National Film Registry finding "Little Nemo"

The 1911 live action-animation mixture "Little Nemo" was one of four animated movies among the 25 pictures added Wednesday to the 2009 National Film Registry of the Library of Congress.

Adapted from Winsor McCay's famed 1905 comic strip Little Nemo in Slumberland, Little Nemo was the earliest of the films just added to the registry.

In Little Nemo, the title character is seen on screen with one of McCay's characters on each side of him. By raising his arms and lowering his body, he causes the characters to elongate and squash. Nemo then draws a picture of a beautiful princess. They then sit on a chair, which turns out to be located in the jaws of a huge dragon, who then walks away with them.

"Its fluidity, graphics and storytelling was light years beyond other films made during that time," the Library of Congress said of the five-minute silent film. "A seminal figure in both animation and comic art, McCay profoundly influenced many generations of future animators, including Walt Disney."

The latest film named to the National Film Registry this time, 1995's Scratch and Crow, is also animated. Helen Hill's student film was made at the California Institute of the Arts.

"Consistent with the short films she made from age 11 until her death at 36, this animated short work is filled with vivid color and a light sense of humor," the Library of Congress said. "It is also a poetic and spiritual homage to animals and the human soul."

A third animated film, Quasi at the Quackadero (1975), has earned the term "unique." Once described as a "mixture of 1930s Van Beuren cartoons and 1960s R. Crumb comics with a dash of Sam Flax," and a descendent of the "Depression-era funny animal cartoon," Sally Cruikshank’s wildly imaginative tale of odd creatures visiting a psychedelic amusement park careens creatively from strange to truly wacky scenes. It became a favorite of the Midnight Movie circuit in the 1970s.

Cruikshank later created animation sequences for Sesame Street and the 1986 film Ruthless People, as well as the "Cartoon Land" sequence in the 1983 film Twilight Zone: The Movie.

The fourth, The Red Book (1994), is renowned experimental filmmaker and theater/installation artist Janie Geiser's work. It's known for its ambiguity, explorations of memory and emotional states and exceptional design.

Geiser describes The Red Book as "an elliptical, pictographic animated film that uses flat, painted figures and collage elements in both two- and three-dimensional settings to explore the realms of memory, language and identity from the point of view of a woman amnesiac."

Librarian of Congress James H. Billington chose 25 motion pictures that will be preserved as cultural, artistic and/or historical treasures for generations to come. The films named to the 2009 National Film Registry range from the sci-fi classic The Incredible Shrinking Man and Bette Davis' Oscar-winning performance in Jezebel to the Muppets' movie debut and Michael Jackson's iconic video Thriller.

Other selections to this year's registry include Al Pacino's Dog Day Afternoon, the Second World War drama Mrs. Miniver, the swashbuckling adventure The Mark of Zorro and the popular spaghetti Western Once Upon a Time in the West. Among the lesser-known films named to the registry are The Jungle, a hybrid documentary/dramatization made by a group of young African-American gang members; A Study in Reds, directed by amateur filmmaker Miriam Bennett; and Martin Brest's student film Hot Dogs for Gauguin.

The latest selections brought the number of films in the registry to 525.

Under the terms of the National Film Preservation Act, each year the Librarian of Congress names 25 films to the registry that are "culturally, historically or aesthetically" significant to be preserved for all time. These films are not selected as the "best" American films of all time, but rather as works of enduring importance to American culture.

"Established by Congress in 1989, the National Film Registry spotlights the importance of protecting America's matchless ilm heritage and cinematic creativity," said Billington. "By preserving the nation's films, we safeguard a significant element of our cultural patrimony and history."