Author Archives for Retro
- July 3, 2017
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- Comments Off on Famous Public Domain Movies That Were Remade
Certain stories simply demand to be told again and again and again. Though cinema has hardly moved into its second century, there are certain stories, characters, concepts, and ideas that we just can’t leave behind. It’s why so many movies are remade and rebooted.
Furthermore, a selection of these original properties have entered into the public domain. In this list, we’ll examine a selection of the most famous public domain movies and the remakes they inspired.
Phantom of the Opera (1925)
We’ll start with the Phantom of the Opera, a classic example of a story told and retold over the decades. From the original book by Gaston Leroux, audiences have been treated to dozens of films, television series, children’s books, and – perhaps most [...]
- July 3, 2017
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- Comments Off on Great Film Noir Movies in the Public Domain
In theme and style, film noir is a highly distinctive genre that enjoyed its heyday during the 1940s and 1950s. “Noir”, of course, translates from French into English as “dark”, and these philosophical films explore the darkness of the human condition in the guise of crime dramas. The genre conventions of what are typically B-picture parables encompass voice-over narration, flashbacks, amnesia and nitty-gritty cinematography, often of bleak urban landscapes commonly shot at night in black and white. Unconventional camerawork frequently includes shots with skewered angles and chiaroscuro, accentuating a psychologically fraught state of mind. Noir’s expressionistic form conveys a shadowy world that’s out of kilter, inhabited by hardboiled dicks and dames, guys on the lam and femme fatales, obsessed with sex, greed, power and other base, all-too-human desires. These action-packed motion pictures of persecution, pursuit, paranoia and passion are modern morali [...]
- March 15, 2017
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- Comments Off on Search by Actor Public Domain Movie Archive
- February 24, 2017
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AFFAIRS OF CAPPY RICKS ****************
(1937, BW, 58 MIN) Walter Brennan, Mary Brian. A crotchety old man banishes his family to a desert island for a
lesson in minding one’s own business.
BASHFUL BACHELOR, THE ****************
(1942, BW, 76 MIN) Zazu Pitts, Grady Sutton, Oscar O’Shea, Louise Currie, directed by Malcom St. Clair Lum and
Abner of early radio fame are confirmed old bachelor store clerks who are quite content with their lot until the widow
Abernathy traps Lum into a marriage proposal. Or does she?
BEDSIDE MANNER ****************
(1945, BW, 76 MIN) John Carroll, Ruth Hussey, Charles Ruggles, Ann Rutherford, Claudia Drake, directed by
Andrew L. Stone. Ruggles plays the part of an overworked doctor who wants his reluctant niece (Hussey) to practice
medicine with him. She’d rather not but gets conned into it through the manipulations of her uncle and a willing test
pilot.
BEST OF W.C. FIELDS ****************
BW, 100 MIN)
- February 24, 2017
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How Films Enter the Public Domain
In the United States a film goes into the Public Domain if:
1. The film was never registered for copyright. Years ago, producers were required by the Library of Congress (LOC) to send in a 35 mm print for registration. This was too expensive for some producers. Many of the producers just forgot to file for copyright, went out of business, or deliberately chose not to file for copyright as the movie was done as a tax write-off. After a “reasonable time” the film fell into the Public Domain.
2. Until the law was changed in 1992, the copyright holder was required to renew the copyright in the 28th year. On January 1st of the 29th year, if a renewal wasn’t filed with the LOC, the film fell into the Public Domain. After the law changed in 1992, any film that had fallen into the Public Domain (which
