Public Domain Feature Films

Here is a list of feature length films in the Public Domain in the United States of America. (Other countries have different copyright laws.) There is also a book from the 1970s called "50,000 motion pictures in the public domain" which was created by checking films that had been registered for copyright but the copyright was never renewed - something that was required in the USA before 1976.

Numbers, A-B-C

 * The 39 Steps (1935)
 * Abilene Town (1946) PD
 * Abraham Lincoln (1930)
 * Ace Drummond (1936)
 * The Adventures of Smilin' Jack (1943)
 * Aerial Gunner (1943) is PD.
 * Africa Screams (1949)
 * Algiers (1938)
 * The Amazing Mr. X (1948)
 * Assignment Outer Space
 * The Amazing Transparent Man (1960)
 * And Then There Were None (1945)
 * Angel And The Badman (1946)
 * Angel On My Shoulder (1946)
 * Angels Hard As They Come (1971)
 * The Ape (1940)
 * The Ape Man (1943)
 * Assassin Of Youth (1937)
 * At War With The Army (1950)
 * Atom Age Vampire (1963)
 * Attack of the Giant Leeches (1959)
 * Attack from Space
 * The Bat (1959)
 * The Battleship Potemkin
 * Bear Shooters (1930)
 * Beat The Devil (1953)
 * Bela Lugosi Meets A Brooklyn Gorilla (1952)
 * The Bigamist (1953)
 * Beneath the 12 Mile Reef (1953)
 * The Big Show (1936)
 * The Birth Of A Nation (1915)
 * Black Dragons (1942)
 * The Blood Of Jesus (1941)
 * Bloody Pit of Horror (1965)
 * Bluebeard (1944)
 * Bowery at Midnight (1942)
 * Boy Meets Dog (1938)
 * The Boy in the Plastic Bubble (1976)
 * The Brain That Wouldn't Die (1962)
 * Bride of the Gorilla (1951)
 * Brideless Groom (1947)
 * Broken Blossoms (1919)
 * A Bucket of Blood (1959)
 * Bulldog Drummound (1929)
 * Burn 'Em Up Barnes (1934)
 * Bad Man of Deadwood (1941)
 * Beachcomber, The - aka - Vessel of Warth (1938)
 * Beachcomber, The (1939) is PD.
 * Becky Sharp (1935)
 * Behave Yourself (1951)
 * Beloved Rogue, The (1927) - The United Artists feature film is PD and the R-C comedy short is not.
 * Betsy Ross (1917) PD
 * Black Pirate, The (1926)
 * Black Raven, The (1943)
 * Blue Steel (1934) PD
 * Born to the West - Hell Town (1937) PD
 * The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari (1920)
 * Captain Kidd (1945)
 * Carnival of Souls (1962)
 * Cause For Alarm! (1951)
 * Cavalcade of the West (1936) PD
 * Chained For Life (1951)
 * Charade (1963)
 * Check And Double Check (1930)
 * The Chicken Of Tomorrow' (1948)
 * Child Bride (1938)
 * The City of the Dead (1960)
 * The Corpse Vanishes (1942)
 * Corregidor (1943)
 * Crash of the Moons (1954)
 * Creature from the Haunted Sea (1961)
 * Cyrano de Bergerac (1950)

D-E-F

 * DOA 1950
 * Daniel Boone (1936) PD
 * Daniel Boone, Trail Blazer (1956) PD
 * Day the Sky Exploded, The
 * Detour (1945) PD
 * Devil's Messenger, The (1961) PD
 * Dead Men Walk 1943
 * Death Rides A Horse 1967
 * Dementia 13 1963
 * Detour 1945
 * Dick Tracy 1937 serial
 * Disorder in the Court: Three Stooges serial 1936
 * Dogs of War 1923 Our Gang short
 * Doomed to Die 1940
 * Dressed to Kill 1946
 * The Driller Killer 1979
 * Duck and Cover 1952
 * Eegah (1962) PD
 * Eagle, The (1925)
 * Embryo 1976
 * The Eternal Jew 1940
 * Eternally Yours 1939
 * Experiments in the Revival of Organisms 1940
 * A Farewell to Arms 1932
 * The Fast and the Furious (1955)
 * The Fatal Hour (1940)
 * Father's Little Divident 1951
 * Faust 1926
 * Fear in the Night 1947
 * Fight for the Sky, The (1945) PD, U.S. Government
 * Fighting Caravans (1931) PD
 * Fire Over England (1937)
 * Flash Gordon Conquers the Universe 1941
 * The Flying Devices 1939
 * Foolish Wives 1922
 * Freaks 1932
 * The Front Page 1931
 * Frozen North, The (1922) PD

