Public Domain
The Headless Horseman
1922 · Sleepy Hollow Productions · Dir. Edward D. Venturini
The village of Sleepy Hollow is getting ready to greet the new schoolteacher, Ichabod Crane, who is coming from New York. Crane has already heard of the village's legendary ghost, a headless horseman who is said to be searching for the head that he lost in battle. The schoolteacher has barely arrived when he begins to pursue the beautiful young heiress Katrina Van Tassel, angering Abraham Van Brunt, who is courting her. Crane's harsh, small-minded approach to teaching also turns some of the villagers against him. Soon there many who would like to see him leave the village altogether.
Confidence
100
— Legal Reasoning —
Why this status applies
The film 'The Headless Horseman', starring Will Rogers, was originally released in late 1922 and registered for copyright by Sleepy Hollow Productions on November 8, 1922 (Registration Number Lp18529).
Under the copyright laws of the United States, all works published or registered before January 1, 1928, have entered the public domain due to the expiration of the maximum 95-year term. Regardless of whether the copyright was renewed in its 28th year (circa 1950), the protection period for a 1922 work would have expired no later than the end of 2017. As this film is well past the 1928 cutoff, it is definitively in the public domain.
— Cited Sources —
Supporting facts
- Library of Congress Catalog of Copyright Entries: Motion Pictures 1912–1939
- Stanford Copyright Renewal Database
- AFI Catalog of Feature Films
- Film Superlist: Motion Pictures in the U.S. Public Domain (1894-1939)
Research summary based on cited sources, not legal advice. Always consult a qualified copyright attorney before commercial use.