This sprightly short comedy stars actress Florence Lawrence ("The Biograph Girl") who became the first true star in American cinema through a combination of natural charm and canny publicity. The film eliminated two songs and substituted breathtaking Technicolor vistas and stereo sound for theatrical innovation. Hawks had writers Ben Hecht and Charles MacArthur, who penned the original play, craft dialogue scenes in which lines overlapped as in ordinary conversations, but still remained understandable, a style he continued in later films. The second Hart Western to be named to the National Film Registry, the film was selected because of Hart's charisma, the film's authenticity and realistic portrayal of the Western genre and the star's good/bad man role as an outlaw attempting to go straight. A resonant woman's picture, "Now, Voyager" features Bette Davis as a dowdy spinster terrorized by her possessive mother and on the verge of a nervous breakdown. Weill critiques the historically prevalent notions of women, marriage and motherhood, and the difficulties in pursuing an alternative lifestyle.

An homage of sorts to various classic movie genres from screwball comedy to road movie "The Blues Brothers" serves as a tribute to the lead duo's favorite city (Chicago) as well as a lovely paean to great soul and R&B music. A Brooklyn newspaper reported the next day, "It shows living subjects portrayed in a manner to excite wonderment." A seminal figure in both animation and comic art, McCay profoundly influenced many generations of future animators, including Walt Disney. Gregory Peck plays a callous general the brass brings in to replace a commander (Gary Merrill) deemed too undisciplined and sympathetic to effectively lead the squadron. The film is based on Jules Verne's "20,000 Leagues Under the Sea" and to a lesser extent, "The Mysterious Island." Director John Frankenheimer crafts a memorably creepy sense of foreboding in "Seconds," aided immensely by the black-and-white cinematography, disorienting camera angles and lenses of cameraman James Wong Howe, as well as Jerry Goldsmith's eerie score. Expanded essay by Scott MacDonald (PDF, 238KB), Val Lewton achieved the almost miraculous when he produced "Cat People." Many in the audience planned to slam Lee over his controversial sexualized female protagonist. Expanded essay by Craig Kausen covers the three Registry films directed by Chuck Jones: Duck Amuck, One Froggy Evening, and What's Opera, Doc?. After its initial release, some foreign countries refused to run the film. Wildly popular during the 1930s, Popeye's impact was matched only by Mickey Mouse, his chief rival for cartoon supremacy. Ray Ashley (a.k.a. Jeff traces Kathie to Mexico, but falls for her and gets caught in her web of deception and murder. John Henry won the race against "Inky-Poo," only to collapse and die, hammer in hand. With the help of a sympathetic attorney (John Payne) the court finds that he is indeed Santa Claus and little girl learns the power of believing in the unbelievable. In provoking remarkable performances by Lynn Carlin, John Marley and Gena Rowlands, Cassavetes has created a style of independent filmmaking that has inspired filmmakers around the world. Also included is footage of a Tuskegee Institute football game and the school's marching band and majorettes. Frank Sinatra, then the idol of teenage bobby-soxers, takes a break from a recording session and finds a group of children bullying one boy because he's Jewish. ", Henry King 50-year career in Hollywood, reputation for capturing the values, culture, history, personality, and character of the nation. Garth, leading his own cattle drive, becomes Dunson's most formidable rival. Expanded essay by Steve Massa (PDF, 502KB). Other essays have been written specifically for this website. "The situation was dramatic in itself. The film is based in part on Shepherd's 1966 compilation of short stories titled "In God We Trust, All Others Pay Cash," which originated on his radio and television programs. Eventually Claudette Colbert took on the role of Ellie and Clark Gable was loaned from MGM to play Peter. What wild images would emerge?" He is just as tight-lipped at first about the reason for his visit as the residents of Black Rock are about the details of their town.

