Every year, The National Film Preservation Board selects 25 films to be added to the National Film Registry. These movies will be housed in the Library of Congress, and will be carefully preserved as part of American history. This year, the Board's selections included Dirty Harry, The Matrix, Two-Lane Blacktop, Slacker, The Spook Who Sat By the Door, A Christmas Story, Breakfast at Tiffany's, and A League of Their Own. Personally, I'm surprised The Big Lebowski and Die Hard still haven't made it in, especially when a movie like A League of Their Own can make it in. I love A League of Their Own, but it hasn't had anywhere near the cultural impact as Lebowski or Die Hard.Hit the jump for the full list of films. If you want to know more about the National Film Registry, you should check out the documentary These Amazing Shadows. Click here to read my review.Here's the press release:The excitement of national football; the first black star of an American feature-length film; the visionary battle between man and machine; and an award-winning actress born yesterday are part of a kaleidoscope of cinematic moments captured on film and tapped for preservation. The Librarian of Congress James H. Billington today named 25 motion pictures that have been selected for inclusion in the National Film Registry of the Library of Congress. These cinematic treasures represent important cultural, artistic and historic achievements in filmmaking.âEstablished by Congress in 1989, the National Film Registry spotlights the importance of preserving Americaâs unparalleled film heritage,â said Billington. âThese films are not selected as the âbestâ American films of all time, but rather as works of enduring importance to American culture. They reflect who we are as a people and as a nation.âSpanning the period 1897-1999, the films named to the registry include Hollywood classics, documentaries, early films, and independent and experimental motion pictures. This yearâs selections bring the number of films in the registry to 600.The films include such movie classics as âBorn Yesterday,â featuring Judy Hollidayâs Academy Award-winning performance; and Truman Capoteâs âBreakfast at Tiffanyâs,â starring Audrey Hepburn. Among the documentaries named to the registry are âThe Times of Harvey Milk,â a revealing portrait of San Franciscoâs first openly gay elected official; âOne Survivor Remembers,â an Academy Award-winning documentary short about Holocaust survivor Gerda Weissmann Klein; and Ellen Brunoâs documentary about the struggle of the Cambodian people to rebuild in the aftermath of Pol Potâs killing fields.The creative diversity of American filmmakers is evident in the selections of independent and experimental films, which include Nathaniel Dorskyâs âHours for Jerome,â Richard Linklaterâs âSlackerâ and the Kodachrome Color Motion Picture Test film of 1922. Among the cinema firsts are âThey Call It Pro Football,â which has been described as the âCitizen Kaneâ of sports movies; and the 1914 version of âUncle Tomâs Cabin,â which features the first black actor to star in a feature-length American film. The actor Sam Lucas made theatrical history when he also appeared in the lead role in the stage production of âUncle Tomâs Cabinâ in 1878.Under the terms of the National Film Preservation Act, each year the Librarian of Congress names 25 films to the National Film Registry that are âculturally, historically or aestheticallyâ significant. The films must be at least 10 years old. The Librarian makes the annual selections to the registry after reviewing hundreds of titles nominated by the public and conferring with Library film curators and the distinguished members of the National Film Preservation Board (NFPB). The public is urged to make nominations for next yearâs registry at the NFPBâs website (www. loc.gov/film).For each title named to the registry, the Library of Congress Packard Campus for Audio Visual Conservation works to ensure that the film is preserved for future generations, either through the Libraryâs motion picture preservation program or through collaborative ventures with other archives, motion picture studios and independent filmmakers. The Packard Campus is a state-of-the-art facility where the nationâs library acquires, preserves and provides access to the worldâs largest and most comprehensive collection of films, television programs, radio broadcasts and sound recordings (www.loc.gov/avconservation/).The Packard Campus is home to more than 6 million collection items. It provides staff support