Inauguration Footage

1903

Emigrants Landing at Ellis Island

The Great Train Robbery

Life of an American Fireman

1904

Westinghouse Works 1904

1905

Interior New York Subway, 14^th Street to 42^nd Street

1906

Dream of a Rarebit Fiend

San Francisco Earthquake & Fire, April 18th 1906

A Trip Down Market Street

1908

Dixon-Wanamaker Expedition to Crow Agency

1909

A Corner in Wheat

Lady Helen’s Escapade

Princess Nicotine

1910

Jeffries-Johnson World’s Championship Boxing Contest

White Fawn’s Devotion

1911

1912

The Cry of the Children

A Cure for Pokeritis

From the Manger to the Cross

The Land Beyond the Sunset

The Musketeers of Pig Alley

1913

The Evidence of the Film

Lime Kiln Field Day

Matrimony’s Speed Limit

Preservation of the Sign Language

Suspense

Traffic in Souls

1914

The Exploits of Elaine

Gertie the Dinosaur

In the Land of the Head Hunters

Kid Auto Races at Venice

Mabel’s Blunder

The Perils of Pauline

Tess of the Storm Country

Uncle Tom’s Cabin

The Wishing Ring: An Idyll of Old England

1915

The Birth of a Nation

The Cheat

Fatty’s Tintype Tangle

A Fool There Was

1916

Civilization

The Curse of Quon Gwon

Hell’s Hinges

Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea

Where Are My Children

1917

The Girl Without a Soul

The Poor Little Rich Girl

Unmasked

Wild and Woolly

1918

Bread

The Sinking of the Lusitania

1919

Broken Blossoms

The Dragon Painter

A Virtuous Vamp

1920s-1930s

Fuentes Family Home Movies Collection

1920

The Daughter of Dawn

Heroes All

The Last of the Mohicans

The Making of an American

The Mark of Zorro

Within Our Gates

1921

The Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse

Tol’able David

1922

Cops

Nanook of the North

Two-Color Kodachrome Test Shots No. III (1922)

1923

1924

HE Who Gets Slapped

The Navigator

Solomon Sir Jones Films

The Thief of Bagdad

1925

Ben-Hur: A Tale of the Christ

The Big Parade

Clash of the Wolves

The Gold Rush [Second Screening of 1942 version]

Lady Windermere’s Fan

The Phantom of the Opera

Theodore Case Sound Test: Gus Visser and his Singing Duck

1926

The Black Pirate

Flesh and the Devil

The General

Hands Up!

Mighty Like a Moose

The Son of the Sheik

So’s Your Old Man

The Strong Man

1927

The Battle of the Century

The Jazz Singer

The Life and Death of 9413: A Hollywood Extra

1928

The Beau Brummels

The Docks of New York

The Fall of the House of Usher

Jenkins Orphanage Band

The Last Command

The Power of the Press

The Sex Life of the Polyp

Steamboat Bill Jr.

Steamboat Willie

The Wedding March

1929

St. Louis Blues

With Car and Camera Around the World

1930s-1940s

The Augustas

Martha Graham Dance Films

Nicholas Brothers Family Home Movies

1930

All Quiet on the Western Front

From Stump to Ship

The Revenge of Pancho Villa

1931

A Bronx Morning

The Forgotten Frontier

The Public Enemy

Tabu: A Story of the South Seas

1932

I Am a Fugitive From a Chain Gang

Love Me Tonight

A Study in Reds

Trouble in Paradise

1933

The Emperor Jones

Employees Entrance

Footlight Parade

Gold Diggers of 1933

The Invisible Man

The Power and the Glory

She Done Him Wrong

Sons of the Desert

The Three Little Pigs

Wild Boys of the Road

1934

Imitation of Life

It Happened One Night

Little Miss Marker

Our Daily Bread

Tarzan and His Mate

Twentieth Century

1935

The Bride of Frankenstein

The Informer

Naughty Marietta

A Night at the Opera

Ruggles of Red Gap

1936

The Kidnappers Foil (c. 1936-c. 1952)