Winning the 1947 Academy Award for best picture and considered daring at the time, "Gentleman's Agreement" was one of the first films to directly explore the still-timely topic of religious-based discrimination. As he recalled in a 2006 Washington Post article, Pennebaker decided to shoot and record the film using five portable 16mm cameras equipped with synchronized sound recording devices, while producers Lou Adler and John Phillips (Mamas and Papas) sagely had the whole concert filmed and recorded, and further enhanced the sound by hiring Wally Heider and his state-of-the-art mobile recording studio. With Travers' original tale as a framework, screenwriters Bill Walsh and Don DaGradi, with the aid of songwriters the Sherman Brothers (Richard M. and Robert B. Under the name Elton Thomas, Fairbanks penned the screenplay for his first swashbuckler, portraying Don Diego Vega who has recently returned to California from Spain. Actuality films indelibly capture time and place (fashions, ceremonies, locations soon to disappear, behavior at large events and the key daily routines of life), sometimes unexpectedly so as in this delightful gem. They are tired and bored, underpaid and unlucky in love, and their encounters with customers feel like a series of psychological tests.". He began his artistic pursuits as a painter while living in Paris in the 1950s, and not long after, started tinkering with an old 16mm Bolex camera to create simple stop motion studies based on his abstract paintings. The film is ambitious, both in its historical scope and narrative approach, which interweaves fact and myth, historical figures and events and fanciful tall tales. The 1980s produced many feel-good movies and "The Princess Bride" is one of the decade's most beloved. Often compared favorably with "High Noon," this innovative western from director Delmer Daves starred Glenn Ford and Van Heflin in roles cast against type and was based on a short story by Elmore Leonard. Expanded essay by Gwendolyn Audrey Foster (PDF, 819KB). Expanded essay by Scott Simmon for the National Film Preservation Foundation (NFPF) (PDF, 284KB).

When talkies take off, Don and Lina's stardom appears to be over as audiences laugh at Lina's shrill voice for the first time. Having already directed classics such as "Swing Time," "Gunga Din" and "Woman of the Year," director George Stevens joined the U.S. Army Signal Corps and headed a motion picture unit under Gen. Eisenhower from 1943-46. This resulted in a film of considerable quirky charm that has influenced a whole generation of independent filmmakers. Expanded essay by Betsy McLane (PDF, 299KB).

Novelist Harper Lee's child's-eye view of southern bigotry is adapted exquisitely for film by screenwriter Horton Foote and director Robert Mulligan. Director Norman Jewison stages their confrontations for effectively flashy, immediate effect.

Like most of Kuchar's films, "I, an Actress" embodies a "camp" sensibility, defined by the cultural critic Susan Sontag as deriving from an aesthetics that valorizes not beauty but "love of the unnatural: of artifice and exaggeration." One of the most influential ethnographic films of the 1960s, "Dead Birds" is director Robert Gardner's interpretation of life among a group of Dani natives in Papua, New Guinea. Directed by Keaton and written by Clyde Bruckman, Jean Havez, and Joseph A. Mitchell, Sherlock, Jr. utilizes Keaton's trademark physicality and dry humor, fast-paced editing, and jump cuts, to create a comedic masterpiece that both acknowledges and embraces the cinematic medium. Griffith achieves a surprising sense of movement from a single stationary camera, and by building drama with the the use of intercut images to illustrates comparisons and contrasts. Carmen Miranda is also featured and her outrageous costume is highlighted in the legendary musical number "The Lady in the Tutti Frutti Hat." The film follows Belle (voiced by Paige O'Hara), an intelligent and rebellious young French woman, who is forced to live with a hideous monster, the Beast (voiced by Robby Benson), after offering to take her father's place as the Beast's prisoner. Beginning with the shot of a young couple enjoying a picnic, an overhead camera, positioned one meter from its subject, slowly begins to withdraw in increments of 10 x 1010 meters every 10 seconds. Director John Ford had a banner year in 1939 with the release of the iconic Western "Stagecoach," the technicolor extravaganza "Drums Along the Mohawk," and the folksy "Young Mr. The film and the locale are populated with characters bordering on caricature. Rogers was perceived as the almost perfect embodiment of what a cowboy should be in appearance, values, good manners and chivalrous behavior. Photograph of the fight, The father of the American narrative film, D.W. Griffith pioneered film techniques that continue to influence filmmakers. Gently skewering the industry that created it, "Show People" features cameos by some of the biggest stars of the era including Charlie Chaplin and Davies as herself. Milestone's direction is frequently inspired, most notably during the battle scenes. The film, which also stars Joseph Cotton, Dorothy Comingore, Everett Sloane Ruth Warrick, was recognized by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences with an Oscar for Best Original Screenplay. Dorsky's personal devotional loosely records the daily events of the filmmaker and his partner as an arrangement of images, energies and illuminations. Bosley Crowther of "The New York Times" described it as a "curious and fascinating example of cinma vrit, all the ramifications of which cannot be immediately known." Chance, a simple-minded gardener (Peter Sellers) whose only contact with the outside world is through television, becomes the toast of the town following a series of misunderstandings. Only a spirited and extravagant production could do justice to the Robin Hood legend; this film is more than equal to the task. Director Stanley Kubrick's take on Stephen King's terrifying novel has only grown in esteem through the years. Expanded essay by Raquel Stecher (PDF, 25KB), In The Long Goodbye, Elliott Gould, star of such counterculture classics as M*A*S*H* and Little Murders, brings Raymond Chandlers iconic depression-era detective Philip Marlowe into a contemporary Hollywood-infused setting where his moral compass seems anachronistic.

