National Film Registry

Updated June 26, 2020 | Infoplease Staff

Each year since 1989, the Library of Congress adds 25 films to the National Film Registry to ensure that each film will be preserved in its original form. The films, which must be at least 10 years old, are chosen based on “their historical, cultural and aesthetic significance.”

2003 National Film Registry Selections

Antonia: A Portrait of the Woman (1974)
Atlantic City (1980)
Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid (1969)
The Chechahcos (1924)
Dickson Experimental Sound Film (1894–95)
Film Portrait (1970)
Fox Movietone News: Jenkins Orphanage Band (1928)
Gold Diggers of 1933 (1933)
The Hunters (Kalahari Desert tribe anthropological film) (1957)
Matrimony's Speed Limit (1913)
Medium Cool (1969)
National Velvet (1944)
Naughty Marietta (1935)
Nostalgia (1971)
One Froggy Evening (1956)
Patton (1970)
Princess Nicotine; or the Smoke Fairy (1909)
Show People (1928)
The Son of the Sheik (1926)
Tarzan and His Mate (1934)
Tin Toy (1988)
The Wedding March (1928)
White Heat (1949)
Young Frankenstein (1974)
Young Mr. Lincoln (1939)

2002 National Film Registry Selections

Alien (1979)
All My Babies (1953)
The Bad and the Beautiful (1952)
Beauty and the Beast (1991)
The Black Stallion (1979)
Boyz N the Hood (1991)
Theodore Case Sound Test: Gus Visser and his Singing Duck (1925)
The Endless Summer (1966)
From Here to Eternity (1953)
From Stump to Ship (1930)
Fuji (1974)
In the Heat of the Night (1967)
Lady Windermere's Fan (1925)
Melody Ranch (1940)
The Pearl (1948)
Punch Drunks (1934)
Sabrina (1954)
Star Theatre (1984)
Stranger Than Paradise (1936)
This is Cinerama (1952)
This is Spinal Tap (1984)
Through Navajo Eyes (series) (1943)
Why Man Creates (1968)
Wild and Wooly (1917)
Wild River (1960)

2001 National Film Registry Selections

Abbott and Costello Meet Frankenstein (1948)
All That Jazz (1979)
All the King's Men (1949)
America, America (1963)
Cologne: From the Diary of Ray and Esther (1939)
Evidence of the Film (1913)
Hoosiers (1986)
The House in the Middle (1954)
It (1927)
Jam Session (1942)
Jaws (1975)
Manhattan (1979)
Marian Anderson: The Lincoln Memorial Concert (1939)
Memphis Belle (1944)
The Miracle of Morgan's Creek (1944)
Miss Lulu Bett (1921)
National Lampoon's Animal House (1978)
Planet of the Apes (1968)
Rose Hobart (1936)
Serene Velocity (1970)
The Sound of Music (1965)
Stormy Weather (1943)
The Tell-Tale Heart (1953)
The Thin Blue Line (1988)
The Thing From Another World (1951)

2000 National Film Registry Selections

Apocalypse Now (1979)
Dracula (1931)
The Fall of the House of Usher (1928)
Five Easy Pieces (1970)
GoodFellas (1990)
Koyaanisqatsi (1983)
The Land Beyond the Sunset (1912)
Let's All Go to the Lobby (1957)
The Life of Emile Zola (1937)
Little Caesar (1930)
The Living Desert (1953)
Love Finds Andy Hardy (1938)
Multiple Sidosis (1970)
Network (1976)
Peter Pan (1924)
Porky in Wackyland (1938)
President McKinley Inauguration Footage (1901)
Regeneration (1915)
Salome (1922)
Shaft (1971)
Sherman's March (1986)
A Star Is Born (1954)
The Tall T (1957)
Why We Fight (series) (1943–1945)
Will Success Spoil Rock Hunter? (1957)