My Man Godfrey

The Plow That Broke the Plains

Popeye the Sailor Meets Sindbad the Sailor

Show Boat

1937

The Awful Truth

Daughter of Shanghai

George Washington Carver at Tuskegee Institute

Hindenburg Disaster Newsreel Footage

The Life of Emile Zola

Make Way for Tomorrow

The Old Mill

The Prisoner of Zenda

Republic Steel Strike Riot Newsreel Footage

Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs [Legacy]

1938

The Adventures of Robin Hood

Bringing Up Baby

Love Finds Andy Hardy

The March of Time: Inside Nazi Germany

Porky in Wackyland

Under Western Stars

With the Abraham Lincoln Brigade in Spain

1939

The City

Cologne: From the Diary of Ray and Esther

Destry Rides Again

Early Abstractions

Gone With the Wind [Part 2] [Part 3]

Marian Anderson: The Lincoln Memorial Concert

The Middleton Family at the New York World’s Fair

Mr. Smith Goes to Washington

Ninotchka

Only Angels Have Wings

Tevya

Verbena Tragica

The Wizard of Oz [Part 2] [Part 3]

Wuthering Heights

Young Mr. Lincoln

1940

Commandment Keeper Church

Dance, Girl, Dance

Down Argentine Way

The Grapes of Wrath

The Great Dictator

His Girl Friday

Knute Rockne, All American

The Mark of Zorro

The Philadelphia Story

The Shop Around the Corner

Siege

Tacoma Narrows Bridge Collapse

Tarantella

1941

The Blood of Jesus

Citizen Kane [Part 2] [Part 3]

How Green Was My Valley

Kannapolis, N.C.

The Lady Eve

The Maltese Falcon

Sullivan’s Travels

1942

Casablanca [Legacy]

Cat People

The Magnificent Ambersons

Road to Morocco

To Be or Not To Be

Tulips Shall Grow

Woman of the Year

Yankee Doodle Dandy

1943

Cabin in the Sky

The Gang’s All Here

George Stevens WWII Footage

Lassie Come Home

Meshes of the Afternoon

The Ox-Bow Incident

Shadow of a Doubt

Why We Fight

1944

Double Indemnity

Gaslight

Going My Way

Hail the Conquering Hero

Jammin’ the Blues

Meet Me in St. Louis

Memphis Belle: A Story of a Flying Fortress

The Miracle of Morgan’s Creek

National Velvet

The Negro Soldier

1945

The Battle of San Pietro

Detour

The House I Live In

Leave Her to Heaven

The Lost Weekend

Mom and Dad

The Story of G.I. Joe

A Tree Grows in Brooklyn

V-E + 1

A Walk in the Sun

1946

The Best Years of Our Lives

It’s a Wonderful Life

John Henry and the Inky-Poo

Let There Be Light

My Darling Clementine

The Story of Menstruation

1947

Gentleman’s Agreement

The Lady from Shanghai

Miracle on 34^th Street

Motion Painting No. 1

Out of the Past

La Perla [The Pearl]

The Way of Peace

1948

Abbott and Costello Meet Frankenstein

Letter from an Unknown Woman

Louisiana Story

Red River

The Treasure of the Sierra Madre

1949

All the King’s Men

The Lead Shoes

Twelve O’Clock High

White Heat

1950

The Asphalt Jungle

Cinderella

D.O.A.

