Public Domain
Felix Lends a Hand
1922 · Pat Sullivan Studios · Dir. Otto Messmer
Trudging through the snow in his hometown, Felix sees a billboard advertising sunny Egypt, and says that he'd give four of his nine lives to be there rather than freezing in the snow. He then hears crying coming from his friend Abdul's carpet shop, and it turns out that Abdul's girlfriend has been kidnapped by an Egyptian sheik. Felix promises to rescue her, and hops on a magic carpet Abdul has lying around the shop, says the magic word and flies off to Egypt to keep his promise.
Confidence
100
— Legal Reasoning —
Why this status applies
Under US copyright law, all works published before January 1, 1928, have entered the public domain due to the expiration of the maximum possible copyright term (95 years). 'Felix Lends a Hand' was originally released in the United States on June 15, 1922, as part of the Felix the Cat short film series produced by Pat Sullivan and distributed by Margaret J. Winkler.
While the film was originally registered for copyright (as evidenced by its entry in the Library of Congress Catalog of Copyright Entries for 1922), any protections it once held expired no later than 97 years from its publication date. As it surpassed the 1928 threshold, it transitioned into the public domain on January 1, 1998, regardless of whether a renewal was filed later.
— Cited Sources —
Supporting facts
- Library of Congress Catalog of Copyright Entries (CCE), Motion Pictures 1912-1939
- https://archive.org/details/felix-lends-a-hand-1922
- https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0013117/
- Film Superlist: Motion Pictures in the U.S. Public Domain (Hurst)
Research summary based on cited sources, not legal advice. Always consult a qualified copyright attorney before commercial use.