The Widow and the Only Man

This short film, directed by Wallace McCutcheon and photographed by Billy Bitzer for the American Mutoscope and Biograph Company, was released in 1904. Under US copyright law, all works published or registered before January 1, 1928, have entered the public domain regardless of renewal status. The film was recorded in the Library of Congress as part of the Paper Print Collection (a common practice for early films seeking copyright protection as 'photographs'). Even if the copyright had been perfectly maintained, it would have expired no later than 75 years after publication under the laws preceding the 1998 extension, and it reached the absolute federal cutoff for nineteenth and early twentieth-century works long ago.