Gerald McBoing-Boing

In a Lonely Place

Outrage

Sunset Boulevard

Winchester ’73

1951

Ace in the Hole

The African Queen

An American in Paris

The Day the Earth Stood Still

Notes on the Port of St. Francis

A Place in the Sun

A Streetcar Named Desire

The Thing From Another World

1952

The Bad and the Beautiful

Magical Maestro

The Quiet Man

Singin’ in the Rain

This Is Cinerama

Trance and Dance in Bali

1953

All My Babies

Eaux d’Artifice

From Here to Eternity

The Hitch-Hiker

House of Wax

Little Fugitive

The Living Desert

The Naked Spur

Pickup on South Street

Shane

The Tell-Tale Heart

The War of the Worlds

1954

The House in the Middle

Johnny Guitar

On the Waterfront

Salt of the Earth

Seven Brides for Seven Brothers

A Time Out of War

1955

All That Heaven Allows

Bad Day at Black Rock

Blackboard Jungle

The Man with the Golden Arm

The Night of the Hunter

One Froggy Evening

The Phenix City Story

Rebel Without a Cause

1956

The Court Jester

Disneyland Dream

Forbidden Planet

Invasion of the Body Snatchers

Modesta

The Searchers

The Ten Commandments

1957

3:10 to Yuma

The Bridge on the River Kwai

A Face in the Crowd

Glimpse of the Garden

The Incredible Shrinking Man

Let’s All Go to the Lobby

Old Yeller

Sweet Smell of Success

The Tall T

What’s Opera, Doc?

Will Success Spoil Rock Hunter?

1958

The 7^th Voyage of Sinbad

Touch of Evil

1959

Anatomy of a Murder

The Cry of Jazz

Imitation of Life

North by Northwest

Porgy and Bess

Rio Bravo

Shadows

Sleeping Beauty

Some Like It Hot

1960

Jazz on a Summer’s Day

The Magnificent Seven

Psycho [Legacy]

Wild River

1961

Allures

Breakfast at Tiffany’s

Flower Drum Song

Judgment at Nuremberg

One-Eyed Jacks

A Raisin in the Sun

West Side Story

1962

Days of Wine and Roses

How the West Was Won

Lawrence of Arabia

The Manchurian Candidate

The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance

Ride the High Country

To Kill a Mockingbird

1963

America America

The Cool World

Crisis: Behind a Presidential Commitment

Hud

Lilies of the Field

The Pink Panther

Shock Corridor

The Nutty Professor

1964

Dr. Strangelove

Nothing But a Man

The Pawnbroker

The T.A.M.I. Show

1965

The Sound of Music [Part 2]

1966

Cicero March

The Endless Summer

Seconds

They Call It Pro Football

Through Navajo Eyes

A Time for Burning

Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf?

1967

Bonnie and Clyde

David Holzman’s Diary

Electronic Labyrinth: THX 1138 4EB

Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner

In the Heat of the Night

The Jungle

Point Blank

Portrait of Jason

1968

2001: A Space Odyssey [Legacy]

The Inner World of Aphasia

Night of the Living Dead

Once Upon a Time in the West

Planet of the Apes

Rosemary’s Baby

Symbiopsychotaxiplasm: Take One

Why Man Creates

1969

Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid

Czechoslovakia 1968

The Learning Tree

Midnight Cowboy

My Name Is Oona

Tom, Tom, the Piper’s Son

The Wild Bunch

1970

Five Easy Pieces

I Am Somebody

King: A Filmed Record…Montgomery to Memphis

Multiple Sidosis

Serene Velocity

1971

Brandy in the Wilderness

A Clockwork Orange

The French Connection

Growing Up Female

Harold and Maude

The Hospital

The Last Picture Show

McCabe & Mrs. Miller

A New Leaf

Sweet Sweetback’s Baadasssss Song

Two-Lane Blacktop

Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory

1972

A Computer Animated Hand

The Godfather [Part 2]

Hot Dogs for Gauguin

Lives of Performers

Our Lady of the Sphere

Reminiscences of a Journey to Lithuania

1973

American Graffiti

Enter the Dragon

The Spook Who Sat by the Door

The Sting

Wattstax

1974

Antonia: A Portrait of the Woman

Blazing Saddles

The Conversation

The Godfather Part II

Hearts and Minds

A Woman Under the Influence

Young Frankenstein

1975

The Buffalo Creek Flood: An Act of Man

Dog Day Afternoon

Eadweard Muybridge, Zoopraxographer

One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest

Quasi at the Quackadero

The Rocky Horror Picture Show

Think of Me First as a Person

1976

All the President’s Men

Chulas Fronteras

Harlan County, USA

The Outlaw Josey Wales

Please Don’t Bury Me Alive!

