A podcast that looks at The National Film Registry.
Episode Notes https://www.loc.gov/programs/national-recording-preservation-board/recording-registry/registry-by-induction-years/2025/ Find out more at https://registry-a-podcast.pinecast.co
Episode Notes I Sources & Further Reading: Jordan, Lawrence. The Lady of the Spheres (1972). P. Adams Sitney, Visionary Film: The American Avant-Garde, 1943-2000. Wheeler Winston Dixon, The Exploding Eye: A Re-Visionary History of 1960s American Experimental Cinema. Find out more at https://registry-a-podcast.pinecast.co
The 2024 National Recording Registry “Clarinet Marmalade” – Lt. James Reese Europe's 369th U.S. Infantry Band (1919) “Kauhavan Polkka” – Viola Turpeinen and John Rosendahl (1928) Wisconsin Folksong Collection (1937-1946) “Rose Room” – Benny Goodman Sextet with Charlie Christian (1939) “Rudolph, the Red-Nosed Reindeer” – Gene Autry (1949) “Tennessee Waltz” – Patti Page (1950) “Rocket ‘88'” – Jackie Brenston and His Delta Cats (1951) “Catch a Falling Star” / ”Magic Moments” – Perry Como (1957) “Chances Are” – Johnny Mathis (1957) “The Sidewinder” – Lee Morgan (1964) “Surrealistic Pillow” – Jefferson Airplane (1967) “Ain't No Sunshine” – Bill Withers (1971) “This is a Recording” – Lily Tomlin (1971) “J.D. Crowe & the New South” – J.D. Crowe & the New South (1975) “Arrival” – ABBA (1976) “El Cantante” – Héctor Lavoe (1978) “The Cars” – The Cars (1978) “Parallel Lines” – Blondie (1978) “La-Di-Da-Di” – Doug E. Fresh and Slick Rick (MC Ricky D) (1985) “Don't Worry, Be Happy” – Bobby McFerrin (1988) “Amor Eterno” – Juan Gabriel (1990) “Pieces of Africa” – Kronos Quartet (1992) “Dookie” – Green Day (1994) “Ready to Die” – The Notorious B.I.G. (1994) “Wide Open Spaces” – The Chicks (1998) Find out more at https://registry-a-podcast.pinecast.co
The 2023 National Film Registry list A Movie Trip Through Filmland (1921) Dinner at Eight (1933) Bohulano Family Film Collection (1950s-1970s) Helen Keller: In Her Story (1954) Lady and the Tramp (1955) Edge of the City (1957) We're Alive (1974) Cruisin' J-Town (1975) ¡Alambrista! (1977) Passing Through (1977) Fame (1980) Desperately Seeking Susan (1985) The Lighted Field (1987) Matewan (1987) Home Alone (1990) Queen of Diamonds (1991) Terminator 2: Judgment Day (1991) The Nightmare Before Christmas (1993) The Wedding Banquet (1993) Maya Lin: A Strong Clear Vision (1994) Apollo 13 (1995) Bamboozled (2000) Love & Basketball (2000) 12 Years a Slave (2013) 20 Feet from Stardom (2013) Find out more at https://registry-a-podcast.pinecast.co
Episode Notes Our Patreon! Find out more at https://registry-a-podcast.pinecast.co
Episode Notes More on Saroyan Our Patreon Auto-Generated Transcript Registry-The Human Comedy Fri, 8/12 11:53AM • 6:32 SUMMARY KEYWORDS film, presents, story, family, script, ithaca, andy hardy, focused, work, star, great, comedy, james cagney, telegraph office, incredibly, deserved, dialoguing, fascinating, mayor, role This is Registry, a Podcast, from Office Supply Publishing and Klaus at Gunpoint The Human Comedy is exactly the type of film the National Film Registry should be honoring. It is a uniquely American film about a fascinating time in American history. It has a backstory that's wonderful. But ultimately, it is a hopeful story, a hopeful story being told in a time when hope was somewhat limited. The concept of the Human Comedy is based on the work of William Saroyan and William wrote in the style that been referred to as Troyan esque, it is optimistic, perhaps sentimental, at the same time as being somewhat cynical of the role of society and rules. Basically, it's this idea that everyone in a society is a value in as much as they present, a goodness of sorts, and that becomes more hazy. sering wrote the original screenplay and gave it to Louis B. Mayer of MGM, and Mayer picked up this 240 Page screenplay and said that Saroyan wasn't going to direct it as he had kind of hoped. And he had actually made a short film called The Good Job as sort of an audition for that. Mayer gave the script to another screenwriter and to a different director. And Serena adapted that screenplay into the novel The Human Comedy, which became his biggest seller. The film was excellent. And it featured, among others, Frank Morgan, as the telegraph operator who was fantastic. He, I think, deserved incredibly high billing. And I think he even got it. We also had, of course, Mickey Rooney, who was the biggest star in the world at that point. Well, okay, one of the biggest stars in the world, he was huge. Donna Reed, Van Johnson, this wonderful set of character actors, which is actually the perfect set of actors to have for this story. Because it's not a straight narrative. There's narrative elements, of course, there's a through line. The idea being that the McCauley family is in Ithaca, California in the Central Valley during World War Two, and the oldest son is off at war, the other son has taken a job at the telegraph office, delivering messages, which are often messages of members of