The Corpse Vanishes

The original black-and-white film 'The Corpse Vanishes' was released on May 8, 1942, by Banner Productions and distributed by Monogram Pictures. Under the Copyright Act of 1909, works registered between 1928 and 1963 required a renewal filing with the US Copyright Office during the 28th year of their first term to maintain protection for a second term. A search of the Stanford Copyright Renewal Database and the Catalog of Copyright Entries (CCE) confirms that no renewal was ever filed for this title. Consequently, the film entered the public domain in the United States in 1970. Regarding the 'colorized' version mentioned, colorization is considered a derivative work. While a specific colorized edit might carry its own copyright on the new color elements if registered, the underlying film (the cinematography, performances, and script) remains in the public domain. Because the original source material is public domain, the film is widely available on PD-specialist labels and archive.org without legal restriction.