Public Domain
Mud and Sand
1922 · Gilbert M. 'Broncho Billy' Anderson / Metro Pictures · Dir. Gilbert Pratt
Rhubarb Vaselino lives in a small village, when he and his friend, Sapo, enter a bullfighting contest, Sapo dies, but Rhubarb kills three bulls and becomes a local hero earning money. Two years later, he is living in Madrid as a national hero , when he becomes involved with Filet de Sol, and his lover finds out, he must fight the most deadliest in Spain, in the last bull fight of the season.
Confidence
100
— Legal Reasoning —
Why this status applies
The film 'Mud and Sand,' starring Stan Laurel as a parody of Rudolph Valentino's 'Blood and Sand,' was released in the United States in November 1922. Under current US copyright law (the Copyright Term Extension Act of 1998), all works published before January 1, 1929, have entered the public domain regardless of whether their copyright was ever renewed.
Because this film was published in 1922, its statutory copyright term of 95 years has expired. Furthermore, even if the pre-1929 rule did not apply, the film's presence in the 1950 volume of the Catalog of Copyright Entries (CCE) shows no evidence of a timely renewal by the original claimants or their heirs, which was a requirement for works of this era to maintain protection past their initial 28-year term. The film is widely available on public domain archives and through various PD distributors.
— Cited Sources —
Supporting facts
- https://archive.org/details/MudAndSand
- https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0013417/
- Library of Congress Catalog of Copyright Entries, Cumulative Series: Motion Pictures 1912-1939
- U.S. Copyright Office - Circular 15a: Duration of Copyright
Research summary based on cited sources, not legal advice. Always consult a qualified copyright attorney before commercial use.