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PUBLIC DOMAIN FYI
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Cosmo Jones in Crime Smasher poster
Public Domain

Cosmo Jones in Crime Smasher

1943 · Monogram Pictures · Dir. James Tinling

Cosmo Jones, a correspondence-school detective from a small town, comes to the big city to offer his services to the police. He happens by where a gangster is killed by an opposing gang. Socialite Phyllis Blake is running around with gang member Tom and the opposing gang plan on kidnapping her. Cosmo is with Sergeant Flanagan when the attempt is made in front of a night club, where a bystander is seriously wounded in the gun-battle. Police Chief Murphy blames Flanagan for the shooting and demotes him. Cosmo, with the aid of a porter, Eustace and Flanagan's fiancée, Susan, tries to find the killer. Phyllis is finally kidnapped and Cosmo decides the act was committed by one of the two gangs. He has her father place an ad in the newspaper that contact has been made with the kidnappers. Each gang thinks the other is pulling a double cross, and one gang wipes out the other.

Confidence
95
— Legal Reasoning —

Why this status applies

The film was released in 1943 by Monogram Pictures, a 'Poverty Row' studio known for prolific output and frequent failures to maintain copyright renewals. Under the 1909 Copyright Act, works published between 1928 and 1963 required a renewal filing with the U.S. Copyright Office during the 28th year of their initial term to remain protected. A search of the Stanford Copyright Renewal Database and the Library of Congress Catalog of Copyright Entries (CCE) reveals that no renewal was filed for this title by Monogram or any successor in interest. The film appears in 'Film Superlist: Motion Pictures in the U.S. Public Domain' by D. Richard Baer, confirming the absence of renewal. Because the copyright was not extended, the work entered the public domain in the United States in 1971. The film is widely available on public domain aggregators such as Alpha Video and Internet Archive, and it is frequently included in budget '50-movie pack' DVD sets (e.g., Mill Creek Entertainment) that specialize in non-copyrighted content.
— Cited Sources —

Supporting facts

  • Stanford Copyright Renewal Database
  • Library of Congress Catalog of Copyright Entries (CCE)
  • Film Superlist: Motion Pictures in the U.S. Public Domain (Baer, 1894-1949)
  • AFI Catalog of Feature Films

Research summary based on cited sources, not legal advice. Always consult a qualified copyright attorney before commercial use.