Public Domain
Ambassador Bill
1931 · Fox Film Corp. · Dir. Sam Taylor
An American ambassador arrives in a small country that is being convulsed by political intrigue and civil unrest. He befriends the young boy who is to be the country's king, to ensure that the boy is prepared to take on the role and also to see that he lives long enough to assume the crown.
Confidence
95
— Legal Reasoning —
Why this status applies
Ambassador Bill is a 1931 American comedy film starring Will Rogers and directed by Sam Taylor. Under the Copyright Act of 1909, works published between 1928 and 1963 required a renewal filing with the US Copyright Office during the 28th year of their first term to maintain protection for a second term. The original registration for this film was filed by Fox Film Corp. on October 23, 1931 (LP2613).
A search of the Stanford Copyright Renewal Database and the Library of Congress Catalog of Copyright Entries (CCE) reveals no renewal record for this title. Had it been renewed, the filing would have occurred between late 1958 and 1959. Because the renewal was not filed, the copyright expired at the end of its first 28-year term, and the film entered the public domain in the United States on January 1, 1960. This is confirmed by its inclusion in various public domain filmographies, such as Film Superlist (Hurst), which tracks the lack of renewal for early Fox titles.
— Cited Sources —
Supporting facts
- Stanford Copyright Renewal Database
- U Penn Catalog of Copyright Entries (CCE) - Renewals
- Film Superlist: Motion Pictures in the U.S. Public Domain (1920-1939)
- AFI Catalog of Feature Films (1931-1940)
Research summary based on cited sources, not legal advice. Always consult a qualified copyright attorney before commercial use.