Public Domain
Shore Leave
1925 · First National Pictures · Dir. John S. Robertson
"Bilge" Smith (Richard Barthelmess), a tough sailor, meets Connie Martin (Dorothy Mackaill), a seamstress in a small harbor who has never had a boyfriend. Connie is instantly smitten. She invites Smith to dinner, where he dances with her and gives her a kiss. Connie has a hard time letting him go, and makes him promise that he will come back.
Confidence
100
— Legal Reasoning —
Why this status applies
Shore Leave (1925), directed by John S. Robertson and starring Richard Barthelmess and Dorothy Mackaill, was a silent film produced and distributed in the United States by First National Pictures.
Under the current copyright laws of the United States, all works published before January 1, 1929, have entered the public domain regardless of whether their copyright was renewed or whether a notice was originally attached. These works are now in the public domain due to the expiration of their maximum potential copyright term (95 years from publication). Shore Leave, having been released in 1925, reached the end of its 95-year term at the end of 2020.
As of January 1, 2021, the film is definitively in the public domain in the United States. Even if it had been renewed (it was registered for copyright by Inspiration Pictures under LP21815 on September 10, 1925, and renewed in 1953 by its successor-in-interest), that protection would have expired on December 31, 2020.
— Cited Sources —
Supporting facts
- U.S. Copyright Office Catalog of Copyright Entries (CCE), Motion Pictures 1912-1939
- 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.