Universal Pictures

Based on Erich Maria Remarque's 1929 novel, the film follows a group of young German schoolboys who enlist in the army at the urging of their teacher and are ground down by the realities of trench warfare in World War I. Lewis Milestone directed with a documentary plainness that was unusual for its time, and the result is one of the first great anti-war films. Lew Ayres plays Paul Bäumer, the idealistic recruit whose patriotism is hollowed out by what he sees; Louis Wolheim is Katczinsky, the veteran who teaches the new men how to survive. The film won the Academy Awards for Outstanding Production and Best Director, the first picture to take both. Published in 1930, it entered the public domain in the United States on January 1, 2026.

War · Drama

Erich von Stroheim's directorial debut, in which he also stars as a predatory Austrian lieutenant who sets his sights on an American doctor's wife during a holiday in the Alps. Made for Carl Laemmle's Universal on a small budget, the film already bears von Stroheim's signatures: the meticulous detail, the moral rot beneath polite society, the contempt for men too absorbed in their work to notice their wives. Sam De Grasse and Francelia Billington play the couple, with Gibson Gowland as the mountain guide. The film is in the public domain in the United States.

Drama · Silent

A 1929 American musical crime film directed by Paul Fejos from the 1926 play of the same name by George Abbott and Philip Dunning. Universal's first talking picture with Technicolor sequences, Broadway follows the backstage drama of a Paradise Nightclub choreographer Roy (Glenn Tryon) and his dancer girlfriend Billie Moore (Merna Kennedy), who try to avoid the criminal element running the club. Evelyn Brent plays Pearl, a woman tied to the nightclub's gangster owner. Director Fejos developed a special crane capable of moving the extremely cumbersome camera at 600 feet per minute, giving the film inventive camera work that contrasts sharply with the mostly static musicals of the 1928-30 period. The film was produced by Carl Laemmle Jr. and distributed by Universal Studios. The film is in the public domain.

Musical · Crime · Drama

A 1953 feature film edited from the 1939 Universal serial Buck Rogers, re-released for theatrical distribution. A 20th-century pilot named Buck Rogers (Buster Crabbe) and his young friend Buddy Wade awaken from 500 years in suspended animation to find the world has been taken over by the outlaw army of Killer Kane. Buck joins the hidden resistance forces to defeat Kane and restore freedom. The original serial was directed by Saul A. Goodkind and Ford Beebe. The film entered the public domain via non-renewal of its copyright.

Sci-Fi · Action · Adventure

Audrey Hepburn's husband is murdered and she discovers he was involved in a wartime gold theft. Several men who were his accomplices are after the gold, and they think she knows where it is. Cary Grant keeps turning up and helping her, but his identity keeps shifting. The film is often called the best Hitchcock film Hitchcock never made. The screenplay by Peter Stone has a good ear for banter. Henry Mancini wrote the score. The film failed to include a copyright notice on its prints, which put it in the public domain immediately upon release.

Thriller · Romance · Comedy

A comedy directed by Irving Pichel, based on the novel by Berry Fleming. Colonel Willard Effingham (Charles Coburn), a retired Army officer, returns to his hometown of Fredericksville, Georgia, and discovers the town's historical monuments are being neglected. When the corrupt city council tries to sell the town square for a parking lot, the Colonel mounts a one-man crusade to preserve the town's heritage, enlisting the help of his niece (Joan Bennett) and a young newspaper editor (William Eythe). The film is a gentle satire of small-town politics and civic pride, with Coburn's blustering but warm-hearted performance as its centerpiece. The film is in the public domain.

Comedy

Bela Lugosi's defining role. He plays Count Dracula, a Transylvanian nobleman who leases a ruined abbey in London and begins preying on the city's residents. The film was based on the stage play rather than Stoker's novel directly, which is why the pacing feels theatrical and the dialogue is sparse. Dwight Frye as Renfield is genuinely unhinged. The film was released during the Great Depression and was a box office hit, saving Universal from bankruptcy and launching the Universal monster franchise. Lugosi's interpretation of the Count, with his hypnotic stare and deliberate accent, set the template for every screen Dracula that followed.

