Public Domain
White Oak
1921 · William S. Hart Productions · Dir. Lambert Hillyer
Gambler Oak Miller seeks revenge on the man who misused his sister Rose, who is ill and under the care of the woman Oak loves, Barbara. The man Oak seeks, Granger, is planning to rob a wagon train with the collusion of the Indians under Chief Long Knife. When Barbara is suspected of killing her lascivious stepfather, Oak takes the blame and is arrested just before he is needed to save the threatened wagon train.
Confidence
100
— Legal Reasoning —
Why this status applies
The film 'White Oak', starring and produced by William S. Hart, was originally released in late 1921 (specifically November 6, 1921), which is within the user's ±2 year window for the provided 1924 estimate.
Under current U.S. copyright law, all works published before January 1, 1928, have entered the public domain regardless of whether their copyright was ever renewed. Because this film was published and copyrighted in 1921 (Registration No. LP17159), its statutory copyright protection expired 75 years after publication (under the 1976 Act) or was otherwise affected by the passage of time into the 95-year limit, ultimately expiring no later than the end of 1996.
As a pre-1928 American film, it is definitively in the public domain in the United States. There is no need to search for renewal records, as the expiration is automatic based on the publication date.
Note: generated without live web grounding (the grounded research engine was unavailable). Verify the cited sources independently before relying on this determination.
— Cited Sources —
Supporting facts
- Library of Congress Catalog of Copyright Entries: Motion Pictures 1912-1939
- AFI Catalog of Feature Films (The First 100 Years 1893–1993)
- IMDb: White Oak (1921)
Research summary based on cited sources, not legal advice. Always consult a qualified copyright attorney before commercial use.