for the Library of Congress National Film Preservation Board, the National Recording Preservation Board and the National Registries for film and recorded sound.Founded in 1800, the Library of Congress is the nationâs oldest federal cultural institution. It seeks to spark imagination and creativity and to further human understanding and wisdom by providing access to knowledge through its vast collections, programs and exhibitions. Many of the Libraryâs rich resources can be accessed through its website at www.loc.gov.3:10 to Yuma (1957)Considered to be one of the best westerns of the 1950s, â3:10 to Yumaâ has gained in stature since its original release as audiences have recognized the progressive insight the film provides into the psychology of its two main characters that becomes vividly exposed during scenes of heightened tension. Frankie Laine sang the filmâs popular theme song, also titled â3:10 to Yuma.â Often compared favorably with âHigh Noon,â this innovative western from director Delmer Daves starred Glenn Ford and Van Heflin in roles cast against type and was based on a short story by Elmore Leonard.Anatomy of a Murder (1959)Director Otto Preminger brought a new cinematic frankness to film with this gripping crime-and-trial movie shot on location in Michiganâs Upper Peninsula where the incident on which it was based had occurred. Controversial in its day due to its blunt language and willingness to openly discuss adult themes, âAnatomyââstarring James Stewart, Ben Gazzara and Lee Remickâendures today for its first-rate drama and suspense, and its informed perspective on the legal system. The film includes an innovative jazz score by Duke Ellington and one of Saul Bassâs most memorable opening title sequences.The Augustas (1930s-1950s)Scott Nixon, a traveling salesman based in Augusta, Ga., was an avid member of the Amateur Cinema League who enjoyed recording his travels on film. In this 16-minute silent film, Nixon documents some 38 streets, storefronts and cities named Augusta in such far-flung locales as Montana and Maine. Arranged with no apparent rhyme or reason, the film strings together brief snapshots of these Augustas, many of which are indicated at pencil-point on a train timetable or roadmap. Nixon photographed his odyssey using both 8mm and 16mm cameras loaded with black-and-white and color film, amassing 26,000 feet of film that now resides at the University of South Carolina. While Nixonâs film does not illuminate the historical or present-day significance of these towns, it binds them together under the umbrella of Americana. Whether intentionally or coincidentally, this amateur auteur seems to juxtapose the nameâs lofty originââaugust,â meaning great or venerableâwith the unspectacular nature of everyday life in small-town America.Born Yesterday (1950)Judy Hollidayâs sparkling lead performance as not-so-dumb âdumb blondeâ Billie Dawn anchors this comedy classic based on Garson Kaninâs play and directed for the screen by George Cukor. Kaninâs satire on corruption in Washington, D.C., adapted for the screen by Albert Mannheimer, is full of charm and wit while subtly addressing issues of class, gender, social standing and American politics. Hollidayâs work in the film (a role she had previously played on Broadway) was honored with the Academy Award for Best Actress and has endured as one of the eraâs most finely realized comedy performances.Breakfast at Tiffanyâs (1961)Truman Capoteâs acclaimed novellaâthe bitter story of self-invented Manhattan call girl Holly Golightlyâarrived on the big screen purged of its risqué dialogue and unhappy ending. George Axelrodâs screenplay excised explicit references to Hollyâs livelihood and added an emotionally moving romance, resulting, in Capoteâs view, in âa mawkish valentine to New York City.â Capote believed that Marilyn Monroe would have been perfect for the film and judged Audrey Hepburn, who landed the lead, âjust wrong for the part.â Critics and audiences, however, have disagreed. The Los Angeles Times stated, âMiss Hepburn makes the complex Holly a vivid, intriguing figure.