'Thriller' lands in National Film Registry

Michael Jackson has made it into the National Film Registry.

The late performer's 1983 video "Thriller" is among the 25 motion pictures selected this year for preservation by James H. Billington, Librarian of Congress.

The list of films, announced yesterday, ranged from the 1911 silent film "Little Nemo," which mixed animation with live action, to 1995's "Scratch and Crow," an animated short film made by Helen Hill.

The list also included the 1957 sci-fi classic "The Incredible Shrinking Man," and the Muppets' movie debut in 1979's "The Muppet Movie."

This year's selections bring 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; rather, they are chosen as works of enduring importance to American culture.

The 2009 lineup embraces a wide array of genres: Rouben Mamoulian's 1940 adventure tale "The Mark of Zorro," starring Tyrone Power; William Wellman's World War II movie "The Story of G.I. Joe," starring Burgess Meredith; Michael Gordon's frothy 1959 romantic comedy "Pillow Talk," starring Rock Hudson and Doris Day; and 1975's "Dog Day Afternoon," the gritty streets-of-New-York drama starring Al Pacino and directed by Sidney Lumet.

The choices include star vehicles like 1938's "Jezebel," starring Bette Davis, and 1942's "Mrs. Miniver," starring Greer Garson; Sergio Leone's 1968 spaghetti Western "Once Upon a Time in the West"; the 1967 docudrama "The Jungle," made by a group of young African-American gang members; 1972's "Hot Dogs for Gauguin," a New York University student film by Martin Brest; and 1932's "A Study in Reds," directed by amateur filmmaker Miriam Bennett.