Horror · Drama

The last of the fourteen Sherlock Holmes films starring Basil Rathbone and Nigel Bruce. Three apparently ordinary music boxes, made by prisoners in Dartmoor and sold at auction, turn out to hide a coded message pointing to a fortune in stolen Bank of England plates. A collector who buys one of the boxes is murdered, and Holmes and Watson race a coolly ruthless woman, Hilda Courtney, to recover the other two before she cracks the code. Patricia Morison plays the villain, one of the series' most memorable, against Rathbone's weary, finally retiring Holmes. Roy William Neill produced and directed his final film before his death later that year. Released in 1946, the film is in the public domain in the United States.

Mystery · Crime

A 1923 silent melodrama directed by Tod Browning and set in the opium underworld of Shanghai. Priscilla Dean plays Cassie Cook, an American woman smuggling opium who falls under the surveillance of a government agent disguised as a mining engineer. When she falls in love with him, she tries to leave the drug trade, but the head of the ring will not let her go. Wallace Beery plays her menacing confederate, and Anna May Wong appears in a supporting role. The film is based on the 1910 Broadway play by John Colton and Daisy H. Andrews and was produced by Carl Laemmle at Universal. It is a precursor to the stranger, darker films Browning would make later in the decade. The film's copyright expired at the end of its first term, and it entered the public domain in the United States on January 1, 2019.

Drama · Crime · Silent

A 1940 American 12-chapter science fiction serial from Universal Pictures, co-directed by Ford Beebe and Ray Taylor, and the last of the three Universal Flash Gordon serials. A mysterious plague called the Purple Death ravages the Earth. Dr. Zarkov discovers a ship from planet Mongo seeding the atmosphere with dust — Ming the Merciless is up to his old tricks. Flash, Dale, and Zarkov return to Mongo to stop Ming, encountering the Rock People and the Arborians along the way. Buster Crabbe reprises his role as Flash, with Carol Hughes replacing Jean Rogers as Dale Arden. The serial entered the public domain via non-renewal of its copyright.

Sci-Fi · Action · Adventure

Directed by Edward Sloman and produced by Carl Laemmle at Universal, this silent drama tells the story of a poor Russian-Jewish pushcart peddler on New York's Lower East Side and his two sons. The elder son, Morris, ashamed of his immigrant roots, wants to become a lawyer and assimilate into American society. The younger son, Sammy, secretly becomes a prizefighter under the name "Battling Rooney" to help support the family. When the father falls ill and Morris denies his own parent at an engagement party, Sammy denounces his brother and drags him home. The film was praised for its sympathetic and detailed portrayal of Jewish immigrant life, and was a major commercial success, reportedly grossing $3 million. As a work published before 1930, the film is in the public domain in the United States.

Drama · Silent

A lavish two-color Technicolor revue built around bandleader Paul Whiteman, then billed as the "King of Jazz." Stage veteran John Murray Anderson transferred his flair for spectacle to the screen with a parade of musical numbers, comedy sketches, and dance routines. The film is notable as the feature debut of Bing Crosby, who appears with the Rhythm Boys vocal trio, and for its ambitious staging of George Gershwin's Rhapsody in Blue, which Whiteman had premiered in 1924. The two-color Technicolor gives the whole thing a pastel dreaminess that is part of its charm. Published in 1930, the film entered the public domain in the United States on January 1, 2026.

Musical · Comedy

Paul Fejos's lyrical tone poem about two lonely strangers in New York City who meet at Coney Island and fall in love over the course of a single day, only to be separated by the crowd and the city's relentless pace. Glenn Tryon and Barbara Kent play the unnamed couple, whose brief connection stands in vivid contrast to the mechanized urban world around them. The film features early Technicolor sequences at Coney Island and brief synchronized sound dialogue scenes, making it a fascinating transitional work between the silent and sound eras. As a work published before 1930, it is in the public domain in the United States.

Drama · Romance · Silent

Two sisters from a wealthy family are competing in a scavenger hunt and one of the items is a "forgotten man," a homeless person from the Depression. Irene finds Godfrey at a dump by the river and brings him to the party, then hires him as the family butler. Godfrey turns out to be more capable and more decent than anyone in the household, and he quietly puts the family's chaos in order while Irene falls for him. William Powell and Carole Lombard had been married and divorced before the film was made, and their ease with each other shows in the dialogue. The film is one of the defining screwball comedies, with a sharp script that lets the rich look ridiculous without being cruel. It was the first film to be nominated in all four acting categories at the Academy Awards. The film entered the public domain due to non-renewal of its copyright.