â Feminist critics in recent times have valued Hepburnâs portrayals of the period as providing a welcome alternative female role model to the dominant sultry siren of the 1950s. Hepburn conveyed intelligent curiosity, exuberant impetuosity, delicacy combined with strength, and authenticity that often emerged behind a knowingly false facade. Critics also have lauded the movieâs director Blake Edwards for his creative visual gags and facility at navigating the filmâs abrupt changes in tone. Composer Henry Manciniâs classic âMoon River,â featuring lyrics by Johnny Mercer, also received critical acclaim. Mancini considered Hepburnâs wistful rendition of the song on guitar the best he had heard.A Christmas Story (1983)Humorist Jean Shepherd narrates this memoir of growing up in Hammond, Ind., during the 1940s when his greatest ambition was to receive a Red Ryder BB gun for Christmas. The film is based in part on Shepherdâs 1966 compilation of short stories titled âIn God We Trust, All Others Pay Cash,â which originated on his radio and television programs. Writer-director Bob Clark had long dreamed of making a movie based on Shepherdâs work and his reverence for the material shows through as detail after nostalgic detail rings true with period flavor. Dozens of small but expertly realized moments reflect an astute understanding of human nature. Peter Billingsleyâwith his cherubic cheeks, oversized glasses and giddy grinâportrays Shepherd as a boy. Darren McGavin and Melinda Dillon are his harried-yet-lovable parents.The Corbett-Fitzsimmons Title Fight (1897)Independently produced motion picture recordings of famous boxing contests were a leading factor in establishing the commercial success of movies in the late 19th century. Championship boxing matches were the most widely popular sporting contests in America in that era, even though the sport was banned in many states in the 1890s. Soon after Nevada legalized boxing in 1897, the Corbett-Fitzsimmons title fight was held in that state in Carson City on St. Patrickâs Day of that year. The film recorded the introductions of famous personalities in attendance and all 14 of the fightâs three-minute rounds, plus the one-minute breaks between rounds. With a running time of approximately 100 minutes, âThe Corbett-Fitzsimmons Title Fightâ was the longest movie produced at that time. Films of championship matches before 1897 had been unsuccessful because they ended too quickly with knockouts, leaving movie audiences unwilling to pay high-ticket prices to see such short films. âCorbett-Fitzsimmonsâ was a tremendous commercial success for the producers and contestants James J. Corbett and Bob Fitzsimmons (the victor), generating an estimated $750,000 in income during the several years that it remained in distribution. This film also is deserving of a footnote in the technical history of motion pictures. Producers of early boxing films protected their films from piracy by engineering film printers and projectors that could only accept film stock of a proprietary size. The film prints of the fight were manufactured in a unique 63mm format that could only be run on a special projector advertised as âThe Veriscope.âDirty Harry (1971)Clint Eastwoodâs role as rogue police officer Harry Callahan in director Don Siegelâs action-packed, controversial paean to vigilante justice marked a major turning point in Eastwoodâs career. A top 10 box-office hit after its release, âDirty Harryâ struck a nerve in the eraâs politically polarized atmosphere with those who believed that concern over suspectsâ rights had gone too far. While a number of critics characterized the film as âfascistic,â Eastwood countered that Harry, who disregards police procedure and disobeys his superiors, represents âa fantasy characterâ who âdoes all the things people would like to do in real life but canât.â âDirty Harry,â he stated later, was ahead of its time, putting the ârights of the victimâ above those of the accused. The filmâs kinesthetic direction and editing laid the aesthetic groundwork for many of the 1970sâ gritty, realistic police dramas.Hours for Jerome: Parts 1 and 2 (1980-82)Nathaniel Dorsky shot the footage for what would become his silent tone poem, âHours for Jerome,â between 1966 and 1970. He edited that footage over a two-year period. The filmâs title evokes the liturgical âBook of Hours,â a medieval series of devotional prayers recited at eight-hour intervals throughout the day. Dorskyâs personal devotional loosely records the daily events of the filmmaker and his partner as an arrangement of images, energies and illuminations. The camera intimately surveys the surroundings, from the pastoral to the cosmopolitan, as fragments of light revolve around the four seasons. âPart 1â presents spring through summer and âPart 2â looks at fall and winterâa full year in 45 minutes. Named filmmaker of the decade in 2010 by Film Comment magazine, Dorsky creates his works to be projected at silent speed, between 17 and 20 frames per second instead of the usual 24 frames per second for sound film. Projecting his films at sound film speed, he writes, âis to strip them of their ability to open the heart and speak properly to their audience. Not only is the specific use of time violated, but the flickering threshold of cinemaâs illusionâa major player in these worksâis obscured.