A New Digital Collection From the Library of Congress Provides Online Access to 64 Motion Pictures Named to the National Film Registry

News of an new digital collection released online today by the Library of Congress, “Selections from the National Film Registry.”
From LC:

Sixty-four motion pictures, named to the Library’s National Film Registry, are now available online.
Access to the collection of films is available in two locations.
Direct to”Selections from the National Film Registry” via LC Digital Collections and/or via YouTube.
These films are among hundreds of titles that have been tapped for preservation because of their cultural, historical and aesthetic significance.
All of the streaming films in the new online collection are in the public domain.  They are also available as freely downloadable files with the exception of two titles. Additional films will be added periodically to the website.
“We are especially pleased to make high-resolution ProRes 422 .mov [as well as MP4] files freely available for download for practically every title in this digital collection,” said curator Mike Mashon, head of the Library’s Moving Image Section.  “We think these films will be of particular educational and scholarly benefit as well as for reuse by the creative community.”

Highlights from “Selections from the National Film Registry” include:

• “Memphis Belle” (1944)—William Wyler’s remarkable World War II documentary about the crew of a B-17 “Flying Fortress” bomber;

• “The Hitch-Hiker” (1953)—a gritty film noir directed by actress Ida Lupino;

• “Trance and Dance in Bali” (1936-1939)—Margaret Mead and Gregory Bateson’s groundbreaking ethnographic documentary;

• “Modesta” (1956)—a Spanish-language film produced by Puerto Rico’s Division of Community

• Education;“Popeye the Sailor Meets Sindbad the Sailor” (1936)—a two-reel Technicolor cartoon;

• “Master Hands” (1936)—a dazzling “mechanical ballet” shot on a General Motors automotive assembly line;

• line;Frank Sinatra stars in “The House I Live In” (1945), a plea for religious tolerance that won an honorary Academy Award;

• Cold War curio “Duck and Cover” (1951) features Bert the Turtle explaining to schoolchildren how best to survive a nuclear attack.

Direct to “Selections from the National Film Registry”
via LC Digital Collections
via YouTube
See Also: Brief Descriptions and Expanded Essays of National Film Registry Titles
Learn More About the National Film Registry

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