Comedy · Romance

A 1930 American pre-Code crime film directed by Tod Browning and starring Edward G. Robinson. The picture is a remake of the 1920 film of the same name starring Lon Chaney, which was also directed by Browning. Robinson plays Cobra Collins, the ruthless boss of a criminal gang who is willing to do anything to prevent a rival gangster from pulling off a bank robbery on his territory. The film was one of Robinson's early sound films, made before his breakout role in Little Caesar (1931). Produced by Carl Laemmle Jr. and distributed by Universal Studios. The film is in the public domain.

Crime · Drama

A 1942 American comedy-musical film directed by Edward F. Cline and produced by Universal Pictures. Released during World War II, the film combines military comedy with musical performances by The Andrews Sisters and Harry James and His Music Makers. The story follows entertainer Lon Prentice (Dick Foran), who enlists in the United States Army and struggles to adapt to military life during basic training. Shemp Howard (later of The Three Stooges) co-stars as First Sgt. "Muggsy" Shavel. The Andrews Sisters perform several songs including "Don't Sit Under the Apple Tree (with Anyone Else But Me)" and "Three Little Sisters." A young Donald O'Connor also appears in a supporting role.

Comedy · Musical · War

A mild-mannered middle-aged cashier and amateur painter is manipulated by a cynical young woman and her hustler boyfriend, who pass his work off as her own and sell it to a dealer. Fritz Lang's first of three films with Joan Bennett and Dan Duryea is a bleak noir of guilt and doom. The film entered the public domain when its copyright was not renewed.

Drama · Noir

The fourth of Universal's Sherlock Holmes films updates Arthur Conan Doyle's "The Adventure of the Dancing Men" to wartime. Holmes smuggles a Swiss scientist out of Zurich ahead of the Gestapo and brings him to London, where the man has developed a revolutionary bombsight he intends to give the Allies. When the scientist is kidnapped, Holmes and Watson discover that Professor Moriarty is behind it, working to deliver the weapon to Nazi Germany. Basil Rathbone and Nigel Bruce are in their familiar roles, with Lionel Atwill as a silkily malevolent Moriarty. The film grafts a spy thriller onto a Conan Doyle puzzle and was made on a small budget at a moment when the series leaned hard into the war effort. It was released in 1943 and is in the public domain in the United States.

Mystery · Crime · Thriller

The 1929 Show Boat was the first film adaptation of Edna Ferber's 1926 novel, produced by Carl Laemmle at Universal Pictures and directed by Harry A. Pollard. Laura La Plante stars as Magnolia Hawks, the daughter of a show boat captain, who falls for the gambler Gaylord Ravenal (Joseph Schildkraut). The film incorporates songs from Jerome Kern and Oscar Hammerstein II's 1927 stage musical, including "Ol' Man River" and "Can't Help Lovin' Dat Man." Made during the transition to sound, the film is a part-talkie with both silent intertitles and sound sequences. As a work published before 1930, it is in the public domain in the United States.

Drama · Musical · Romance

Smouldering Fires is a silent drama directed by Clarence Brown for Universal Pictures. Pauline Frederick stars as Aurelie Kimball, a successful businesswoman whose much younger secretary (Laura La Plante) catches the eye of her husband, setting in motion a story of jealousy, desire, and self-discovery. The film explores the tensions between age, ambition, and romantic longing with a subtlety characteristic of Brown's direction. As a work published before 1930, it is in the public domain in the United States.

Drama · Romance · Silent

A 1927 American silent romantic drama directed by Edward Sloman, based on the 1915 play Lea Lyon by Alexander Brody. The film stars Mary Philbin as Lea Lyon, daughter of a rabbi in a Galician town near the Russian border, and Ivan Mosjukine as Constantine, a Russian prince. When war is declared and the Russians occupy the town, Constantine demands Lea surrender to him, threatening to burn the village and its inhabitants. Impressed by her character, the prince discovers he loves her and spares both the town and the girl. This was Mosjukine's only American film — a major star of Russian and French silent cinema, he never made another Hollywood picture.

