Public Domain
Steamboat Bill, Jr.
1928 · United Artists / Joseph M. Schenck Productions · Dir. Charles Reisner
The just-out-of-college, effete son of a no-nonsense steamboat captain comes to visit his father whom he's not seen since he was a child.
Confidence
100
— Legal Reasoning —
Why this status applies
Under the current U.S. copyright law (the Sonny Bono Copyright Term Extension Act), all works published or registered in the United States before January 1, 1929, have entered the public domain. Steamboat Bill, Jr. was released on May 12, 1928, and its original 95-year term of copyright protection expired on January 1, 2024. Consequently, the visual elements of the film are free for use by the public. While the 'HD with Score' mentioned in the query likely features a modern soundtrack or digital restoration which may have its own separate copyright (derivative work protection for the new audio or specific restoration edits), the underlying motion picture itself is definitively in the public domain.
Note: generated without live web grounding (the grounded research engine was unavailable). Verify the cited sources independently before relying on this determination.
— Cited Sources —
Supporting facts
- U.S. Copyright Office, Circular 15a
- AFI Catalog of Feature Films
- Stanford Copyright Renewal Database
- Hurst, 'Film Superlist: Motion Pictures in the U.S. Public Domain'
Research summary based on cited sources, not legal advice. Always consult a qualified copyright attorney before commercial use.