Public Domain Day 2024
A list of films entering the public domain next year.
On January 1st, in the United States, every film, book, play, musical piece, artwork, and other miscellaneous media created in 1928 will enter the public domain, once their copyrights reach a 96-year deadline. It's always special to see so many works of art being made available for everyone to do with as they please.
You will be seeing plenty more articles about Public Domain Day in the coming weeks, and many of those pieces will discuss Disney losing ownership of Mickey Mouse, whose first silver screen adventures are about to enter the PD.
You oughta be more excited that you’ll get to use Henry Thomas’ original recording of Going Up the Country (originally titled Bull Doze Blues) in your YouTube videos, royalty-free.
This publication is dedicated to all manner of art from the past, but since I am a movie guy, I've put together a list of 50+ films released in the year 1928 that will enter the public domain in two weeks' time (if they haven't already). All of these films will soon be eligible subjects for articles on The Early Years. If you would like to join us, please leave a comment below.
Across to Singapore, William Nigh
L’Argent, Marcel L’Herbier
Beggars of Life, William A. Wellman
The Cameraman, Buster Keaton, Edward Sedgwick
Champagne, Alfred Hitchcock
The Circus, Charles Chaplin
The Crowd, King Vidor
The Docks of New York, Josef von Sternberg
L’étoile de mer, Man Ray
The Fall of the House of Usher, Jean Epstein
The Fall of the House of Usher, James Sibley Watson, Melville Webber
The Farmer’s Wife, Alfred Hitchcock
The Finishing Touch, Clyde Bruckman, Leo McCarey
From Soup to Nuts, Edgar Kennedy, Leo McCarey
The Gallopin' Gaucho, Ub Iwerks
Ghosts Before Breakfast, Hans Richter
In Old Arizona, Irving Cummings, Raoul Walsh
The Last Command, Josef von Sternberg
Laugh, Clown, Laugh, Herbert Brenon
Leave 'Em Laughing, Clyde Bruckman, Leo McCarey
The Life and Death of 9413, a Hollywood Extra, Robert Florey, Slavko Vorkapich
Lights of New York, Bryan Foy
The Little Match Girl, Jean Renoir, Jean Tédesco
Lonesome, Pál Fejös
The Man Who Laughs, Paul Leni
The Mysterious Lady, Fred Niblo
Noah’s Ark, Michael Curtiz, Darryl F. Zanuck
Our Dancing Daughters, Harry Beaumont
The Passion of Joan of Arc, Carl Theodor Dreyer
The Patsy, King Vidor
Plane Crazy, Walt Disney, Ub Iwerks
The Racket, Lewis Milestone
Sadie Thompson, Raoul Walsh
The Seashell and the Clergyman, Germaine Dulac
Sex in Chains, William Dieterle
Show People, King Vidor
The Singing Fool, Lloyd Bacon
The Smart Set, Jack Conway
Speedy, Ted Wilde
Spies, Fritz Lang
Steamboat Bill, Jr., Buster Keaton, Charles Reisner
Steamboat Willie, Walt Disney, Ub Iwerks
Storm Over Asia, Vsevolod Pudovkin
Street Angel, Frank Borzage
Two Tars, James Parrott
The Wedding March, Erich von Stroheim
We Faw Down, Leo McCarey
West of Zanzibar, Tod Browning
The Wind, Victor Sjöström
A Woman of Affairs, Clarence Brown
You’re Darn Tootin’, Edgar Kennedy
Zvenigora, Aleksandr Dovzhenko
If I missed anything good, comment below and I’ll add it to the list.
