Fetch!
Queen of the Jungle poster
Public Domain

Queen of the Jungle

1935 · Screen Attractions · Dir. Robert F. Hill

A 12-chapter serial built around stock footage from a 1922 silent serial, "The Jungle Goddess",young David Worth and Joan Lawrence are children with a group of explorers that are seeking African radium deposits. They are playing in the basket of the party's air balloon when the bag takes off with Joan aboard, last seen sailing over the back-lot jungle. This puts a chill on the expedition and all hands return to whence they came. The end of chapter 1, "Lost in the Clouds", finds Marilyn's balloon being shot down by the flaming arrows of a native tribe. Chapter 2,"Radium Rays", reveals that Joan survived her descent and the tribe named "the child from the sky" as their queen and priestess.A flash forward of about 18 years finds that the now-adult David has returned to Africa to search for his long-lost childhood friend.He hits the trail and is quickly captured by the tribesmen and is brought to their sadistic ruler,who turns out to be a now-grown Joan. Unaware of his or her own true ...

Confidence
95
— Legal Reasoning —

Why this status applies

Queen of the Jungle was a 12-chapter movie serial released in 1935 by Screen Attractions. Under the Copyright Act of 1909, works registered between 1928 and 1963 required a manual renewal filing with the US Copyright Office during the 28th year of their first copyright term to remain protected for a second term. A search of the Stanford Copyright Renewal Database and the Catalog of Copyright Entries (CCE) shows no renewal records for this title or its individual chapters. According to 'Film Superlist: Motion Pictures in the U.S. Public Domain' by Hurst and Baer, the serial entered the public domain after the original 28-year term expired in 1963. Because the film was produced in the US and the copyright was not renewed in the 28th year, it did not benefit from the extensions provided by later copyright acts and is confirmed to be in the public domain. It is widely available today on public domain film archives and via various budget home video distributors specializing in PD material.
— Cited Sources —

Supporting facts

  • Stanford Copyright Renewal Database
  • Hurst & Baer, Film Superlist: Motion Pictures in the U.S. Public Domain (1894-1939)
  • IMDb: Queen of the Jungle (1935)
  • AFI Catalog of Feature Films: Queen of the Jungle

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