Guests can enjoy a rooftop bar, an on-site restaurant, and a lounge during their stay. Using lightweight, handheld equipment, the Chicago-based Film Group, Inc. filmmakers situated themselves in the midst of confrontations and captured for posterity the viciousness of northern reactions to civil-rights reforms. Coppola instructed cinematographer Gordon Willis to underlight each scene to enhance the dark mood, and the hauntingly melancholy, score by Nino Rota complements that rich visual darkness. After a Rebel base is taken over by the Empire, Han Solo (Harrison Ford) and Princess Leia (Carrie Fisher), with Wookiee Chewbacca and droid C-3PO in tow, flee from the Empire as they speed across the galaxy. It also holds the distinction of being the first cartoon selected for inclusion on the National Film Registry. Porter followed up several months later with "The Great Train Robbery." As he realizes that allies are trying to kill him, the increasingly paranoid Michael also discovers that his ambition has crippled his marriage and turned his brother, Fredo (John Cazale), against him.

One such film was the minimalist "Two-Lane Blacktop," which follows two "gearhads" (singer-songwriter James Taylor and Beach Boys drummer Dennis Wilson) in their souped-up '55 Chevy as they're challenged to a cross-country race by a middle-aged driver (Warren Oates) in a Pontiac GTO. The production led several of the gang members to earn high school diplomas and college degrees. The screenplay, written by Herman Mankiewicz and Welles, was inspired by the biography of real-life newspaper magnate William Randolph Hearst, and the film's celebrated visual style featuring stunning black and white cinematography was created by director of photography Gregg Toland. Such a scathing tale of media manipulation might have helped turn this brilliant film into a critical and commercial failure, which later led Paramount to reissue the film under a new title, "The Big Carnival. Beginning with his UCLA student film, the austere neo-realistic "Killer of Sheep," director Charles Burnett has carved out a distinctive and exalted niche in American independent cinema. The film is distinguished by its innovative use of split frame visuals and a sound track that integrated and overlapped recordings from several sources at once. The film was scripted by Paul Osborn, and adapted in part from books by Borden Deal and William Bradford Huie. This collection of 21 short films, shot in and around various Westinghouse companies near Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, illustrates some of the earliest examples of what became known as industrial films. African Americans rarely appear in films of that era, and then only in caricature or as mocking distortions through a white lens. This rollicking musical satire of Hollywood in the 1920s when film transitioned from silent to sound features outstanding performances by Debbie Reynolds, Donald O'Connor, Jean Hagen, and Gene Kelly who co-directed the film with Stanley Donen.

On the eve of her marriage to an uninteresting man (John Howard), a headstrong socialite (Katharine Hepburn) exchanges verbal barbs with her charming ex-husband (Cary Grant), may have compromised her honor while under the influence of champagne, and flirts outrageously with the handsome reporter (James Stewart in an Oscar-winning performance ) who has crashed the society event of the season. The film was immensely popular with audiences and critics. In 1969, New York City police raided the Stonewall Inn, a gay bar in Greenwich Village. True to the formula of their successful vaudeville, radio, film and television acts, Burns plays the oft-exasperated straight man to Allen's cluelessly ditzy yet loveable comedienne. Harryhausen's stunning Dynamation process, which blended stop-motion animation and live-actions sequences, and a thrilling score by Bernard Herrmann ("Psycho," "The Day the Earth Stood Still") makes this one of the finest fantasy films of all time.

