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PUBLIC DOMAIN FYI
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The Devil's Needle poster
Public Domain

The Devil's Needle

1916 · Fine Arts Film Company · Dir. Chester Withey

Renee is a French artist's model who uses morphine as an escape from the dull reality of her life. She recommends it to a neurotic artist because "it kindles the fires of genius." The artist quickly becomes addicted to the drug and the quality of his work begins to disintegrate. He takes on a new model, marries her, and starts her on the same path of moral degradation, until a guilt-ridden Renee decides to intervene in order to save them both. According to silent film historian Kevin Brownlow, THE DEVIL'S NEEDLE was banned by the state of Ohio, but the censor board reversed its decision after recognizing the positive message beneath the film's scandalous surface. This special edition was mastered from a 35mm preservation print of the 1923 re-release version. The only known surviving copy, the element suffers significant nitrate decomposition during some scenes.

Confidence
100
— Legal Reasoning —

Why this status applies

The Devil's Needle, directed by Chester Withey and starring Norma Talmadge, was released on August 13, 1916. Under US copyright law, all works published or registered before January 1, 1928, have entered the public domain regardless of whether they were renewed or not. This film was released approximately twelve years before the current 1928 cutoff. Even if the user's year was slightly off, the film was consistently produced and distributed by Fine Arts/Triangle Distributing Corporation in 1916. As a US production from the silent era, its maximum copyright term of 95 years has long since expired, and the work has been in the public domain since 1991 (based on the laws preceding the Sonny Bono Copyright Term Extension Act, which only extended works still under copyright in 1998; works from 1916 had already expired by then).
— Cited Sources —

Supporting facts

  • Library of Congress: Catalog of Copyright Entries (Motion Pictures 1912-1939)
  • AFI Catalog of Feature Films: The Devil's Needle (1916)
  • IMDb: The Devil's Needle (1916)
  • 17 U.S.C. § 304 (Duration of Copyright)

Research summary based on cited sources, not legal advice. Always consult a qualified copyright attorney before commercial use.