5 Random Classic Films in the Public Domain
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In copyright law, the public domain is the designation given to intellectual property that is not owned or controlled by anyone. Anything can enter the public domain, including books, images, movies. As a result, a large number of classic books and movies can be had online for free. I’ve shared the classic books with you before, now it’s time for the classic movies. For your convenience, I’ve embedded the full video right here, so you don’t even have to leave EiH to watch them. Aren’t I a sweetheart?
Malice in the Palace (1949): A classic Three Stooges short. There are actually a bunch of Three Stooges films in the public domain, but this is one of my favorites.
The Birth of a Nation (1915): This D.W. Griffith classic was the highest-grossing movie of its day. However, it encountered much controversy due to the portrayal of the KKK as heroes. A must see for any movie lover, doubly so for history buffs.
Nosferatu (1922): A ripoff of Bram Stoker’s Dracula, this vampire horror story is hilariously cheesy, but I can see how it would be scary in the 1920s.
Battleship Potemkin (1925): The quintessential Soviet propaganda film, Battleship Potemkin is considered one of the best Soviet films of all time.
Night of the Living Dead (1968): A genre-defining film, Night of the Living Dead was George A. Romero’s first movie. How did this film end up on this list? In 1968, films had to have a notice within the film in order to maintain the copyright. The original film, Night of the Flesh Eaters, had the copyright notice in the title frame. However, the production company chose to rename the film just before it was released, and when they replaced the title frames, they forgot to replace the copyright notice. Thus, Night of the Living Dead is in the public domain.
If you would like to find more classic films in the public domain, check out the Internet Archive at http://www.archive.org/.
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You picked some pretty good shows.
I can’t believe the Three Stooges still cracks me up! We never notice how the screen use to shake back then, it was just good TV.
I love Battleship Potemkin. I wish I had the time to sit here and watch it again. Maybe this weekend.
These films are proof that you don’t need big budgets and special effects to make an entertaining movie. I’m probably going to watch these again this weekend, too, since I’ve never seen all of Nosferatu or Battleship Potemkin.