Public Domain
The Tong Man
1919 · Haworth Pictures Corporation · Dir. William Worthington
An opium smuggler is marked for murder in this story of the Chinese Mafia.
Confidence
100
— Legal Reasoning —
Why this status applies
The Tong Man is a US silent film starring Sessue Hayakawa, released by Haworth Pictures Corporation and distributed by Exhibitors Mutual Distributing Company. The film premiered in December 1919 and entered general release in 1920.
Under current US copyright law, all works published before January 1, 1929, have entered the public domain regardless of whether they were originally registered or renewed. The 95-year maximum term of copyright for works published in 1919 expired on December 31, 2014. As this film was published and copyrighted in 1919 (original registration LP14539), it is definitively in the public domain in the United States.
— Cited Sources —
Supporting facts
- Library of Congress CCE (Motion Pictures 1912-1939) - LP14539
- AFI Catalog of Feature Films (The Tong Man, 1919)
- Hurst, 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.