Public Domain
Farmer Al Falfa Sees New York
1916 · Bray Studios · Dir. Paul Terry
Farmer Al Falfa goes to New York, money bag in hand. He is immediately spotted by a crook who dispatches a fetching lady to shake him down. At a restaurant, she gets him drunk and lays him out with knockout drops. But what's in the bag is not what she is expecting, and she flees. The now-drunken farmer has stepped dizzily outside to acquaint himself with a lamppost when another sharper steps up and hauls him into a crooked card game. While prospects do not look good for Farmer Al Falfa, he has more tricks up his sleeve than the city slickers realize.
Confidence
100
— Legal Reasoning —
Why this status applies
Farmer Al Falfa Sees New York is an American silent animated short film directed by Paul Terry and produced by Bray Studios. The film was originally released on June 18, 1916, as part of the 'Paramount-Bray Pictograph' series. Under current United States copyright law, all works published or registered before January 1, 1929, have entered the public domain due to the expiration of their copyright terms.
Because this film was published in 1916, it reached the end of its 75-year term (under the 1976 Act) or its 95-year maximum term (under the 1998 Copyright Term Extension Act) long ago. Specifically, it entered the public domain in the U.S. no later than 1992 (75 years after publication). There is no requirement to search for renewal records for works of this vintage, as the maximum possible protection period for any work from 1916 has elapsed.
— Cited Sources —
Supporting facts
- AFI Catalog of Feature Films (verified shorts lineage)
- Library of Congress: Catalog of Copyright Entries: Motion Pictures 1912–1939
- Internet Movie Database (IMDb)
- Silent Era (silentera.com)
Research summary based on cited sources, not legal advice. Always consult a qualified copyright attorney before commercial use.