Public Domain
A Sailor-Made Man
1921 · Hal Roach Studios · Dir. Fred C. Newmeyer
An idle, wealthy playboy foolishly joins the Navy when the father of the girl he wants to marry tells him to get a job to prove himself worthy.
Confidence
100
— Legal Reasoning —
Why this status applies
A Sailor-Made Man, starring Harold Lloyd, was released on December 25, 1921. Under US copyright law, all works published or registered before January 1, 1928, have entered the public domain regardless of whether they were renewed.
Even though the film was originally registered (LP17366) and subsequently renewed in 1949 by Samuel Goldwyn (R49286), the maximum statutory term of 95 years afforded to works of this era has expired. Its copyright term ended on December 31, 1996, making it part of the public domain in the United States. It is widely available in public domain collections and from archival distributors such as the Criterion Collection and Kino Lorber in restored formats that may contain new copyrightable elements (like scores), but the underlying 1921 motion picture is unequivocally public domain.
— Cited Sources —
Supporting facts
- U.S. Copyright Office, Catalog of Copyright Entries: Motion Pictures 1912–1939
- Stanford Copyright Renewal Database
- Hurst, Film Superlist: Motion Pictures in the U.S. Public Domain 1894-1939
- The official Harold Lloyd website (haroldlloyd.com)
Research summary based on cited sources, not legal advice. Always consult a qualified copyright attorney before commercial use.