until the wild climax in Dracula's castle, where the duo are pursued by all three of the film's monstrosities. Told primarily in flashback, the film's fluid long takes, elaborate camera movement, opulent detail, and visual repetition are some of Ophuls' stylistic trademarks. Based on a true story, Steven Spielberg's film stars Liam Neeson as Oskar Schindler, a German businessman in Poland hoping to benefit financially from the Nazis' rise to power. Bute's work influenced many other filmmakers working with abstract animation during the '30s and '40s, and with experimental electronic imagery in the '50s. William Wellman's "Wild Boys of the Road" portrays these young adults as determined kids matching wits and strength in numbers with railroad detectives as they shuttle from city to city unable to find work. Seen by many as more "respectable" than Ford's later westerns, but Gregg Toland's stark photography and Henry Fonda's memorably penetrating performance as hero Tom Joad elevate it to American artistry. For the most part, it is a very close adaptation of Booth Tarkington's novel about the relentless decline of a wealthy Midwestern family through the rise of industrialization. During my stay at this beautiful hotel, I got a hot stone massage at the spa in the La Fonda. The nearly complete film was preserved from one reel of 35mm nitrate print, one reel of a 35mm acetate dupe negative and a 16mm acetate print. On his journey to becoming a real boy, Pinocchio encounters Jiminy (Cliff Edwards), a cricket assigned to be Pinocchio's conscience, eventually mastering his lying and truancy, and selflessly risking his life to save Geppetto, proving himself worthy of becoming human.

He meets an equally unremarkable and lonely woman (Betsy Blair) and together they build a relationship not of fairy tale romance but of mutual respect and affection. 100 E. San Francisco Street, Santa Fe, NM 87501, All linens sanitized in high-temperature wash, Face masks required for guests in public areas, Face masks required for staff in public areas, Hand sanitizer available to guests & staff. "A Walk in the Sun" forgoes the usual focus of war movies on fierce battle scenes for an episodic, perceptive character study of the men in the platoon, interspersed with sharp, random bursts of violence. "The Breakfast Club" is a comedy that delivers a message with laughs.

The films document a rich tapestry of everyday life: funerals, sporting events, schools, parades, businesses, Masonic meetings, river baptisms, families at home, African-American oil barons and their wells, black colleges, Juneteenth celebrations and a transcontinental footrace. Poised within the famed Santa Fe Plaza, La Fonda offers guests lavish guest rooms and one-of-a-kind suites overlooking the town. The ultra simplistic sets and props, made of toys and cardboard buildings projected like shadows, help to create intricate German Expressionistic cityscapes reminiscent at times of "Metropolis." This film's appeal may lie in its reputation as "a haunted house movie in space." This now-classic thriller opens on a hot summer weekend in a small coastal New England resort community whose safety and financial livelihood are threatened by an apparent shark attack. Studios incorporated two-color sequences using Kodachrome and the rival Technicolor film stocks until three-strip Technicolor became the industry standard in the late 1930s. Daniel Valdez, Edward James Olmos, Charles Aidman and Tyne Daly make up the cast while the music is supplied by Daniel Valdez and Lalo Guerrero, considered the father of Chicano music, among others. Though only 81 minutes in length, "Bad Day" packs a punch.

The film's true star is its special effects, including the spectacular parting of the Red Sea, for which it won an Oscar. "Five Easy Pieces" was nominated for multiple Academy Awards, including Best Actor for Jack Nicholson, Best Actress in a Supporting Role for Karen Black, Best Picture, and Best Original Screenplay. In November 1940, the Tacoma Narrows Bridge collapsed due to a combination of high winds and poor construction. The overwhelming response convinced Walt Disney to make all future Silly Symphony shorts in color and a few years later came features like Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs. Even today, the hand-drawn animation and vibrant Technicolor continues to charm and dazzle, showing new audiences the magic cinema can bring. Lorentz was hired as a consultant for the Resettlement Administration, a New Deal program to document conditions and educate the public. Popular silent comedienne Louise Fazenda co-stars. Marked by a foreboding sense of an unending terror no one can escape, the film concludes with its famous, final scene, which only adds to the emotional impact of "The Birds.