âThe Kidnappers Foil (1930s-1950s)For three decades, Dallas native Melton Barker and his company traveled through the southern and central sections of the United States filming local children acting, singing and dancing in two-reel narrative films, all of which Barker titled âThe Kidnappers Foil.â Barker recognized that many people enjoyed seeing themselves, their children and their communities on film. Since home movies were an expensive hobby, he developed a business to provide them. Other itinerant filmmakers produced similar fare, but Barker appears to have been the most prolific. Enlisting local movie theaters and newspapers to sponsor and promote the productions, Barker auditioned children and offered âacting lessonsâ to the most promising for a fee of a few dollars. He then assembled 50 to 75 would-be Shirley Temples and Jackie Coopers, ages 3 to 12, to act out the melodramatic story: a young girl is kidnapped from her birthday party and eventually rescued by a search party of local kids. After the ârescue,â the relieved townsfolk would celebrate with a party where the budding stars showcased their musical talents. A few weeks after filming, the town would screen the 15- to 20-minute picture to the delight of the local audience. Most prints of these films no longer exist, although some have been discovered in vintage movie houses or local historical societies. The Texas Archive of the Moving Image holds a collection of these itinerant films and hosts Internet resources for those who appeared in them as children.Kodachrome Color Motion Picture Tests (1922)This two-color (green-blue and red) film was produced as a demonstration reel at the Paragon Studios in Fort Lee, New Jersey, under the direction of Kodak scientist John Capstaff. It features leading actresses, including Mae Murray, Hope Hampton, and Mary Eaton, posing and miming for the camera to showcase the capability of the complex Kodachrome process to capture their translucent movie star complexions and colorful, high-fashion clothing. Hampton wears costumes designed for âThe Light in the Dark,â the first commercial feature film to incorporate scenes filmed with the Kodachrome process. During the first three decades of motion picture history, the most practical methods for adding colors to 35mm prints filmed on black-and-white film stock had been through laborious processes by which separate colors were either painted on individual film frames by hand or added by overlaying mechanically produced stencils on prints and applying colors in sequence. While aesthetically pleasing, these color additive methods were complicated and costly. Soon after 1900, inventors in several countries began experimenting with ways to advance the chemistry of color movies and create film stocks capable of reproducing the true colors of nature. Leading the way in the U.S. were Technicolor in 1912 and Eastman Kodak, starting in 1914. The Kodachrome Color Motion Picture Tests of 1922 was the first publicly demonstrated color film to attract the general interest of the American film industry. Many feature films produced by major studios incorporated two-color sequences using Kodachrome and the rival Technicolor film stocks until three-strip Technicolor became the industry standard in the late 1930s.A League of Their Own (1992)Director Penny Marshall used the real-life All-American Girls Professional Baseball League (1943-1954) as a backdrop for this heartfelt comedy-drama. âA League of Their Own,â featuring an ensemble cast that includes Geena Davis, Tom Hanks, Madonna and Rosie OâDonnell, not only illuminates this fascinating, under-reported aspect of American sports history, but also effectively examines womenâs changing roles during wartime. Rich with period detail and equally complex performancesâespecially Davis as a team ringer and Hanks as the down-on-his-luck coachâMarshall and her company delivered an enjoyably nostalgic film about womenâs choices and solidarity during World War II that was both funny and feminist.The Matrix (1999)A visionary and complex film, the science-fiction epic âThe Matrixâ employed state-of-the-art special effects, production design and computer-generated