‘Schindler’s List’ added to film registry

Films teaching Cold War children to “duck and cover” and describing how Oskar Schindler saved thousands of Jews from the Holocaust are being added to the National Film Registry.

They are among 25 films selected by the Library of Congress for the registry, which now holds 400 pictures. The library works to ensure that each film in the registry is preserved for all time.

Librarian of Congress James H. Billington made the selections after evaluating nearly 1,000 titles nominated by the public and consulting staff and advisors, the library said Tuesday.

“The films we choose are not necessarily the ‘best’ American films ever made or the most famous,” Billington said in a statement. Rather, they are chosen because they have “cultural, historical or aesthetic significance.”

Among the selections: “Jailhouse Rock” (1957), starring Elvis Presley; “Ben-Hur” (1959), starring Charlton Heston; “Schindler’s List” (1993), with Liam Neeson; “The Nutty Professor” (1963), with Jerry Lewis, and “Duck and Cover,” the 1951 landmark civil defense film seen by millions of schoolchildren in the 1950s.