Public Domain
Something to Think About
1920 · Famous Players-Lasky / Artcraft Pictures · Dir. Cecil B. DeMille
Wealthy cripple Markley finances the education of blacksmith's daughter Ruth. When she returns to their small town he asks to marry her, but she runs off with city worker Jim Dirk who is then killed in a subway accident. Markley offers to marry her in name only to protect her new son.
Confidence
100
— Legal Reasoning —
Why this status applies
Something to Think About, directed by Cecil B. DeMille and produced by Famous Players-Lasky Corp., was released in the United States on October 20, 1920. Under US copyright law, all works published or registered before January 1, 1928, have entered the public domain regardless of their renewal status.
The film was originally registered for copyright on October 14, 1920, under the registration number LP15671. According to the 1923 Copyright Act and subsequent extensions (culminating in the 1998 Sonny Bono Copyright Term Extension Act), works from this era were granted a maximum of 95 years of protection. Since the film was published in 1920, its copyright expired no later than the end of 1995. It is now definitively in the public domain in the United States.
— Cited Sources —
Supporting facts
- Library of Congress Catalog of Copyright Entries: Motion Pictures 1912–1939
- AFI Catalog of Feature Films (The American Film Institute)
- Internet Archive (archive.org) Public Domain Archive
- David Pierce, US Copyright Office Database Search (Pre-1978 Record of 1920 Registrations)
Research summary based on cited sources, not legal advice. Always consult a qualified copyright attorney before commercial use.