animation to tell a storyâsteeped in mythological, literary, and philosophical referencesâabout a revolt against a conspiratorial regime. The filmâs visual style, drawing on the work of Hong Kong action film directors and Japanese anime films, altered science fiction filmmaking practices with its innovative digital techniques designed to enhance action sequences. Directors Andy and Lana Wachowski and visual effects supervisor John Gaeta (who received an Academy Award for his efforts) expertly exploited a digitally enhanced simulation of variable-speed cinematography to gain ultimate control over time and movement within images. The filmâs myriad special effects, however, do not undermine its fundamentally traditional, if paranoid, story of man against machine.The Middleton Family at the New York Worldâs Fair (1939)Produced by Westinghouse for the 1939 Worldâs Fair, this industrial film is a striking hour-long time capsule that documents that historic event within a moralistic narrative. Shot in Technicolor, the film follows a fictional Indiana family of five (mom, dad, son, daughter and grandma) as they venture from grandmaâs quaint house in Long Island to the fairâs popular pavilions. The whole family enjoys the gleaming sights, especially the futuristic technologies located in the Westinghouse Pavilion (including something called âtelevisionâ). While the entire family is affected by the visit, none are changed so much as daughter Babs (played by a young Marjorie Lord), who eventually sours on her foreign-born, anti-capitalistic boyfriend in favor of a hometown electrical engineer who works at the fair. Both charming and heavy-handed, âThe Middleton Familyâ provides latter-day audiences with a vibrant documentary record of the fairâs technological achievements and the heartland values of the age.One Survivor Remembers (1995)In this Academy Award-winning documentary short film by Kary Antholis, Holocaust survivor Gerda Weissmann Klein recounts her six-year ordeal as a victim of Nazi cruelty. At age 16, her comfortable life was shattered by the Nazi invasion of Poland. She and her family were sent to concentration and slave labor camps. She alone survived. Mixing footage shot in contemporary Europe at key locations of Kleinâs story with interviews and personal photographs, âOne Survivor Remembersâ explores the effects that her experience had on the rest of her life. It is told with a simple yet powerful eloquence that âapproaches poetry,â the Chicago Tribune observed.Parable (1964)In the 1930s, a number of Protestant groups, concerned about the perceived meretricious effects of Hollywood films, began producing non-theatrical motion pictures to spread the gospel of Jesus. âParableâ followed a filmmaking tradition that has not very often been recognized in general accounts of American film history. One of the most acclaimed and controversial films in this tradition, âParableâ debuted at the New York Worldâs Fair in May 1964 as the main attraction of the Protestant and Orthodox Center. Without aid of dialogue or subtitles, the film relies on music and an allegorical story that represents the âCircus as the World,â in the words of Rolf Forsberg, who wrote and co-directed the film with Tom Rook for the Protestant Council of New York. âParableâ depicts Jesus as an enigmatic, chalk-white, skull-capped circus clown who takes on the sufferings of oppressed workers, including women and minorities. The film generated controversy even before its initial screening. The fairâs president Robert Moses sought to have it withdrawn. Other fair organizers resigned with one exclaiming, âNo one is going to make a clown out of my Jesus.â A disgruntled minister threatened to riddle the screen with shotgun holes if the film was shown. Undaunted, viewers voted overwhelmingly to keep the film running, and it became one of the fairâs most popular attractions. Newsweek proclaimed it âvery probably the best film at the fairâ and Time described it as âan art film that got religion.â The Fellini- and Bergman-inspired film received the 1966 Religious Film Award of the National Catholic Theatre Conference, along with honors at the 1966 Cannes, Venice and Edinburgh film festivals. It subsequently became a popular choice for screenings in both liberal and conservative churches.Samsara: Death and Rebirth in Cambodia (1990) International relief worker Ellen Brunoâs masterâs thesis at Stanford University, âSamsara,â documents the struggle of the Cambodian people to rebuild a shattered society in the aftermath of Pol Potâs killing fields. âSamsaraâ is a Sanskrit term that literally means âcircleâ or âwheel,â and is commonly translated as âcycle of existence.