View this film at Discover Nikkei External, a community website celebrating people of Japanese descent who have migrated and settled throughout the world. Created from scraps of decades-old decomposing "found film," "Decasia" hypnotizes and teases with images that fade and transform themselves right before the viewer's eyes. Filmmaker John Landis ("Animal House" and "The Blues Brothers") directed and co-wrote the video. But over time, "Vertigo" has percolated into our collective consciousness, and is now cited by film scholars and viewers alike as the greatest film of all time, displacing the previously perennial champion "Citizen Kane." Although Lee unexpectedly died shortly before the film was released, "Enter the Dragon" became a huge hit and Lee became a pop culture legend. The "Lubitsch Touch" -- an easy comedic elegance which characterized the films of director Ernst Lubitsch -- is epitomized in this frothy gem starring Herbert Marshall and Miriam Hopkins as professional thieves who fall in love while plundering the Riviera. Are any cleaning services offered at La Fonda On the Plaza? Expanded essay by the film's director Mimi Pickering (PDF, 793KB).

Expanded essay by Margaret Compton (PDF, 316KB). The Los Angeles Times stated, "Miss Hepburn makes the complex Holly a vivid, intriguing figure." "The Ground" uses seemingly simple components the sunbaked landscape of a Greek island, the blue waters of the Aegean Sea and images of a man chiseling stone to conjure the fundamental experience of holding something close to one's heart. It has come to epitomize one of Hollywood's best attempts at horror fantasy. Willis H. O'Brien, who brought King Kong to life eight years later, was responsible for creating the sophisticated animation sequences. In directing this film about the crew of a B-17 "flying fortress" bomber as it approached its 25th mission, William Wyler insisted on using only genuine footage and soldiers, showing civilian audiences a more startlingly realistic view of the war than they'd seen before. Robert Altman directed this richly complex, iconoclastic and highly entertaining detective mystery with a script by Leigh Brackett, who had co-authored the screenplay of the film noir classic The Big Sleep, in which Humphrey Bogart epitomized Chandlers hard-nosed individualist hero for an earlier generation. Shot by pictorially-inclined cinematographer Vilmos Zsigmond near the beginning of his illustrious career, The Long Goodbye employs unsettling, ever-moving camerawork and compositions that masterfully utilize the transparent and reflective surfaces common in southern California modernist architecture. Most renowned was an influential series of five taut, psychological Westerns from 1950-55 revolving around themes of hidden secrets, vengeance, shifting personal morals and concepts of heroism.

Miners' wives had been instrumental in the strike, marching in picket lines and eventually going to jail. It has been preserved by the UCLA Film & Television Archive. L.A. has become a pan-cultural dystopia of corporate advertising, pollution and flying automobiles, as well as replicants, human-like androids with short life spans built for use in dangerous off-world colonization. Arthur C. Clarke adapted his story "The Sentinel" for the screen version and his odyssey follows two astronauts, played by Keir Dullea and Gary Lockwood, on a voyage to Jupiter accompanied by HAL 9000, an unnervingly humanesque computer running the entire ship. Wah Ming Chang, a visual- effects artist who specialized in designing fantastic models, characters and props, created the puppets for the stop-motion animation and also produced the film, which reportedly took 20 months to complete.

They could be crooks or killers just as easily as honorable lawmen or hard-working ranchers. When von Stroheim's initial cut was deemed too long, Paramount took control of the editing process and the film was edited down to the version known today. The production also included members of the Harlem stage show known as J. Leubrie Hill's "Darktown Follies." This vast, yet entertaining, collage of clips serves as a unique document of the 1940s-1960s era and illustrates how these filmssome of which today seem propagandistic or even patently absurd ("The House in the Middle")were used to inform the public on how to cope in the nuclear age. "Manhatta" inspired a genre of "city films" by directors such as Robert Flaherty and Alberto Cavalcanti. Mickey's character in the film is a nod to Buster Keaton's recent film "Steamboat Bill, Jr."

Portraying the doomed Marion Crane, Janet Leigh fared better, though she was constantly overshadowed by her role in the film and her experience with Hitchcock. This Miramax release was a big hit on the independent film circuit and won numerous awards, including a Sundance award. The triumph of filmmaker Walsh, who had worked with D.W. Griffith and reflected his influence, was its naturalistic edginess aided by masterful use of close ups. Cast to perfection as a tempestuous southern belle, Davis' head-strong heroine must eventually learn self-sacrifice in order to save the man she loves. The Oscar-nominated original story by Lamar Trotti