Room 02

Long Shelf

Named films, named reasons — the works that are free, and the precise moment each one crossed.

9 pieces in this room · all five rooms

A shelf of film cans with handwritten paper labels, shot straight on, the ink marks legible on several cans in the foreground — Can labels carry a print’s shipping history — titles crossed out, reels renumbered, and the occasional wrong film inside the right can.Photo: Alexey K. / Pexels

What is on this shelf

9 pieces

Vintage poster for "Night of the Living Dead" with black-and-white film stills and a critic's quote

02.01

First on the shelf

Three Words Missing from a Notice

Tells the story of how Walter Reade Organization's title-card change on the 1968 release of Night of the Living Dead stripped the copyright notice and placed the film immediately in the public domain. Reconstructs the chain from the original title card through the changed print and the Copyright Office record.

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Black and white poster for the animated short "Steamboat Willie" featuring Mickey Mouse steering a boat

02.02

On the shelf

Steamboat Willie, 1 January 2024

Marks the specific date the 1928 Disney short entered the US public domain under the Sonny Bono Act's 95-year term.

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Vintage poster for The Broadway Melody showing a top-hatted man dancing between two chorus girls

02.03

On the shelf

The Twenty-Eighth Year, and Who Forgot It

Surveys the feature films released in 1929 that entered the public domain on 1 January 2025, naming titles, studios, and surviving print locations.

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Man in trench coat and fedora writes notes at a bar counter

02.04

On the shelf

Charade and the Notice That Was Not Enough

Examines the copyright status of the 1963 Stanley Donen film and the notice defect that placed it in the public domain long before the 95-year term elapsed.

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Cary Grant and Rosalind Russell in a black-and-white still from His Girl Friday

02.05

On the shelf

His Girl Friday: Free Here, Adapted From There

Covers the 1940 Howard Hawks film's public-domain status and draws the distinction between the free film and the underlying play — The Front Page by Ben Hecht and Charles MacArthur — whose copyright history is separate.

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Title card for the Max Fleischer Superman cartoon, presented by Paramount in Technicolor

02.06

On the shelf

The Fleischer Superman Shorts: Seventeen Films, Seventeen Renewals Missed

Traces how the 17 Fleischer and Famous Studios Superman theatrical shorts from 1941–1943 entered the public domain through renewal failure, while the Superman character and later adaptations remain protected.

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Man in trench coat and fedora writes in a notebook at a bar, couple seated behind

02.07

On the shelf

Detour and the Renewal That Never Came

Examines Edgar Ulmer's 1945 PRC film and the circumstances under which it entered the public domain, making it one of the most-distributed noir titles on the PD-DVD market.

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Vintage movie poster for Plan 9 from Outer Space with cast names and flying saucers

02.08

On the shelf

Plan 9 from Outer Space: Free by Accident, Famous by Repetition

Establishes the copyright status of Ed Wood's 1957 film and explains how its public-domain position drove its reputation — the film became ubiquitous on cable and PD compilations partly because anyone could broadcast it.

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Illustrated poster of a towering shadowy figure straddling a rooftop above prowling rats, titled Nosferatu

02.09

On the shelf

Nosferatu in Two Territories

Compares the German and American public-domain position of F.W.

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