Hello!

Here’s something we didn’t expect. Every year the National Film Registry adds 25 more titles deemed worthy of restoration, as ‘historically, culturally and aesthetically significant.’  They’ve been doing this since 1989, when the first titles chosen were plenty obvious: The Searchers,  Singin’ in the Rain,  Vertigo.

We take special note that this year’s list includes William Cameron Menzies’ Invaders from Mars, as we’ve always been a major booster of the title. It may not yet ‘hang in the Louvre,’ but it’s a much-deserved honor for a picture that ten years ago was an oddity with a reputation split between ‘Masterpiece’ and ‘Silly Sci-fi loser.”  Not helping was the fact that the show couldn’t be seen in a decent copy.

We think Invaders was chosen because of the major restoration performed several years ago, that attracted a lot of attention. Restoration supervisor Scott MacQueen agrees:  ” I think there’s no question that the 4K Blu-ray, looking as sharp and clean as it does, put the movie back on people’s radar.”  For that we still have Jan Willem Jansen of Ignite to thank … as previously explained, restoring the movie was so difficult, any another rights-holder might very well not have gone to the trouble.

Here’s the new NFR list; we note that today’s review title No Country for Old Men made the cut as well.

Looking back at the Registry to check what other classic Science Fiction titles have made the cut, we put together this offhand list:

Star Wars  (1989)
2001: A Space Odyssey  (1991)
Invasion of the Body Snatchers  1956 (1994)
E.T. The Extra-Terrestrial  (1994)
The Day the Earth Stood Still  1951  (1995)
Flash Gordon Serial  (1996)
The Lost World  1925  (1998)
The Thing from Another World  1951  (2001)
Planet of the Apes  1968  (2001)
Alien  (2002)
Close Encounters of the Third Kind  (2007)
The Terminator  (2008)
The Incredible Shrinking Man  (2009)
The Empire Strikes Back  (2010)
The War of the Worlds  1953  (2011)
Forbidden Planet  (2013)
Seconds  (2015)
20,0000 Leagues Under the Sea  (2016)  – but not 1954!
The Birds  (2016)
A Clockwork Orange  (2020)
Wall-E  (2021)
Return of the Jedi  (2021)
Star Trek: The Wrath of Khan  (2024)
Invaders from Mars 1953  (2024)

And since it just went up, here’s TCM’s obituary montage for the year. They’re always a heartbreaker. TCM’s are always the best, as they can run several minutes (and still feel rushed). I end up watching them at least three times, as there is always a sad surprise or two to throw one’s thinking off. This year got me, to see that a special effects specialist I worked with for two years was included.

On the other hand, it’s good to see so many talented people who appear to have had very long, very productive careers. The TCM montage has served as a reflective holiday pause for so many years …

Thanks for reading! — Glenn Erickson