Time and Dreams

1977

Close Encounters of the Third Kind

I, An Actress

Powers of Ten

Saturday Night Fever

1978

Days of Heaven

The Deer Hunter

Girlfriends

Grease

Halloween

Killer of Sheep

The Last Waltz

National Lampoon’s Animal House

Superman

1979

The Black Stallion

Boulevard Nights

The Muppet Movie

1980

The Blues Brothers

Coal Miner’s Daughter

The Empire Strikes Back

Garlic Is as Good as Ten Mothers

Hours for Jerome

The Life and Times of Rosie the Riveter

Moon Breath Beat

Return of the Secaucus Seven

The Shining

1981

The Decline of Western Civilization

Raiders of the Lost Ark

Zoot Suit

1982

The Atomic Café

Chan Is Missing

E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial [Second Screening of Special Edition]

Fast Times at Ridgemont High

Illusions

Koyaanisqatsi

Losing Ground

Suzanne, Suzanne

1983

Bless Their Little Hearts

A Christmas Story

Michael Jackson’s Thriller

The Right Stuff

1984

Amadeus

Before Stonewall

El Norte

Hair Piece: A Film for Nappy-Headed People

Purple Rain

Stranger Than Paradise

This is Spinal Tap

The Times of Harvey Milk

1985

Back to the Future

The Breakfast Club

The Goonies

1986

Fake Fruit Factory

Ferris Bueller’s Day Off

Platoon

Precious Images

Sherman’s March

She’s Gotta Have It

1987

Broadcast News

La Bamba

The Princess Bride

1988

Die Hard

Stand and Deliver

Thelonious Monk: Straight, No Chaser

The Thin Blue Line

Tin Toy

Who Framed Roger Rabbit

1989

Do the Right Thing

Field of Dreams

Samsara: Death and Rebirth in Cambodia

Sex, Lies, and Videotape

Uksuum Cauyai: The Drums of Winter

Water and Power

1990

Dances with Wolves

Paris is Burning

Sink or Swim

To Sleep with Anger

1991

Beauty and the Beast

Boyz n the Hood

Daughters of the Dust

The Silence of the Lambs

Thelma & Louise

1992

A League of Their Own

Malcolm X

1993

The Joy Luck Club

Jurassic Park

Schindler’s List

1994

Clerks

The Devil Never Sleeps

The Shawshank Redemption

1995

One Survivor Remembers

Scratch and Crow

1996

1997

L.A. Confidential

Study of a River

Titanic

1998

The Big Lebowski

Saving Private Ryan

Smoke Signals

1999

Boys Don’t Cry

Buena Vista Social Club

2000

Into the Arms of Strangers: Stories of the Kindertransport

2001

The Ground

Shrek

2002

Real Women Have Curves

2003

2004

2005

Brokeback Mountain

2006

Mauna Kea: Temple Under Siege

2008

The Dark Knight

The Hurt Locker

2010

I am in no way associated with the National Film Registry, the National Film Preservation Board, the National Film Preservation Foundation, the Library of Congress, the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, the International House of Pancakes, or any other government agency or film organization. Like so many other Americans, I'm just a guy on the internet who watches movies.

The opinions expressed on this blog are my own and do not reflect those of anyone else, including myself because, honestly, I'm really not paying attention when I write these things.

All links used in these write-ups were verified as working at the time of posting. Links may not work in the future, because even in the future, nothing works.

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