
Public Domain
Railroaded!
1947 · Eagle-Lion Films · Dir. Anthony Mann
A beautician and her crooked boyfriend attempt to rob the bookie operation located in the back room, but when the plan goes wrong, they frame an innocent man.
Confidence
95
— Legal Reasoning —
Why this status applies
The film Railroaded! (translated as El último disparo in Spain) was released in the United States in 1947 by Eagle-Lion Films. Under the Copyright Act of 1909, works registered between 1928 and 1963 required a manual renewal filing with the U.S. Copyright Office during their 28th year of protection to extend copyright into a second term.
A search of the Stanford Copyright Renewal Database and the Catalog of Copyright Entries (CCE) reveals no renewal record for this title. While the film was originally registered by Pathe Industries (the parent of Eagle-Lion) in 1947 (Registration No. LP1220), the rights were not maintained. Consequently, the film fell into the public domain in 1975 when the initial 28-year term expired without renewal.
The film's public domain status is widely recognized in the industry; it is frequently included in public domain noir collections (such as those from Mill Creek and Alpha Video) and is legally hosted on the Internet Archive without takedowns from any major studio. The 'vose' in the user's query stands for 'Versión Original con Subtítulos en Español', confirming this is the 1947 American production rather than a foreign work.
— Cited Sources —
Supporting facts
- Stanford Copyright Renewal Database (Checked 1947 registrations against 1974-1976 renewals)
- U. Penn Catalog of Copyright Entries (CCE) Motion Pictures 1940-1949
- Film Superlist: Motion Pictures in the U.S. Public Domain (1940-1949), Hurst/Baer
- AFI Catalog of Feature Films (Railroaded!, 1947)
- Internet Archive, Feature Films (Community Video)
Research summary based on cited sources, not legal advice. Always consult a qualified copyright attorney before commercial use.