1999 National Film Registry Selections

Civilization (1916)
Do the Right Thing (1989)
The Docks of New York (1928)
Duck Amuck (1953)
The Emperor Jones (1933)
Gunga Din (1939)
In the Land of the Head-Hunters (a.k.a. In the Land of the War Canoes) (1914)
Jazz on a Summer's Day (1959)
King: A Filmed Record…Montgomery to Memphis (1970)
The Kiss (1896)
Kiss Me Deadly (1955)
Lambchops (1929)
Laura (1944)
Master Hands (1936)
My Man Godfrey (1936)
Night of the Living Dead (1968)
The Plow That Broke the Plains (1936)
Raiders of the Lost Ark (1981)
Roman Holiday (1953)
The Shop Around the Corner (1940)
A Streetcar Named Desire (1951)
The Ten Commandments (1956)
Trance and Dance in Bali (1938–39)
The Wild Bunch (1969)
Woman of the Year (1942)

1998 National Film Registry Selections

The Bride of Frankenstein (1935)
The City (1939)
Dead Birds (1964)
Don't Look Back (1967)
Easy Rider (1969)
42nd Street (1933)
From the Manger to the Cross (1912)
Gun Crazy (also known as Deadly Is the Female) (1949)
The Hitch-Hiker (1953)
The Immigrant (1917)
The Last Picture Show (1971)
Little Miss Marker (1934)
The Lost World (1925)
Modesta (1956)
The Ox-Bow Incident (1943)
Pass the Gravy (1928)
The Phantom of the Opera (1925)
Powers of Ten (1978)
The Public Enemy (1931)
Sky High (1922)
Steamboat Willie (1928)
Tacoma Narrows Bridge Collapse (1940)
Tootsie (1982)
Twelve O'Clock High (1949)
Westinghouse Works (1904)

1997 National Film Registry Selections

Ben-Hur (1926)
The Big Sleep (1946)
The Bridge on the River Kwai (1957)
Cops (1922)
Czechoslovakia 1968 (1968)
Grass (1925)
The Great Dictator (1940)
Harold and Maude (1972)
Hindenburg Disaster Newsreel Footage (1937)
How the West Was Won (1962)
The Hustler (1961)
Knute Rockne, All American (1940)
The Life and Death of 9413—A Hollywood Extra (1928)
The Little Fugitive (1953)
Mean Streets (1973)
Motion Painting No. 1 (1947)
The Music Box (1932)
The Naked Spur (1953)
Rear Window (1954)
Republic Steel Strike Riots Newsreel Footage (1937)
Return of the Secaucus 7 (1980)
The Thin Man (1934)
Tulips Shall Grow (1942)
West Side Story (1961)
Wings (1927)

National Film Registry Selections Since 1989

Adam's Rib (1949)
The Adventures of Robin Hood (1938)
The African Queen (1951)
All About Eve (1950)
All Quiet on the Western Front (1930)
All That Heaven Allows (1955)
American Graffiti (1973)
An American in Paris (1951)
Annie Hall (1977)
The Apartment (1960)
The Awful Truth (1937)

Badlands (1973)
The Band Wagon (1953)
The Bank Dick (1940)
The Battle of San Pietro (1945)
The Best Years of Our Lives (1946)
Big Business (1929)
The Big Parade (1925)
The Birth of a Nation (1915)
The Black Pirate (1926)
Blacksmith Scene (1893)
Blade Runner (1982)
The Blood of Jesus (1941)
Bonnie and Clyde (1967)
Bringing Up Baby (1938)
Broken Blossoms (1919)

Cabaret (1972)
Carmen Jones (1954)
Casablanca (1942)
Castro Street (1966)
Cat People (1942)
Chan Is Missing (1982)
The Cheat (1915)
Chinatown (1974)
Chulas Fronteras (1976)
Citizen Kane (1941)
City Lights (1931)
The Conversation (1974)
The Cool World (1963)
A Corner in Wheat (1909)
The Crowd (1928)

David Holzman's Diary (1968)
The Day the Earth Stood Still (1951)
The Deer Hunter (1978)
Destry Rides Again (1939)
Detour (1946)
Dodsworth (1936)
Dog Star Man (1964)
Double Indemnity (1944)
Dr. Strangelove or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb (1964)
Dr. Strangelove
Archive Photos
Duck Soup (1933)

E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial (1982)
Eaux D'Artifice (1953)
El Norte (1983)
The Exploits of Elaine (1914)