G-H-I

 * Gangster's Den, The (1945) PD
 * Gangster Story (1960)
 * The General (1927) -- Starring Buster Keaton.
 * The Giant Gila Monster 1959
 * Glamour Gal 1945
 * Glorifying the American Girl (1929)
 * Go Down, Death! 1944
 * The Gold Rush 1925
 * The Gorilla 1939
 * The Great Alaskan Mystery 1944
 * The Great Rupert 1950
 * Greed 1924
 * Gulliver's Travels (the 1939 Max Fleischer animated version)
 * Gumbasia 1953
 * Happy Go Lovely 1951
 * Haxan 1922
 * He Walked By Night 1948
 * Hell's House 1932
 * Hemp for Victory 1942
 * Hercules 1958
 * Hercules Unchained 1959
 * Hercules and the Tyrants of Babylon 1964
 * Hercules vs. The Moon Men 1964
 * His Girl Friday (1940)
 * Hittin' the Trail (1937) PD
 * Hoodlum, The (1951) PD
 * The Hitch-Hiker 1953
 * Holy Ghost People 1967
 * Horror Express 1972
 * Horrors of Spider Island 1960
 * House on Haunted Hill 1959
 * The Hunchback of Notre Dame 1923
 * The Hurricane Express 1932
 * I Cover the Waterfront 1933
 * Impact 1949
 * The Incredible Petrified World 1957
 * The Incredible 2-Headed Transplant 1971
 * Indestructible Man 1956
 * The Inspector General 1949
 * Invisible Ghost 1941
 * Intolerence 1916

J-K-L

 * Jap Zero (1943) PD, U.S. Government
 * Jungle Book, The (1942) is PD.
 * King Kong
 * La Ciociara - Two Women (1960) PD
 * Lady Gangster (1942) PD
 * Last of the Mohicans (1920 silent)
 * Let There Be Light (1946) PD, U.S. Government
 * Light of Western Stars, The (1940) PD
 * Jack and the Beanstalk 1952
 * The Jackie Robinson Story 1950
 * Jail Bait 1954
 * Jesses James Meets Frankenstein's Daughter 1966
 * The Killer Shrews 1959
 * King of the Zombies 1941
 * Kansas City Confidential 1952
 * Lady Frankenstein 1971
 * The Lady Vanishes 1938
 * The Last Man on Earth 1964
 * The Last Time I Saw Paris 1954
 * Last Woman on Earth 1960
 * Little Lord Fauntleroy 1936
 * The Little Princess 1939
 * The Little Shop of Horrors 1960
 * The Lost City 1935
 * The Lost Jungle 1934
 * The Lost World 1925

M-N-O

 * M 1931
 * Ma Barker's Killer Brood (1960) PD
 * The Mad Monster 1942
 * Malice in the Palace 1949
 * Man with a Movie Camera 1929
 * Manfish 1956
 * Maniac 1934
 * Manos the Hands of Fate (1966)
 * The Manster 1959
 * Marihuana 1936
 * McLintock! 1963
 * Meet John Doe 1941
 * Metropolis 1927
 * Midnight Manhunt 1945
 * My Dear Secretary 1949
 * The Monster Maker 1944
 * The Monster Walks 1932
 * Mr. Adam's Bomb (1949)
 * Mr. Boggs Steps Out 1938
 * Mr. Robinson Cruesoe 1932
 * Murder at the Baskervilles
 * Mutiny (1952) PD
 * My Favorite Brunette
 * Neath Brooklyn Bridge
 * The New Adventures of Tarzan 1935
 * Night of the Living Dead
 * Nightmare Castle 1965
 * North Star, The (1943)
 * Nosferatu 1922
 * Nothing Sacred 1937
 * One Body Too Many 1944
 * Orphans of the Storm (1921)
 * Our Gang (1922)
 * Our Gang Follies of 1938 (1937)
 * The Outlaw (1943)

P-Q-R

 * Paper Bullets - Gangs Inc. (1941) PD
 * Phantom from Space
 * Pimpernel Smith (1941)
 * Quicksand (1950) PD
 * Rainbow Valley (1935) PD
 * Red House, The (1947)
 * Reign of Terror (1949)
 * Return of The Street Fighter (1974/5)

S-T-U

 * Santa Fe Trail (1940) PD
 * Satanic Rites of Dracula, The (1974) - United Kingdom should be okay.
 * Sherlock Holmes and the Woman in Green (1945) PD
 * Sign of Four, The (1932)
 * Sin of Harold Diddlebock, The (1947) PD
 * Sister Streetfighter (1974/6)
 * Snows of Kilimanjaro,The (1952) PD
 * The Street Fighter (1974/5)
 * The Street Fighter's Last Revenge (1974/9)
 * A Study in Scarlet (1933)
 * Swing Parade of 1946 (1946)
 * Target for Today (1944) PD, U.S. Government
 * Teenage Zombies (1959) - United States should be okay
 * The Thief of Bagdad (1924) - there are at least five versions of this film, only the first of which is in the public domain. The spelling 'Bagdad' is used for all five.
 * Too Late for Tears (1949) PD
 * Unknown World (1951)

V-W-X

 * Whistle Stop (1946) PD
 * Whom the Gods Destroy (1916)

Y-Z

 * Young and Innocent (aka Girl Was Young, The (USA) (1937) PD