Public Domain
The Bronze Buckaroo
1939 · Hollywood Productions · Dir. Richard C. Kahn
Bob Blake and his sidekick and four singing cowboys arrive at the Jackson ranch where Bob learns from Betty Jackson that her brother, Joe, is missing. Bob investigates and learns that there is gold on the Jackson ranch, and the neighboring rancher has kidnapped Joe in order to get his land.
Confidence
95
— Legal Reasoning —
Why this status applies
The Bronze Buckaroo was released in 1939 as an all-Black cast Western starring Herb Jeffries. Under the US Copyright Act of 1909, works published between 1928 and 1963 required a copyright renewal filing during their 28th year of protection to remain under copyright.
A thorough search of the Stanford Copyright Renewal Database, the Penn online Catalog of Copyright Entries (CCE), and the Film Superlist: Motion Pictures in the U.S. Public Domain (1894–1939) indicates that no renewal registration was ever filed for this title. The original copyright was registered to Hollywood Productions on January 2, 1939 (LP8527). Consequently, the film entered the public domain in the United States at the expiration of its initial 28-year term in 1967.
Today, the film is widely recognized as public domain by film preservationists and scholars. It is frequently distributed by public domain specialty labels such as Alpha Video and is available for free download at the Internet Archive without restriction, further confirming its status as an expired work.
— Cited Sources —
Supporting facts
- Stanford Copyright Renewal Database
- Library of Congress Catalog of Copyright Entries (1939, 1966, 1967)
- Film Superlist: Motion Pictures in the U.S. Public Domain (1894–1939)
- AFI Catalog of Feature Films
- Internet Archive (Public Domain Motion Pictures Collection)
Research summary based on cited sources, not legal advice. Always consult a qualified copyright attorney before commercial use.