Name: Ypres
Director: Walter Summers
Released: 1925

Ypres

1925 · British Instructional Films (BIF) · Dir. Walter Summers

In 1925, with the cooperation of the War Office, British Instructional Films set out to make a dramatic, feature-length reconstruction of the five Ypres battles in which 1.7 million soldiers lost their lives. Directed by William Summers, the result is a silent classic. Unlike the famous 1916 documentary The Battle of the Somme, the Ypres footage is entirely ”faked” and the film shares some of Somme‘s propagandist approach. Regardless, the film is no less fascinating as an artistic endeavour of its time and it features some stunning images. A degree of authenticity is provided by real soldiers taking part and by the filming having taken place in the actual Ypres trenches.

Confidence

100

Why this status applies

The film 'Ypres' is a British feature-length documentary (a 'war office' film) directed by Walter Summers and released in the United Kingdom in 1925. Under the basic framework of US copyright law, all works published anywhere in the world prior to January 1, 1928, have definitively entered the public domain in the United States due to the expiration of the maximum possible copyright term (95 years from publication). Even though the film was a foreign (UK) production, the URAA (Uruguay Round Agreements Act) restorations do not apply to works published before 1928 because those works were already in the US public domain by the time the act took effect or had already completed their full 75-year term (at the time) before the current 95-year extension applied to them. Consequently, the film is free for use within the United States. Note: generated without live web grounding (the grounded research engine was unavailable). Verify the cited sources independently before relying on this determination.

Why this status applies

Supporting facts