The Great Train Robbery (1903)

Did you know there was a National Film Registry? I didn’t, until I read about here it at GreenCine. Seems that under the provisions of the National Film Preservation Act of 1992,

“each year the Librarian of Congress, with advice from the National Film Preservation Board, names 25 films to the National Film Registry to be preserved for all time. The films are chosen because they are “culturally, historically or aesthetically” significant. This year’s selections bring to 475 the number of motion pictures in the registry.”

The program is under the Library of Congress, and the Librarian of Congress, Dr. James Billington, estimates that of the films made before 1950, up to 50% have been lost forever. Of those made before 1920, the figure rises to a whopping 80%. This is due to the fact that until very recently, motion pictures were photographed on highly fragile, decomposable media. Until the early 50s, film stock was produced with a cellulose-nitrate base that was very susceptible degradation. This decomposition was relatively slow, but as it aged the stock became flammable at relatively low temperatures. In the mid-50s, cellulose-nitrate film was replaced by plastic “safety film” (so called because of its greatly-reduced flammability), but the damage to fully half of our film heritage was done. Unfortunately, the newer safety-film based stock is subject to a second kind of degradation, the “vinegar syndrome,” so-called because of the strong smell of vinegar in advanced cases.

A third problem is color-dye fading; modern, post mid-50s color processes (Eastman Color and the like) are subject to extreme fading. Although manufacturers are working to improve their product, the state of the art is imperfect at this time.

All three of these problems–acetate degradation and color-dye fading–can be greatly slowed by storage under cold, dry conditions. Problem is, until the rise of ancillary markets (i.e., video and DVD), studios saw no profit in spending a lot of money storing product. Since then, many of the majors have build large cold-storage facilities to protect their films.

That’s where the Library of Congress, and it’s Librarian, comes in. This from today’s press release, announcing this year’s crop:

“For each title named to the registry, the Library of Congress works to ensure that the film is preserved for future generations, either through the Library’s massive motion- picture preservation program or through collaborative ventures with other archives, motion-picture studios and independent filmmakers.”

The films added to the registry are chosen “because they are ‘culturally, historically or aesthetically’ significant.” If you go look at the registry films here and here, you’ll see that they’re a mixed bag, quality-wise, but that they do represent a cross-section of American films. They range from big, studio entertainments to experimental films and newsreels.

Facets home video has a catalog of listing titles available on video and/or DVD.

 

 

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