The Library of Congress has announced 25 influential films selected for the 2023 National Film Registry preservation list. Each year, a batch of films are nominated and chosen for their “cultural, historic or aesthetic importance to preserve the nation’s film heritage.”
Included in this year’s class are the Disney animated classic Lady and the Tramp (1955), based on a story by American author Ward Greene. Directed by Clyde Geronimi, Wilfred Jackson and Hamilton Luske and produced by Walt Disney, the Silver Age 2D-animated feature is a musical romance about a pampered Cocker Spaniel (voiced by Disney regular Barbara Luddy) who falls in love with a street mutt (Larry Roberts).
The voice cast also included radio personality Bill Thompson as Jock the Scottish Terrier, vaudevillian George Givot as the Italian restaurant owner, entertainer Stan Freberg as the zoo’s clever beaver, actor/singer Thurl Ravenscroft as Al the alligator and jazz star Peggy Lee as Lady’s owner Darling, the Siamese cats and Peg the stray Pekingese. as well as animation voice actors Verna Felton (Aunt Sarah), Alan Reed (Boris the Borzoi) and Dallas McKennon (Toughy the mutt) and a performance by popular quartet The Mellomen.
A box-office success, Lady and the Tramp remains a favorite for fans and has grown on critics over the decades. It was also the first animated feature to be filmed using the CinemaScope widescreen process. It was nominated for the BAFTA for Best Animated Film and earned Disney a David di Donatello Award for Best Foreign Producer.
Another critically lauded and enduring animated fan favorite, The Nightmare Before Christmas (1993), also made the cut. Directed by stop-motion master Henry Selick from a story and original poem by producer Tim Burton, the horror-tinged holiday musical tells the story of Jack Skellington the most popular scaremonger in Halloween Town, whose boogieman burnout leads him to discover cheery Christmas Town — unleashing a festive mix-up the likes of which neither world has ever seen.
The cast was led by Chris Sarandon as Jack (singing voice provided by the film’s composer, Danny Elfman) and Catherine O’Hara as love interest Sally, a rag doll version of Frankenstein’s monster. The film also featured Oscar nominated actor William Hickey as Doctor Finkelstein, comedian Glenn Shadix as the Mayor of Halloween Town, Broadway actor-singer Ken Page as Oogie Boogie, animator Joe Ranft as Igor and Paul Reubens as trick-or-treating Oogie minion Lock.
Released almost a decade before the animated feature Oscar was introduced, The Nightmare Before Christmas was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Visual Effects, and Elfman was nominated for the Golden Globe for Best Original Score. The film also won Saturn Awards for Best Fantasy Film and Best Music.
The 2023 selections bring the number of films in the registry to 875. Some of these films are among the 2 million moving image collection items held in the Library. Others are preserved by the copyright holders or other film archives.
“Films are an integral piece of America’s cultural heritage, reflecting stories of our nation for more than 125 years. We are proud to add 25 diverse films to the National Film Registry as we preserve our history through film,” said Librarian of Congress Carla Hayden. “We’re grateful to the film community for collaborating with the Library of Congress in our goal to preserve the heritage of cinema for generations to come.”
The Library plans to screen two newly selected holiday films for audiences at Live! at the Library in December, including The Nightmare Before Christmas on December 21 at 6:30 p.m. and Home Alone on December 28 at 6:30 p.m. Free timed-entry passes are available at loc.gov/visit. Select titles from 35 years of the National Film Registry are also freely available online in the National Screening Room.
See the full roster of 2023 NFR selected films here.
Animation in the National Film Registry
Alphabetically by title
Disney:
- Bambi (1942 / inducted 2011)
- Beauty and the Beast (1991 / 2002)
- Cinderella (1950 / 2018)
- Dumbo (1941 / 2017)
- Fantasia (1940 / 1990),
- The Lion King (1994 / 2016)
- The Little Mermaid (1989, 2022)
- Mary Poppins (1964 / 2013)
- Pinocchio (1940 / 1994)
- Sleeping Beauty (1959 / 2019)
- Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs (1937 / 1989)
- Steamboat Willie (1928 / 1998) – short film
- The Story of Menstruation (1946 / 2015) – health education short
- The Three Little Pigs (1933 / 2007) – short film
- WALL-E (2008 / 2021)
Other Studios:
- A Computer Animated Hand (1972 / 2011) – Ed Catmull & Fred Parke, short
- Betty Boop in Snow White (1933 / 1994) – Max Fleischer, short
- Duck Amuck (1953 / 1999) – Chuck Jones, short
- Duck and Cover (1951 / 2004) – civil defense PSA
- Gerald McBoing Boing (1951 / 1995) – Robert Cannon, short
- Gertie the Dinosaur (1914 / 1991) – Winsor McCay, short
- Little Nemo (1911 / 2009) – Winsor McCay, short
- Luxo Jr. (1986 / 2014) – Pixar, short
- One Froggy Evening (1956 / 2003) – Chuck Jones, short
- Popeye the Sailor Meets Sinbad the Sailor (1936 / 2004) – Dave Fleischer, short
- Porky in Wackyland (1938) – Bob Clampett, short
- Shrek (2001 / 2020) – DreamWorks
- Tin Toy (1988 / 2003) – Pixar, short
- Toy Story (1995 / 2005) – Pixar
- What’s Opera, Doc? (1957 / 1992) – Chuck Jones, short
- Who Framed Roger Rabbit? (1988 / 2016) – Touchstone/Amblin, animation by ILM
