Seems like a reasonable statement to me. The registry is seemingly some sort of
political pork-barrel based on compromise and groupthink rather than individual
expertise. Someone might write an interesting paper on its history and
activities to determine the relation between political and aesthetic factors in
its operation. It was a bad idea to get the government to establish canonical
works in the first place, but the film industry has lobbyists in Washington who
need to do something. Actually I believe it is a leftover from the colorization
controversy started by Ted Turner -- anyone remember that? -- which was more or
less a publicity stunt for his acquisition of the MGM film library (Turner's
TCM shows original black and white films). Where are colorized films being
shown these days?
 
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Screen-L is sponsored by the Telecommunication & Film Dept., the
University of Alabama.