their families being killed in action. And we see the interactions between people. What's fascinating is that serine often focused on sort of the focus on immigrant populations, he focused on the downtrodden, the gamblers, the sex workers, to a lesser degree. Here, he focuses on the McCauley family that is decidedly WASPey, for lack of a better word. And what he's done is he has presented them as poor or at least lower on the economic ladder, but an incredibly tight family, an incredibly loving family, and most importantly, I think, an incredibly earnest family, and that earnestness makes the dynamics of the story work. The shooting is wonderful, the script is great. There's probably not a lot of saurians original script, it's he won the Oscar for Best Story. And the story is all there really, but I think the way the dialogue is handled is less certain than it is traditional Hollywood dialoguing. What makes a story so powerful, though, is the fact that there is a positivity towards every scene, even when it's scenes of conflict. There are scenes of conflict towards an end, which is positive and beautiful. In other words, it's a Williams Orion story. Mickey Rooney is great in it. I love Mickey Rooney in general. I think here is his best non Andy Hardy work until we would see him in Sugar Babies and other things in the 70s and 80s. I think that Johnson is great. We there's not a lot of him, but there's just enough that I was very pleased. None of reads. Okay, she's got her moments. But the real star is Frank Morgan. And his presentation is precisely what we get from Saroyan's take on the character and we see this 100% In the scenes where he is dealing with the sons and how he presents what he does. I mean, it's a kind of a showy role, honestly. The youngest I love the family is adorable as always, I think it just Jack Jenkins was his name. I don't know if he did much after. But overall, every performance in it is good. The script is solid. The cinematography is good. I wouldn't say it was one of the best, the best shot films of the time, but it's beautiful. It really is. And that just may be my black and white bias. But ultimately, it is the best example of William Saurian on fill the time of your life also presents that serinus quality but is really more of a James Cagney film. But here you are getting to run through a work that isn't entirely so Ryan. And that actually helps that I think there was a remake of this done called Ithaca I believe in 2016 Directed by Meg Ryan, featuring Tom Hanks, Hamish Linklater, who is actually great in it, and it's okay. It's nothing special. But the original is so strong and such an excellent document of its time that it deserves to be included on the National Film Registry. Find out more at https://registry-a-podcast.pinecast.co
Episode Notes A classic neo-Noir film starring William Hurt and Kathleen Turner, it's a masterful example of how blocking sets mood in a genre that is known for lighting. Find out more at https://registry-a-podcast.pinecast.co
Episode Notes The listing A sampler Find out more at https://registry-a-podcast.pinecast.co
Episode Notes The Full List 2021nationalfilmregistry libraryofcongress nationalfilmregistry film filmhistory StopMakingSense Find out more at https://registry-a-podcast.pinecast.co
Episode Notes The Breakfast Club is arguably John Hughes most important, and best, film. Released in 1985, the poster was created from an Annie Leibowitz photograph and is an iconic image of teen films, referenced through to today. Comments or questions - johnnyeponymous@gmail.com film filmhistory nationalfilmregistry teenmovie johnhughes bratpack 1980s Find out more at https://registry-a-podcast.pinecast.co
Episode Notes 13 Lakes Find out more at https://registry-a-podcast.pinecast.co
Episode Notes Roger Ebert's masterful review Find out more at https://registry-a-podcast.pinecast.co
Episode Notes The original website Find out more at https://registry-a-podcast.pinecast.co
The 2020 National Film Registry list Suspense (1913) Kid Auto Races at Venice (1914) Bread (1918) The Battle of the Century (1927) With Car and Camera Around the World (1929) Cabin in the Sky (1943) Outrage (1950) The Man with the Golden Arm (1955) Lilies of the Field (1963) A Clockwork Orange (1971) Sweet Sweetback's Baadasssss Song (1971) Wattstax (1973) Grease (1978) The Blues Brothers (1980) Losing Ground (1982) Illusions (1982) The Joy Luck Club (1993) The Devil Never Sleeps (1994) Buena Vista Social Club (1999) The Ground (1993-2001) Shrek (2001) Mauna Kea: Temple Under Siege (2006) The Hurt Locker (2008) The Dark Knight (2008) Freedom Riders (2010) Find out more at https://registry-a-podcast.pinecast.co
Episode Notes There are two Ben Hurs on the Registry! This one, starring Ramon Navaro, is a masterful piece of spectular viewing! Find out more at https://registry-a-podcast.pinecast.co
Episode Notes One of the most wonderful and aesthetically-awesome pictures to come out during World War II, and one that isn't on the Registry, which annoys me! Find out more at https://registry-a-podcast.pinecast.co
