Public Domain
Should Men Walk Home?
1927 · Hal Roach Studios · Dir. Leo McCarey
Mabel plays an out-and-out crook, a "Girl Bandit," no less. And she quickly hooks up with a male partner in crime, in this case a Gentleman Crook played by perpetually grinning Creighton Hale. Mabel seems a little livelier in this film than in some of her other late works. In the very first scene we find her hitch-hiking, and she's forced to make a mad dash for cover when Hale's car nearly hits her. Soon they team up and crash a swanky party in a mansion to steal a jewel from the host's safe.
Confidence
100
— Legal Reasoning —
Why this status applies
The film 'Should Men Walk Home?' was released on January 30, 1927, as a Hal Roach-Pathé Exchange comedy starring Mabel Normand and Oliver Hardy. This film was produced and published in the United States prior to January 1, 1928.
Under the current US copyright law (the 1998 Sonny Bono Copyright Term Extension Act), all works published before January 1, 1928, entered the public domain upon the expiration of their 95-year term. For this film, the copyright expired on January 1, 2023. Prior to this, the work was already well-documented in registries such as the Library of Congress Catalog of Copyright Entries and the Stanford Renewal Database; however, its registration status became moot once it hit the 95-year threshold. It is now definitively in the public domain regardless of whether a renewal was filed.
— Cited Sources —
Supporting facts
- https://www.copyright.gov/circs/circ15a.pdf
- https://exhibits.stanford.edu/copyrightrenewals
- https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0018392/
- 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.