Registry - A Podcast: Recent Episodes
Klaus at Gunpoint
Chris Garcia looks at the National Film Registry, both the films that populate it, and the ones that should be listed!
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)
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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)
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Episode Notes More on Saroyan Our Patreon
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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.
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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.
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Episode Notes The listing A sampler
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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 Roger Ebert's masterful review
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Episode Notes The original website
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The 2020 National Film Registry list 1. Suspense (1913) 2. Kid Auto Races at Venice (1914) 3. Bread (1918) 4. The Battle of the Century (1927) 5. With Car and Camera Around the World (1929) 6. Cabin in the Sky (1943) 7. Outrage (1950) 8. The Man with the Golden Arm (1955) 9. Lilies of the Field (1963) 10. A Clockwork Orange (1971) 11. Sweet Sweetback’s Baadasssss Song (1971) 12. Wattstax (1973) 13. Grease (1978) 14. The Blues Brothers (1980) 15. Losing Ground (1982) 16. Illusions (1982) 17. The Joy Luck Club (1993) 18. The Devil Never Sleeps (1994) 19. Buena Vista Social Club (1999) 20. The Ground (1993-2001) 21. Shrek (2001) 22. Mauna Kea: Temple Under Siege (2006) 23. The Hurt Locker (2008) 24. The Dark Knight (2008) 25. Freedom Riders (2010)
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Episode Notes There are two Ben Hurs on the Registry! This one, starring Ramon Navaro, is a masterful piece of spectular viewing!
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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!
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Episode Notes An amazing thought piece that looks at concepts of memory, description, image, destruction, and much much more.
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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/
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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.
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Episode Notes An excellent document of the Mexican American Experience!
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Episode Notes Kinda problematic, but really thoughtful work from 1980
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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...
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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!
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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.
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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!
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Episode Notes An amazing piece of avant garde cinema that takes itself exactly as seriously as every film should!
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Episode Notes Johnathan Demme's minimalist masterpiece is the essence of the Talking Heads boiled down to a two hour film.
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Episode Notes A look at Stanley Kramer's exceptional screwball comedy.
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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
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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.
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!
2008 Films are now eligible for the Registry, but will any make it on the first ballot?
It's a masterpiece of American Avant Garde cinema, and a film with a story of ebb and flow and how you SHOULDN'T make a movie. Lucifer Rising was one of the most important films of 1980 that's not on the National Film Registry!
Our look at the Year 1980 and all the National Film Registry worthy films that aren't on continues with Robert Altman's Popeye, a musical that explores both a fantastical comic strip world and Altman's own cinematic signatures!
We begin our look at the amazing cinematic year that was 1980 with a consideration of Friday the 13th. Yes, it was the beginning of a massively important franchise that also didn't quite fit what the franchise would become. We look at the reasons it should be on the National Film Registry, what the impact was on the world of genre film, and why it and Halloween are so important.
How should the Registry recognise the work of the legendary director John Waters? In this episode, I examine the possibility of four films that might be worthy - Pink Flamingoes, Female Troubles, Hairspray, and Cecil B. Demented.
A Fantasy Film 101 cross-over talking about the 2017 Registry addition Field of Dreams!
A special episode of Fantasy Film 101 dealing with Dumbo, added to the Registry in 2017
Bela Legosi and Boris Karloff together for the first, and by far the best, film in their careers!
A look at the song Over the Rainbow (added to the National Recording Registry in 2016) and The Wizard of Oz (an initial entry on the National Film Registry) and the meaning of the song when you look at the film, and her life.
A look at the Harry Chapin classic late 19th and early 20th Century Boxing documentary!
One of the most controversial of all the horror films of the 1930s, and in my eyes, one of the best. Todd Browning's FREAKS probably had the complex relationship with studios, director, writers, and audiences of all the films designed for frights, but it also sheds a very human light on people who were all too often dehumanized.
