Public Domain
For Better, for Worse
1919 · Famous Players-Lasky / Artcraft Pictures Corp. · Dir. Cecil B. DeMille
Dr. Edward Meade and friend Richard Burton both love Sylvia Norcross. Both enlist in the military, but Meade stays back to care for deformed children. Sylvia thinks him a coward and marries Burton. After Burton is presumed dead, Meade and Sylvia are to wed, but Burton returns maimed and scarred.
Confidence
100
— Legal Reasoning —
Why this status applies
The film 'For Better, for Worse' (1919), directed by Cecil B. DeMille and starring Elliott Dexter and Gloria Swanson, was registered for copyright by Famous Players-Lasky Corp. on April 21, 1919 (LP13645). Under the Copyright Act of 1909, works registered or published in the United States prior to 1928 have exhausted their maximum possible copyright term of 75 or 95 years (depending on subsequent extensions).
As of January 1, 1995, all works published in the United States before 1920 entered the public domain. Consequently, this film became public domain in the United States upon the expiration of its copyright term. Even if a renewal had been filed, the copyright would have expired no later than the end of 1994 (75 years from the 1919 registration). It is currently legally free for use, distribution, and exhibition in the U.S. without permission from the original rightsholders.
— Cited Sources —
Supporting facts
- Catalog of Copyright Entries: Motion Pictures 1912-1939 (Library of Congress)
- Stanford Copyright Renewal Database
- AFI Catalog of Feature Films
- Hurst / D. Richard Baer, Film Superlist: Motion Pictures in the U.S. Public Domain 1894–1939
Research summary based on cited sources, not legal advice. Always consult a qualified copyright attorney before commercial use.