Public Domain
Resurrection
1909 · Biograph Company · Dir. D.W. Griffith
Nekhludoff, a Russian nobleman serving on a jury, discovers that the young girl on trial, Katusha, is someone he once seduced and abandoned and that he himself bears responsibility for reducing her to crime. He sets out to redeem her and himself in the process.
Confidence
100
— Legal Reasoning —
Why this status applies
The film 'Resurrection', directed by D.W. Griffith for the Biograph Company and starring Arthur V. Johnson and Florence Lawrence, was released in May 1909. This has been confirmed via the AFI Catalog of Feature Films and historical Biograph records.
Under the United States copyright law, all works published or registered before January 1, 1928, have entered the public domain. This applies regardless of whether the copyright was originally registered or subsequently renewed, as the maximum possible term of protection for works of this era has expired. As a 1909 release, the film has been in the public domain for many decades.
— Cited Sources —
Supporting facts
- AFI Catalog of Feature Films: Resurrection (1909)
- D.W. Griffith and the Biograph Company, (Exeter: University of Exeter Press, 1985)
- Public Domain Review: Films from 1909
- U.P.S. Film Superlist (Hurst): Motion Pictures 1894-1912
Research summary based on cited sources, not legal advice. Always consult a qualified copyright attorney before commercial use.