Topic: 2011 National Film Registry Additions

[falsealarms]

The National Film Registry has 25 new additions. Most notable for the crowd here may be Charlie Chaplin's THE KID (1921) and the classic screwball comedy TWENTIETH CENTURY (1934).

http://www.loc.gov/today/pr/2011/11-240.html

The Kid (1921)
Charles Chaplin’s first full-length feature, the silent classic "The Kid," is an artful melding of touching drama, social commentary and inventive comedy. The tale of a foundling (Jackie Coogan, soon to be a major child star) taken in by the Little Tramp, "The Kid" represents a high point in Chaplin’s evolving cinematic style, proving he could sustain his artistry beyond the length of his usual short subjects and could deftly elicit a variety of emotions from his audiences by skillfully blending slapstick and pathos.

Twentieth Century (1934)
A satire on the theatrical milieu and its oversized egos, "Twentieth Century" marked the first of director Howard Hawks’ frenetic comedies that had leading actors of the day "make damn fools of themselves." In Hawks’ words, the genre became affectionately known as "screwball comedy." Hawks had writers Ben Hecht and Charles MacArthur, who penned the original play, craft dialogue scenes in which lines overlapped as in ordinary conversations, but still remained understandable, a style he continued in later films. This sophisticated farce about the tempestuous romance of an egocentric impresario and the star he creates did not fare well on its release, but has come to be recognized as one of the era’s finest film comedies, one that gave John Barrymore his last great film role and Carole Lombard her first.

[metaldams]

Those are two of my favorite movies ever, or at least pretty darn close.  Very cool to see them get in together.  As Oscar Jaffe, would say, I close the iron door on this post!

[falsealarms]

When I saw TWENTIETH CENTURY, I thought of your previous posts on here about it.

People can make nominations for next year: http://www.loc.gov/film/vote.html

[Hammond Eggar]

I assume you are already aware that the sets for Twentieth Century were recycled for the Stooges' first Columbia short subject, Woman Haters.  Plus, actor Fred 'Snowflake' Toones plays the porter in both films.