Important Films

The list will be added to from time to time

The National Flm Registry selects films to be preserved in the Library of Congress. Information about the registry and the films selected can be found at the National Film Preservation Board Web Site.

Wikipedia lists the Academy Award Winning films

The Kiss (short) (1898) A Edison film showing a couple kissing - actually a scene between stage actors Mae Irwin and John Rice from The Widow Jones which they were performing on Broadway. It was the subject of attempted censorship with newpapers suggesting the police raid the places it was showing.

Trip to the Moon(original title)Le voyage dans la lune(1902) (Georges Méliès, director) First science fiction film. Little editing (more splicing together of shots, although landing on the moon is actually shown twice - once with the famous "rocket in the moon's eye" shot and then later as a landing. Edison pirated a copy and duplicated it and released in the US before Méliès could.

Great Train Robery (1903) (Edwin S. Porter, director). Often considered the first narrative film because of its editing techniques.

The Jazz Singer (1927) (Warner Brothers) First feature film with some synchronized dialog.

Wings (1927) (Paramount Pictures) (William A. Wellman, director) First film (and only silent film) to win the Academy Award for Best Picture.

Lights of New York (1928) (Warner Bros. ) The first all-talking feature. (cost: $23,000; gross $1.252 million, a record rate of return surpassing 5,000%.)

The Viking (1928) (MGM)The first feature made entirely in the Technicolor Process 3 (silent); Production Companies: Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM) Technicolor Motion Picture Corporation

Emperor Jones (1933) Filmed version of Eugene O'Neill's play with Paul Robeson had various cuts made in it to remove offensive language and scenes..

Becky Sharp (1935) (Pioneer/RKO) First feature film photographed entirely in three-strip Technicolor

Gone With the Wind (1939) ( Warner Brothers) ) Hassle over the last line "Frankly my dear, I don't give a damn"

Song of the Sounth (1943) Film censored by being pulled from distribution because of threats against it for depiction of African Americans.

The Moon is Blue (1953) (Otto Preminger Films) Use of "virgin" upset people, as did the like "Will you try to seduce me?"

The Robe (1953) (20th Century Fox) (Henry Koster, director) First film to go into production and to be released in Cinemascope (a wide screen image created with an anamorphic lens allowing a possible 2.66:1 ratio - although usually 2.35:1 or 2.39:1, instead of the earlier standard of 1.37:1) Beneath the 12 Mile Reef and Gentlemen Prefer Blondes went into production AFTER The Robe, and Gentlemen Prefer Blondes was finsihed BEFORE The Robe, but its release was held up for the more "significant" The Robe to premiere Cinemascope

The Man with the Golden Arm (1955) (Otto Preminger Films) A Preminger film challenging the production code with its depiction of drug use.

Marty (1955) (Hecht-Lancaster Productions Steven Productions ) (Delbert Mann, director) First TV program to be made into a film that won an academy award for best picture

Anatomy of a Murder (1959) (Carlyle Productions and Columbia FIlms) Film which challenged the production code by dealing with rape.

Psycho (1960): (Shamley Productions) (Alfred Hitchcock, director) First film to require audience to be there at the start of the film. Latecomers not seated

In the Heat of the Night (1967) (Mirisch Corporation) (Norman Jewison, director) Black man (Sydney Poitier) slaps White man (1967) and gets away with it!

Andromeda Strain (1971 ) (Universal Pictures) (Robert Wise, director) First film to use computer graphics