National Film Treasures Run the Gamut

The list of 25 films cited as national treasures by the Library of Congress Tuesday seems to have been careful not to favor particular genres or directors. John Ford, Billy Wilder and Victor Fleming had two films each on the list, while James Stewart and Humphrey Bogart were the only actors to have more than one film on the list. Seventeen of the movies were filmed in black-and-white, and six were silent.

The Best Years of Our Lives, 1946. Director William Wyler’s masterpiece about the adjustments of three veterans returning home at the end of World War II.

Casablanca, 1942. Humphrey Bogart and Ingrid Bergman, Rick’s Cafe Americain, and “As Time Goes By.” Everybody’s late-night black-and-white favorite, already colorized with a disclaimer by Ted Turner.

Citizen Kane, 1941. Orson Welles’ thinly veiled biography of publishing magnate William Randolph Hearst was one of the most stylistically influential films ever made. Welles’ contract prevented Turner from colorizing it.

The Crowd, 1928. King Vidor’s silent drama about a lower-class family’s struggle to make it in the American workplace.

Dr. Strangelove (or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb), 1964. Stanley Kubrick’s black comedy about a mad general who sets World War III in motion by directing a nuclear attack on Moscow.

The General, 1927. A silent Buster Keaton classic set against the Civil War.

Gone With the Wind, 1939. The most popular film ever made, with Rhett Butler, Scarlett O’Hara, the burning of Atlanta, and the most famous blaspheme ever uttered: “Frankly, my dear, I don’t give a damn.”

The Grapes of Wrath, 1940. John Ford’s adaptation of John Steinbeck’s novel about a Dust Bowl family’s migration west during the Great Depression.

High Noon, 1952. The quintessential American Western, with lone sheriff Gary Cooper single-handedly facing a gang of outlaws. Directed by Fred Zinnemann.

Intolerance, 1916. D. W. Griffith’s milestone--one of the first Hollywood epics--used four related stories to reveal man’s inhumanity to man.

The Learning Tree, 1969. Director Gordon Parks’ autobiographical account of his own coming of age and coming to grips with racism as a black growing up in Kansas.

The Maltese Falcon, 1941. John Huston’s first picture, adapted from Dashiell Hammett’s novel about San Francisco detective Sam Spade, launched a decade of film noir and made Humphrey Bogart a star.

Mr. Smith Goes to Washington, 1939. Frank Capra’s other great movie (his “It’s a Wonderful Life” did not make the list) starred James Stewart as an idealist who takes on corruption in the nation’s capital.

Modern Times, 1936. Charlie Chaplin’s classic satire of the Machine Age was his, and Hollywood’s, last great silent film.

Nanook of the North, 1922. Robert Flaherty’s landmark silent documentary on Eskimo life.

On the Waterfront, 1954. Director Elia Kazan and writer Budd Schulberg’s expose of stevedore racketeers, with Marlon Brando as the pug who turns against the mob.

The Searchers, 1956. A relentless John Wayne seeks his kidnaped niece (Natalie Wood), taken by Indians, in what is regarded by critics as the best of John Ford’s Westerns.

Singin’ in the Rain, 1952. Gene Kelly, Donald O’Connor and Debbie Reynolds in Stanley Donen’s musical parody of the movies’ transition from silents to sound.

Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, 1937. Walt Disney’s first full-length cartoon and the only animated film to make the list.

Some Like It Hot, 1959. Tony Curtis and Jack Lemmon are Chicago musicians on the lam and in drag who join Marilyn Monroe in an all-girl band in writer-director Billy Wilder and co-screenwriter I.A.L. Diamond’s black-and-white comedy.

Star Wars, 1977. George Lucas transformed a movie genre--and the film industry as well--with this sequel-spawning Space Age Western starring Harrison Ford, Mark Hamill, Carrie Fisher, the voice of James Earl Jones and two lovable robots.

Sunrise, 1927. Janet Gaynor stars as a young wife whose life is threatened by her husband in F. W. Murnau’s silent film.

Sunset Boulevard, 1950. Billy Wilder’s bitter Hollywood satire, a flashback told by a dead man, is the story of a young screenwriter (William Holden) who is corrupted by an aging, lovelorn star (Gloria Swanson).

Vertigo, 1958. Alfred Hitchcock’s double-identity erotic thriller about a retired cop (James Stewart) with a fear of heights.

The Wizard of Oz, 1939. Dorothy, Toto, Scarecrow, the Cowardly Lion, the Tin Man, and a horse of a different color. The perennial family classic.