Poll: 2015 National Film Registry

Results of 940 votes:

1. 1.
   

   The Shawshank Redemption (1994)

    

   "From a modest start as a critical success, but something of a commercial bust upon initial release, "The Shawshank Redemption" now often rates as the top film in IMDb polling. (...) Cr…
2. 2.
   

   L.A. Confidential (1997)

    

   "This well-crafted and suspenseful story, directed by Curtis Hanson, teams a trio of incompatible cops who ultimately bring down a corrupt police department and political machine. (...) The cast …
3. 3.
   

   Ghostbusters (1984)

    

   "One of the most popular, quotable films from the past three decades and a touchstone of cultural reference, "Ghostbusters" can also easily be seen as a loving homage to those earlier w…
4. 4.
   

   Being There (1979)

    

   "(...) Jerzy Kosinski, assisted by award-winning screenwriter Robert C. Jones, adapted his 1971 novel for the screenplay which Hal Ashby directed with an understatement to match the subtlety and …
5. 5.
   

   Top Gun (1986)

    

   "Though a wag might be tempted to call this Tony Scott film "The Testosterone Chronicles," the Don Simpson/Jerry Bruckheimer production actually comprises a deft portrait of mid-1980s A…
6. 6.
   

   Drácula (1931)

    

   "When talkies arrived, American studios began shooting foreign-language versions for international and non-English-speaking domestic markets, generally at the same time they filmed the English ve…
7. 7.
   

   Imitation of Life (1959)

    

   "Film melodrama comes in many variations, but director Douglas Sirk’s style of domestic melodrama is marked by stylized interiors and use of mirrors, where the role of photography is crucial, wit…
8. 8.
   

   Winchester '73 (1950)

    

   "(...) Film historian Scott Simmon calls "Winchester ‘73" "the La Ronde of Death, as opposed to the love that keeps the Schnitzler play in motion," and "the film where a …
9. 9.
   

   Edison Kinetoscopic Record of a Sneeze (1894)

    

   "One of the earliest film recordings and the oldest surviving copyrighted motion picture (...)".
10. 10.
    

    Seconds (1966)

     

    "(...) Director John Frankenheimer crafts a memorably creepy sense of foreboding in "Seconds," aided immensely by the black-and-white cinematography, disorienting camera angles and lens…
11. 11.
    

    The Old Mill (1937)

     

    "This cartoon, produced by the Walt Disney Company as one of its Silly Symphony entries, depicts a community of animals (...) battling a severe thunderstorm that nearly destroys their home in an …
12. 12.
    

    Black and Tan (1929)

     

    "One of the first short musical films to showcase African-American jazz musicians (...). The film reflects the cultural, social and artistic explosion of the 1920s that became known as the Harlem…
13. 13.
    

    The Story of Menstruation (1946)

     

    "(...) this title was produced by the Walt Disney Company through its Educational and Industrial Film Division. Distributed free to schools and girls’ clubs with an accompanying pamphlet titled &…
14. 14.
    

    A Fool There Was (1915)

     

    "The phenomenal success of "A Fool There Was"—based on a Rudyard Kipling poem and a subsequent play—set off a publicity campaign unparalleled at the time centering on its star, an unkno…
15. 15.
    

    Hail the Conquering Hero (1944)

     

    "Writer-director Preston Sturges probably was the only filmmaker in Hollywood in the 1940s who could satirize the worship of war heroes and mothers during wartime. (...) The great French critic A…
16. 16.
    

    The Mark of Zorro (1920)

     

    "Aware that post-World War I audiences had grown weary of the romantic comedies that had made him a star, [Douglas] Fairbanks adapted his persona to create a daring hero and established himself a…
17. 17.
    

    Dream of a Rarebit Fiend (1906)

     

    "(...) this short fantasy comedy by film pioneer Edwin S. Porter employed groundbreaking trick photography, including some of the earliest uses of double exposure in American cinema (...). To cre…
18. 18.
    

    Our Daily Bread (1934)

     

    "Criticized for its purportedly socialist ideas and also for its seemingly fascistic traits, "Our Daily Bread" remains a document that embodied political contradictions that marked wide…
19. 19.
    

    Eadweard Muybridge, Zoopraxographer (1975)

     

    "(...) this documentary delves into the work of the man whose pioneering studies and concept of persistence of vision led to the development of motion pictures. The film looks at Eadweard Muybrid…
20. 20.
    

    Portrait of Jason (1967)

     

    "In one of the first LGBT films widely accepted by general audiences, Shirley Clarke explored the blurred lines between fact and fiction, allowing her subject, Jason Holliday (né Aaron Payne), a …
21. 21.
    

    Symbiopsychotaxiplasm: Take One (1968)

     

    "(...) The film is a unique 1960s’ time capsule, a telling look at the myriad tensions involved in film creation—a film on the making of a film—with three camera crews recording different parts o…
22. 22.
    

    John Henry and the Inky-Poo (1946)

     

    "Stop-motion animation pioneer George Pal created this short film after the NAACP and Ebony magazine criticized his offensively stereotyped Jasper series of cartoons. The magazine later praised &…
23. 23.
    

    Sink or Swim (1990)

     

    "In this autobiographical tale told in voice-over by a teenage girl (Jessica Lynn), Su Friedrich relates a series of 26 short vignettes that reveal a subtext of a father preoccupied by his career…
24. 24.
    

    The Inner World of Aphasia (1968)

     

    "This empathic and often poetic medical-training film features a powerful performance by co-director Naomi Feil as a nurse who learns to cope with aphasia, the inability to speak as a result of a…
25. 25.
    

    Humoresque (1920)

     

    "(...) Humoresque presented to mainstream American audiences a sympathetic portrayal of immigrant Jewish life through its vivid details of street life and rituals (...). Having solidly establishe…