The Memphis Belle: A Story of a Flying Fortress

Films Include Dramas, Documentaries, Actualities and Animation

December 16, 2017 - The Library of Congress is offering film lovers a special gift during the holiday season. Sixty-four motion pictures, named to the Library’s National Film Registry, are now available online on the Library's website. The collection, "Selections from the National Film Registry," is also available to the public on YouTube.

These films are among hundreds of titles that have been tapped for preservation because of their cultural, historical and aesthetic significance. More information about the National Film Registry can be found at loc.gov/film/.

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 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
• 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

The Library of Congress Packard Campus for Audio Visual Conservation works to ensure that films named to the National Film Registry will be preserved and available to future generations, either through the Library’s motion-picture preservation program or through collaborative ventures with other archives, motion-picture studios and independent filmmakers.

The Packard Campus is a state-of-the-art facility funded as a gift to the nation by the Packard Humanities Institute. The Packard Campus is the site where the nation’s library acquires, preserves and provides access to the world’s largest and most comprehensive collection of motion pictures, television programs, radio broadcasts and sound recordings. The Packard Campus is home to more than 7 million collection items.

The Library of Congress is the world’s largest library, offering access to the creative record of the United States—and extensive materials from around the world—both on-site and online. It is the main research arm of the U.S. Congress and the home of the U.S. Copyright Office. Explore collections, reference services and other programs and plan a visit at loc.gov; access the official site for U.S. federal legislative information at congress.gov; and register creative works of authorship at copyright.gov.
Source: LOC