
Public Domain
City of Missing Girls
1941 · Select Attractions · Dir. Elmer Clifton
A female reporter goes undercover to investigate the series of mysterious disappearances of young women, who were all linked to a local drama school.
Confidence
95
— Legal Reasoning —
Why this status applies
City of Missing Girls was released in the United States on May 14, 1941, and was originally registered for copyright by Select Attractions, Inc. under registration number LP10457. Under the laws governing works published between 1928 and 1963, the copyright was required to be renewed with the US Copyright Office during the 28th year following publication to remain protected.
A search of the Stanford Copyright Renewal Database, the University of Pennsylvania's Catalog of Copyright Entries (CCE) online, and the Film Superlist: Motion Pictures in the U.S. Public Domain (1940-1949) indicates that no renewal registration was ever filed for this title. The copyright for the film expired at the end of its first 28-year term in 1969, at which time it entered the public domain in the United States. The film is currently widely available through public domain distributors such as Alpha Video and is hosted on the Internet Archive without restriction.
— Cited Sources —
Supporting facts
- Stanford Copyright Renewal Database
- Library of Congress Catalog of Copyright Entries (CCE), Motion Pictures 1912-1939; 1940-1949
- Film Superlist: Motion Pictures in the U.S. Public Domain (1940-1949) by D. Richard Baer
- AFI Catalog of Feature Films (1941-1950)
Research summary based on cited sources, not legal advice. Always consult a qualified copyright attorney before commercial use.