A look at an early work that influenced horror, and may have been saying something about class mobility. I was inspired to get off my butt and do the episode by the wonderful episode of Slums of Film History about Terrible Transplants!
A Disney Mickie Mouse short that should 100% be on the Registry, but somehow is not!!!!!
A Fred Astaire/Joan Fontaine film that is really starring George Burns & Gracie Allen! Oh yeah, and music by the Gershwins and a script by P.G. Wodehouse...
A wonderful 1980s comedy that gives an incredible view of the work place and set the stage of women-driven comedies!
A look at the legendary Fantasy film Willy Wonka & The Chocolate Factory, inducted to the National Film Registry in 2014
David Lynch's most horrifying filmn, and included on the National Film Registry in 2004-ish, I look at why it's such an important work, and why it really informs the rest of the Lynchian ouevre.
Tim Burton is a filmmaker who is often defined by his style. Ed Wood may be the film that defines him by his heart.
A look at Camille Billop's 30 minute documentary Suzanne Suzanne, added to the Registry in 2016. You can send us thoughts at journeyplanet@gmail.com
The first Episode of Registry in a while looks at David Lynch's first time working on a film from a TV show, and why that alone makes it worth while. Oh, and why it's a freakin' brilliant movie. If you wanna drop me a line - journeyplanet@gmail.com
The 2016 National Film Registry was announced on the 14th, and the list is remarkable! — “Life of an American Fireman” (1903) — “Musketeers of Pig Alley” (1912) — “20,000 Leagues Under the Sea” (1916) — Films of Solomon Sir Jones (1924-1928) — “The Beau Brummels” (1928) — “Steamboat Bill, Jr.” (1928) — “Lost Horizon” (1937) — “Ball of Fire” (1941) — “A Walk in the Sun” (1945) — “Blackboard Jungle” (1955) — “East of Eden” (1955) — “The Birds” (1963) — “Point Blank” (1967) — “Funny Girl” (1968) — “Putney Swope” (1969) — “The Decline of Western Civilization” (1981) — “Atomic Cafe” (1982) — “Suzanne, Suzanne” (1982) — “The Breakfast Club” (1985) — “The Princess Bride” (1987) — “Who Framed Roger Rabbit” (1988)
A look at the wonderful experimental doc Works of Calder that features both a score by John Cage AND the voice of Burgess Meredith!!!
Lawrence Jordan, director of the National Film Registry-entrant Our Lady of the Sphere, discusses the role of film in Museums.
A massively impressive feature that explores young people in New York City in the mid-1990s. Should it be on the Registry? Listen!
Does Skater Dater belong on the National Film Registry? Can a movement to get a film included work?
The spot for Computer Graphics research in the 1960s, several films are worthy of inclusion on the registry as an example of the technical and artistic state-of-the-art.
We take a look at a seriously smart dumb comedy - Airplane, which Chris somehow forgot was on the National Film Registry at all!
Arguably the most controversial American film taught in film classes today, Birth of a Nation is an amazing picture that argues for evil, and we look at whether or not it's important to include America's racism as a part of the Registry.
A look at the most important commercial of the 1980s and why it deserves an important place on the Registry!
A look at the amazing Nuclear Paranoia art film Atomic Cafe, which is not on the Registry, but really should be!
A look at the Green Screened film Able Edwards, and why the National Film Registry may want to take technologically into consideration along with Culturally, Historically, Aesthetically...
A look at Registry film The Fall of the House of Usher (1928) as a part of American Avant Garde week.
A look at Scott Bartlett's legendary combination of Video and Film as a part of American Avant Garde week.
Episode 4 - Garlic Is As Good As Ten Mothers (1980) Les Blank's legendary documentary that helps to illuminate the origins of the American Foodie Movement.
A look at Ed Catmull's 1972 computer animation and the role of University of Utah in Computer Graphics.
A look at Edwin S. Porter's 1906 classic, Dream of a Rarebit Fiend, National Film Registry entrant, 2015