Disney Facts: Disney films preserved in the National Archives
Inside the Library of Congress are 10 Disney films being held for preservation.
Each year the Librarian of Congress names 25 films to the National Film Registry that are “culturally, historically or aesthetically” significant. Annual selections to the registry are finalized by the Librarian after reviewing hundreds of titles nominated by the public and conferring with Library film curators and the distinguished members of the National Film Preservation Board.
Here is a look at the Disney films on the list:
Bambi (1942)
One of Walt Disney’s timeless classics (and his own personal favorite), this animated coming-of-age tale of a wide-eyed fawn’s life.
Pinocchio (1940)
Walt Disney’s second full length animated feature brought to all the famed song “When You Wish Upon A Star.”
Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs (1933)
Disney’s first full length animated feature was supposed to be a flop, if you listened to the nay-sayers at the time who nicknamed the film “Disney’s Folly.” But the film changed the way people looked at animation. The film received a standing ovation at its premiere. Variety wrote, “. . . so tender the romance and fantasy, so emotional are certain portions when the acting of the characters strikes a depth comparable to the sincerity of human players, that the film approaches real greatness.” The movie was also a major box office success.
Voted among the best cartoons of all time in a 1990s animators’ poll, “The Three Little Pigs” was one of a series of Silly Symphony shorts on which Walt Disney practiced and refined his art on the way to his first Technicolor masterpiece: “Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs.” Wildly popular, this film pushed the envelope in “personality animation”— each of the three pigs had a different personality—and the title tune “Who’s Afraid of the Big Bad Wolf” became a Depression-era anthem.
Steamboat Willie (1928)
This was another first for Walt Disney and his crew. This movie was the first film with synchronized sound and debuted an icon – Mickey Mouse.
Toy Story (1995)
This film changed animation’s face and delivery system as the first full-length animated feature to be created entirely by artists using computer tools and technology. Andy’s current toys have to learn to live with his new favorite playmate, “to infinity and beyond,” galactic superhero Buzz Lightyear.
