The Empire Strikes Back and The Pink Panther saved for future generations.

(From Guardian Unlimited)

A diminutive but wise teacher of the Jedi arts, a bumbling French detective and a charismatic but controversial African American leader can now rest easy the movies they appeared in have been inducted into a prestigious list of "culturally significant" US films .

In its annual announcement, the US National Film Registry of the Library of Congress has named 25 movies which it considers ready to be added to its vault. This year's additions bring the list's total figure to 550 movies. The selection spans almost the entire history of Hollywood film-making, from 1891 to 1996.

Among the new films are two George Lucas movies from very …