â Bruno fleshes out this concept by using ancient Buddhist teachings and folklore to provide a context for Cambodiaâs struggle. Described as poetic, heartbreaking and evocative, the film brings a humanistic perspective to the political chaos of Southeast Asia with a deliberate, reflective and sometimes dreamlike pace as it intertwines the mundane realities of daily life with the spiritual beliefs of the Khmer people. One reviewer reflected, âThe meditative pacing, the rhythm of bells and chimes, the luxuriant green landscape, the otherworldly response to horrific recent historyâI was transported not just to a faraway place but to an altered consciousness.âSlacker (1991)Along with âSex, Lies, and Videotapeâ (1989), âSlackerâ is widely regarded as a touchstone in the blossoming of American independent cinema during the 1990s. A free-floating narrative, the film follows a colorful and engaging assortment of characters in Austin, Texas, throughout the course of a single day as they ruminate on UFOs, Scooby Doo, Leon Czolgosz and many other things. Shot on 16mm film with a budget of $23,000, director Richard Linklater dispensed with a structured plot in favor of interconnected vignettes. This resulted in a film of considerable quirky charm that has influenced a whole generation of independent filmmakers. âSlackerâ was eventually picked up by a major distributor and earned more than $1 million at the box office.Sons of the Desert (1933)Stan Laurel and Oliver Hardy, along with comedian Charley Chase, star in this riotous comedy of fraternity and marital mishaps. Directed by veteran comedy director William A. Seiter for Hal Roach Studios, âSons of the Desertâ successfully incorporated into a feature-length film many of the comedic techniques that had made Laurel & Hardy such masters of short-subject humor. The film was ranked among the top 10 box-office hits after its release. Film scholars and fans consider it to be the duoâs finest feature film.The Spook Who Sat by the Door (1973)When âThe Spook Who Sat by the Doorâ was restored for DVD release in 2004, the New York Times called it âa story of black insurrection too strong for 1973.â Based on a controversial best-selling 1969 novel by Sam Greenlee and with a subtly effective score by jazz legend Herbie Hancock, the film presents the story of a black man hired to integrate the CIA who uses his counter-revolutionary training to spark a black nationalist revolution in Americaâs urban streets. Financed mostly by individual African-American investors, some commentators lambasted the film for its sanctioning of violence and distributor United Artists pulled the movie from theaters after a successful three-week run. Others appreciated its significance. Washington Post journalist Adrienne Manns, a former spokesperson in the black student movement, argued that the film âlends humanity to persons who are usually portrayed as vicious, savage, sub-humans â the street gangs, the young people who have in many cities terrorized the communities they live in.â New York Times reviewer Vincent Canby commented, âThe rage it projects is real.â Ivan Dixon, the filmâs director known for his roles in âHoganâs Heroesâ and as the lead in âNothing But a Manâ (1964), believed that the film did not offer âa real solutionâ to racial injustice, but projected instead âa fantasy that everybody felt, every black male particularly.âThey Call It Pro Football (1967)Before âThey Call It Pro Footballâ premiered, football films were little more than highlight reels set to the oom-pah of a marching band. In 1964, National Football League commissioner Pete Rozelle agreed to the formation of NFL Films. With a background in public relations, he recognized that the success of the league depended on its image on television, which required creating a mystique. âThey Call It Pro Football,â the first feature of NFL Films, looked at the game âin dramaturgical terms,â capturing the struggle, not merely the outcome, of games played on the field. Written and produced by Steve Sabol, directed by John Hentz and featuring the commanding cadence of narrator John Facenda and the music of Sam Spence, the film presented football on an epic scale and in a way rarely seen by the spectator. Telephoto lenses brought close-ups of playersâ faces into viewersâ living rooms. Slow motion revealed surprising intricacy and grace. Sweeping ground-to-sky shots imparted a âheroic angle.