Author Archive: Retro

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)

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

Trailers for movies released before 1964 are in the Public Domain because they were never separately copyrighted. The law at the time granted the owner 28 years to file a copyright registration.
1963 + 28 = 1991

Clearly, time has run out to register this material. Some might argue that since the trailers frequently contain the same material that’s in the movie, and the movie is presumably copyrighted, that this would cover the trailer as well. However, the trailer is published (run in a theater) before the movie itself is published. Thus, the trailer requires a separate copyright, and the scenes contained in the trailer are in Public Domain.

Note that all trailers, regardless of year, until the late 80’s, are O.K. to use if they contain no copyright notice. This does occur, although infrequently. For example, the trailer for “The Shootist” (John Wayne, 1976) contains no notice. It is therefore O.K. to use.