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Library Of Congress Announces 2011 National Film Registry Inductees; Includes ‘Silence Of The Lambs,’ Chaplin’s ‘The Kid’

Each year, a collection of films are allowed to be thrust back into the spotlight, if only for a brief time, when the Library Of Congress announces their new additions to their National Film Registry.   A collection of films honored as the greatest or most influential films put to celluloid, they can be anything from a masterpiece from the likes of Robert Zemeckis or Jonathan Demme, or a little piece of experimental film from a filmmaker most people hadn’t ever heard of.

And now, we have the 2011 inductees.

Topping the list is ‘˜Silence Of The Lambs,’ Jonathan Demme’s film.   The iconic horror film is joined this year by other storied films such as Chaplin’s ‘˜The Kid’ and even John Cassavetes’ ‘˜Faces,’ making this one hell of a Criterion-approved list.

Rounding out the list is John Ford’s ‘˜The Iron Horse’, ‘˜Forrest Gump,’ ‘˜Lost Weekend,’ ‘˜Bambi,’ ‘˜El Mariachi,’ ‘˜Norma Rae,’ ‘˜War Of The Worlds,’ ‘˜A Computer Animated Hand,’ ‘˜Allures,’ ‘˜A Cure For Pokeritis,’ a series of home movies from dance pair Fayard and Harold Nicholas, and ‘˜Porgy And Bess.’

Personally, this list proves just why the Film Registry is so damn good.   They are capable of pairing some of the most beloved films of all time with pieces you or any cinephile hadn’t even heard of.   This is one hell of a collection, and is one of the most interesting 25 film collections you’ll see anywhere.

What do you think?

Source LA Times


The Complete List (from the Registry):

Films Selected to the 2011 National Film Registry

Allures (1961)

Bambi (1942)

The Big Heat (1953)

A Computer Animated Hand (1972)

Crisis: Behind A Presidential Commitment (1963)

The Cry of the Children (1912)

A Cure for Pokeritis (1912)

El Mariachi (1992)

Faces (1968)

Fake Fruit Factory (1986)

Forrest Gump (1994)

Growing Up Female (1971)

Hester Street (1975)

I, an Actress (1977)

The Iron Horse (1924)

The Kid (1921)

The Lost Weekend (1945)

The Negro Soldier (1944)

Nicholas Brothers Family Home Movies (1930s-40s)

Norma Rae (1979)

Porgy and Bess (1959)

The Silence of the Lambs (1991)

Stand and Deliver (1988)

Twentieth Century (1934)

War of the Worlds (1953)

Joshua Brunsting

Josh is a critic, a member of the Online Film Critics Society, a wrestling nerd, a hip-hop head, a father, a cinephile and a man looking to make his stamp on the world, one word at a time.