Fantasia (1940)
Fatty's Tintype Tangle (1915)
Flash Gordon (serial) (1936)
Footlight Parade (1933)
Force of Evil (1948)
The Forgotten Frontier (1931)
The Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse (1921)
Frankenstein (1931)
Frank Film (1973)
Freaks (1932)
The Freshman (1925)
Fury (1936)

The General (1927)
Gerald McBoing Boing (1951)
Gertie the Dinosaur (1914)
Gigi (1958)
The Godfather (1972)
The Godfather Part II (1974)
The Gold Rush (1925)
Gone With the Wind (1939)
The Graduate (1967)
The Grapes of Wrath (1940)
The Great Train Robbery (1903)
Greed (1924)

Harlan County, U.S.A. (1976)
The Heiress (1949)
Hell's Hinges (1916)
High Noon (1952)
High School (1968)
His Girl Friday (1940)
Hospital (1970)
The Hospital (1971)
How Green Was My Valley (1941)

I Am a Fugitive From a Chain Gang (1932)
Intolerance (1916)
Invasion of the Body Snatchers (1956)
It Happened One Night (1934)
It's a Wonderful Life (1946)
The Italian (1915)

Jammin' the Blues (1944)
The Jazz Singer (1927)

Killer of Sheep (1977)
King Kong (1933)

The Lady Eve (1941)
Lassie Come Home (1943)
The Last of the Mohicans (1920)
Lawrence of Arabia (1962)
The Learning Tree (1969)
Letter From an Unknown Woman (1948)
Life and Times of Rosie the Riveter (1980)
Louisiana Story (1948)
Love Me Tonight (1932)

Magical Maestro (1952)
The Magnificent Ambersons (1942)
The Maltese Falcon (1941)
The Manchurian Candidate (1962)
Manhatta (1921)
March of Time: Inside Nazi Germany—1938 (1938)
Marty (1955)
M*A*S*H (1970)
Meet Me in St. Louis (1944)
Meshes of the Afternoon (1943)
Midnight Cowboy (1969)
Mildred Pierce (1945)
Modern Times (1936)
Morocco (1930)
A Movie (1958)
Mr. Smith Goes to Washington (1939)
My Darling Clementine (1946)

Nanook of the North (1922)
Nashville (1975)
A Night at the Opera (1935)
The Night of the Hunter (1955)
Ninotchka (1939)
North by Northwest (1959)
Nothing but a Man (1964)

On the Waterfront (1954)
One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest (1975)
The Outlaw Josey Wales (1976)
Out of the Past (1947)

Paths of Glory (1957)
Pinocchio (1940)
The Philadelphia Story (1940)
A Place in the Sun (1951)
Point of Order (1964)
The Poor Little Rich Girl (1917)
Primary (1960)
The Prisoner of Zenda (1937)
The Producers (1968)
Psycho (1960)
Pull My Daisy (1959)

Raging Bull (1980)
Rebel Without a Cause (1955)
Red River (1948)
Ride the High Country (1962)
Rip Van Winkle (1896)
The River (1937)
Road to Morocco (1942)

Safety Last (1923)
Salesman (1969)
Salt of the Earth (1954)
Scarface (1932)
The Searchers (1956)
Seventh Heaven (1927)
Shadow of a Doubt (1943)
Shadows (1959)
Shane (1953)
She Done Him Wrong (1933)
Sherlock, Jr. (1924)
Shock Corridor (1963)
Show Boat (1936)
Singin' in the Rain (1952)
Snow White (1933)
Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs (1937)
Some Like It Hot (1959)
Stagecoach (1939)
Star Wars (1977)
Sullivan's Travels (1941)
Sunrise (1927)
Sunset Blvd. (1950)
Sweet Smell of Success (1957)

Tabu (1931)
Taxi Driver (1976)
Tevye (1939)
The Thief of Bagdad (1924)
To Be or Not to Be (1942)
To Fly (1976)
Topaz (1943–1945) (home movie footage taken at the Topaz War Relocation Center, a Japanese-American Internment Camp)
To Kill a Mockingbird (1962)
Top Hat (1935)
Touch of Evil (1958)
The Treasure of the Sierra Madre (1948)
Trouble in Paradise (1932)
2001: A Space Odyssey (1968)