Episode Notes An amazing thought piece that looks at concepts of memory, description, image, destruction, and much much more. Find out more at https://registry-a-podcast.pinecast.co
Episode Notes Kurt Kuenne set out to make a film to introduce a son to the father he would never know. Tragedy brought what had been meant as a personal work into wide-release and ended up changing Canadian law. For more info - http://dearzachary.com/Find out more at https://registry-a-podcast.pinecast.co
Episode Notes Tex Avery had a massive impact on the history of American Animation, and this film, added to the Registry in 1993, is one of his most fun and wonderful... but also plays with racist stereotypes that are always jarring. Find out more at https://registry-a-podcast.pinecast.co
Episode Notes An excellent document of the Mexican American Experience! Find out more at https://registry-a-podcast.pinecast.co
Episode Notes Kinda problematic, but really thoughtful work from 1980 Find out more at https://registry-a-podcast.pinecast.co
Episode Notes More than 3,000 Americans signed up to ship out to Spain to fight Franco's forces in the Spanish Civil War, the training ground for the fascists itching to get to World War II! This film is an excellent document of the group whose number of survivors are now 0... Find out more at https://registry-a-podcast.pinecast.co
Episode Notes There are a lot of folks I love in this one, from David Strathairn and Lori Petty to Geena Davis and Madonna, but there's that old Gary Marshall making me annoyed at many turns! Find out more at https://registry-a-podcast.pinecast.co
Episode Notes William S. Hart's masterpiece, one of the finest silent westerns ever made and an excellent example of what you could do when you were a big time producer with a solid vision. Find out more at https://registry-a-podcast.pinecast.co
Episode Notes A Robot! Wonderful technological marvels! A fair! Kids! It's a wonderful industrial film that was supporting the US powerhouse Westinghouse in 1939! Find out more at https://registry-a-podcast.pinecast.co
Episode Notes An amazing piece of avant garde cinema that takes itself exactly as seriously as every film should! Find out more at https://registry-a-podcast.pinecast.co
Episode Notes Johnathan Demme's minimalist masterpiece is the essence of the Talking Heads boiled down to a two hour film. Find out more at https://registry-a-podcast.pinecast.co
Episode Notes A look at Stanley Kramer's exceptional screwball comedy. Find out more at https://registry-a-podcast.pinecast.co
Episode Notes The 2019 National Film Registry was announced in Decemeber, but I'm only now able to talk about it! Women Directors are around! There's some classics that I thought were already on! And more Complete List Amadeus 1984 Becky Sharp 1935 Before Stonewall 1984 Body and Soul 1925 Boys Don't Cry 1999 Clerks 1994 Coal Miner's Daughter 1980 Emigrants Landing at Ellis Island 1903 Employees Entrance 1933 Fog of War 2003 Gaslight 1944 George Washington Carver at Tuskegee Institute 1937 Girlfriends 1978 I am Somebody 1970 Last Waltz, The 1978 My Name Is Oona 1969 A New Leaf 1971 Old Yeller 1957 Phenix City Story, The 1955 Platoon 1986 Purple Rain 1984 Real Women Have Curves 2002 She's Gotta Have it 1986 Sleeping Beauty 1959 Zoot Suit 1981 Find out more at https://registry-a-podcast.pinecast.co
The death of Jonas Mekas reminds me that this is a film that must be on the Registry!
The death of Jonas Mekas reminds me that this is a film that must be on the Registry!
A look at what is pretty much the only even vaguely avant garde piece included on the 2018 Registry and a fine work looking at African-American ideas of beauty.
A look at what is pretty much the only even vaguely avant garde piece included on the 2018 Registry and a fine work looking at African-American ideas of beauty.
A look at one of the finest films of the last twenty years. From acting to script to direction to impact, Brokeback is a film that 100% belongs on the Registry.
A look at one of the finest films of the last twenty years. From acting to script to direction to impact, Brokeback is a film that 100% belongs on the Registry.
The first of our looks at the 2018 entries to the National Film Registry, we look at Something Good - Negro Kiss, a 1898 film that is one of the most joyous 26 seconds you'll ever see!
The first of our looks at the 2018 entries to the National Film Registry, we look at Something Good - Negro Kiss, a 1898 film that is one of the most joyous 26 seconds you'll ever see!
A look at one of the best and most important of all Teen FIlms
A look at the starting point for all 21st Century Musicals
2008 Films are now eligible for the Registry, but will any make it on the first ballot?
2008 Films are now eligible for the Registry, but will any make it on the first ballot?
King Vidor! Andrew Wyeth! A Short Documentary!!!!!
A look at Robert Breer's masterful abstract animation!
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