FILM CLASSICS PROTECTED

Twenty-five American films, ranging from the Walt Disney 1940 classic “Fantasia” to the obscure 1943 18-minute “Meshes of the Afternoon,” have been chosen for protection as film treasures for the National Film Registry of the Library of Congress.

This is the second group of films tabbed for historic preservation under the terms of the 1988 National Film Preservation Act, which allows the registry to honor 25 films every year that are deemed “culturally, historically or aesthetically significant.”

This year’s selections, made after consultation with the National Film Board and review of nominations from film critics, historians, the public and staff of the Library’s Motion Picture, Broadcasting and Recorded Sound Division, include, in alphabetical order:

All About Eve (1950) All Quiet on the Western Front (1930) Bringing Up Baby (1938) Dodsworth (1936) Duck Soup (1933) Fantasia (1940) The Freshman (1925) The Godfather (1972) The Great Train Robbery (1903) Harlan County, U.S.A. (1976) How Green Was My Valley (1941) It’s a Wonderful Life (1946) Killer of Sheep (1977) Love Me Tonight (1932) Meshes of the Afternoon (1943) Ninotchka (1939) Primary (1960) Raging Bull (1980) Rebel Without a Cause (1955) Red River (1948) The River (1937) Sullivan’s Travels (1941) Top Hat (1935) The Treasure of the Sierra Madre (1948) A Woman Under the Influence (1974)