Shotgun Law
PUBLIC DOMAIN FYI
Fetch!
The Tiger's Coat poster
Public Domain

The Tiger's Coat

1920 · Dial Film Company / W.W. Hodkinson Corp. · Dir. Roy Clements

The film begins in the southern California home of Alexander MacAllister (Lawson Butt) where he is confronting Andrew Hyde (Miles McCarthy) who is accused of crooked dealings. Alexander threatens to expose Hyde, and Hyde defies him to do his worst. A banker friend tells MacAllister, "Why don't you get married?" They are interrupted by an unexpected caller on that rainy evening, a young lady, Jean Ogilvie, the daughter of a Scotsman family friend from Mexico. He puts her up and later remarks that she has dark skin for a Scottish lass. "Mexican sun," she explains. "I expected to find an old man," Jean remarks to herself.

Confidence
100
— Legal Reasoning —

Why this status applies

The Tiger's Coat, directed by Lumsden Hare and starring Lawson Butt and Tina Modotti, was originally released in the United States in November 1920. Under current U.S. copyright law, all works published or registered before January 1, 1929, have entered the public domain regardless of whether their copyright was ever renewed. Because this film was published in 1920, its statutory maximum term of protection has expired. The film is widely recognized as a public domain work and is currently held in several archives, including the George Eastman Museum. It is frequently distributed by public domain specialty labels and hosted on platforms like the Internet Archive without restriction.
— Cited Sources —

Supporting facts

  • AFI Catalog of Feature Films: The Tiger's Coat (1920)
  • Hurst, Richard Maurice. Film Superlist: Motion Pictures in the U.S. Public Domain (1894-1939)
  • U.S. Copyright Office, Circular 15a: Duration of Copyright

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