â Coaches and players wearing microphones let the audience in on strategy and emotion. âThey Call It Pro Footballâ established a mold for subsequent productions by NFL Films and has well earned its characterization as the âCitizen Kaneâ of sports movies.The Times of Harvey Milk (1984)Told largely with revealing news clips and archival footage interspersed with personal reminiscences, âThe Times of Harvey Milkâ vividly recounts the life of San Franciscoâs first openly gay elected city official. The film, which received an Academy Award for Best Documentary Feature, traces Harvey Milkâs ascent from Bay Area businessman to political prominence as city supervisor and his 1978 assassination, which also claimed the life of San Francisco mayor George Moscone. While illuminating the effect that Milk had on those who knew him, the film also documents the nascent gay rights movement of the 1970s. The film, with its moving and incisive portrait of a city, a culture and a struggleâas well as Harvey Milkâs indomitable spiritâresonates profoundly as a historical document of a grassroots movement gaining political power through democratic means.Two-Lane Blacktop (1971)During a short-lived period following the success of such youth-oriented films as âBonnie and Clyde,â âThe Graduateâ and especially âEasy Riderâ in the late 1960s, Hollywood executives financedâwith minimal oversightâa spate of low-budget, innovative films by young âNew Hollywoodâ filmmakers. With influences ranging from playwright Samuel Beckett to European filmmakers Robert Bresson, Jacques Rivette and Michelangelo Antonioni, one such film was the minimalist classic âTwo-Lane Blacktop.â The film follows two obsessed but laconic young operators of a souped-up 1955 Chevy (singer-songwriter James Taylor and Beach Boys drummer Dennis Wilson) as they engage in a cross-country race with a 1970 Pontiac GTO, whose loquacious, middle-aged driver (Warren Oates) continually reinvents his past and intended future. The driversâ fixation on speed, mastery and competition is disrupted when a 17-year-old drifter (Laurie Bird) joins their masculine world and later leaves them in disarray. Director Monte Hellman and screenwriter Rudolph Wurlitzer allow audiences time to absorb the filmâs spare landscapes, car-culture rituals and existential encounters, and to reflect on the myth of freedom that life on the road traditionally has embodied.Uncle Tom's Cabin (1914)Harriet Beecher Stowe published her great anti-slavery novel in 1852. Adapted for the stage in 1853, it was continuously performed in the U.S. well into the 20th century. âUncle Tomâs Cabinâ was frequently adapted to movies after 1900, but always with white actors in the lead roles until this version, said to be the first feature-length American film that starred a black actor. Sam Lucasâactor, musician, singer and songwriterâhad become famous in the 19th century for his performances in vaudeville and minstrel shows produced by Charles Frohman. In 1878, Frohman achieved a breakthrough in American theatrical history when he staged a production of âUncle Tomâs Cabin,â featuring Lucas in the lead role. Thirty-six years later, Lucas was lured out of retirement by the World Producing Corp. to recreate his historic role on film and, in the process, set an important milestone in American movie history.The Wishing Ring; An Idyll of Old England (1914)Director Maurice Tourneur, called by film historian Kevin Brownlow âone of the men who introduced visual beauty to the American screen,â arrived in America in 1914. Previously, he was as an artist (assisting sculptor August Rodin and painter Pierre Puvis de Chavannes), actor and innovative director in French theater and cinema. Tourneurâs third American film, âThe Wishing Ring,â was once believed lost until Brownlow located a 16mm print of the film in northern England. The print subsequently was copied to 35mm by the Library of Congress as part of an effort funded by the National Endowment for the Arts to preserve Americaâs film heritage. At the time of its initial release, the film was admired for its light and pleasing cross-class romantic story, its fresh performances and the authenticity of its âOld Englandâ settingsâalthough it was shot in New Jersey. Historians of silent cinema have lionized the film since its rediscovery. William K. Everson praised its âincredible sophistication of camerawork, lighting, and editing.â Richard Koszarski deemed it âan extraordinary film â probably the high point of American cinema up to that time.â