Drama · Romance · War

Sherlock Holmes and Dr. Watson board the London-to-Edinburgh express to guard the Star of Rhodesia, a priceless diamond with a bloody history. When the jewel's owner is murdered and the stone vanishes, Holmes must unmask the killer among a carriage full of suspects — including the eminent Colonel Sebastian Moran — before the train reaches its destination. Basil Rathbone and Nigel Bruce's thirteenth outing as Holmes and Watson, directed and produced by Roy William Neill for Universal, compresses the series' formula into a brisk, atmospheric hour. The film entered the public domain through non-renewal.

Mystery · Crime · Thriller

The relatives of the eccentric Cyrus West gather at his brooding mansion twenty years after his death to hear the reading of his will. The heir is Annabelle West, but only if she is deemed sane; otherwise the fortune passes to a successor whose name is sealed in an envelope. Before the lawyer can reveal it, he disappears, and the night brings secret passages, a escaped lunatic known as the Cat, and a growing sense that someone in the house is not what they seem. Paul Leni, a German Expressionist director who came to Hollywood late in his career, blended stylized shadows with broad comedy in a way that defined the "old dark house" genre for decades. The film was a cornerstone of Universal's early horror line and a direct influence on the 1939 Bob Hope remake. Pre-1930 films are in the public domain in the United States.

Horror · Comedy · Silent

The most ambitious American silent production to that point, and the film that proved Universal could mount a spectacle. Lon Chaney plays Quasimodo, the deaf, deformed bell-ringer of Notre Dame, who falls in love with the kind gypsy dancer Esmeralda and tries to protect her from the forces closing in around her: a lecherous archdeacon, a treacherous captain, and the beggar king Clopin. Chaney designed his own horrific makeup, contorted his body under a 72-pound hump, and hung by a rope from the cathedral's towers for real. The Paris sets were built full-scale on the Universal lot and helped define the look of the studio for decades. The film was a huge hit and saved Universal from financial trouble. Its copyright was not renewed at the end of its first term, and it entered the public domain in the United States in 1951.

Romance · Drama · Silent

Paul Leni's adaptation of the Victor Hugo novel, made at Universal during the silent horror boom that followed The Phantom of the Opera. Conrad Veidt plays Gwynplaine, a nobleman disfigured as a child with a permanent carved grin, who becomes a fairground attraction and falls for the blind girl Dea. Veidt's fixed, grotesque smile is the image the film is remembered for, and it is widely cited as a visual reference for the Joker in Batman. Leni, a German Expressionist who came to Hollywood to design for the screen, fills the frame with baroque shadows and carnival imagery. He died of sepsis the year the film was released, making this one of his last works. The 1928 film entered the United States public domain on January 1, 2024.

Drama · Horror · Romance · Silent

A disfigured composer named Erik lives in the catacombs beneath the Paris Opera House and falls in love with Christine, a young soprano he secretly trains. When she lifts his mask, he kidnaps her, and her fiancé Raoul descends into the cellars to find her. Lon Chaney designed his own makeup for the role, including wires to distort his nose and a technique that has never been fully reproduced. The unmasking scene, when the audience first sees his face, is one of the most famous moments in silent film; some theaters reportedly kept smelling salts on hand for audience members who fainted. The film was Universal's first horror production and helped establish the genre as a studio staple. The famous two-strip Technicolor ball sequence is included in this print. The film is in the public domain as a pre-1930 work.

Horror · Silent

A Lon Chaney silent for Universal, directed by Lambert Hillyer. Chaney plays Wilse Dilling, a crippled San Francisco underworld enforcer sent to infiltrate a rural household, where his growing conscience and affection for the daughter (Virginia Valli) pull him against his boss's scheme. One of the rare Chaney films in which his character wins the girl, it showcases his gift for transformation through a physically demanding, sympathetic performance. Made for roughly $90,000, it was a sizable hit for the studio. As a work published before 1930, it is in the public domain in the United States.

Drama · Silent

A gentle French-Canadian trapper in the Northwest is swindled of his furs and his bride by a brutal rival, and his slow-burning revenge turns him from man to wolf. Lon Chaney stars in this silent wilderness drama. The film entered the public domain through non-renewal.

Western · Drama

A 1934 Universal science fiction serial directed by Lew Landers, spanning 12 chapters. Stanley Stanfield (Onslow Stevens) invents the Vanishing Ray, a wearable device that renders the user invisible — though his shadow remains visible. He seeks the help of Professor Carl Van Dorn to eliminate this side effect, but his plans to finance the invention by selling inherited bonds bring him into conflict with Wade Barnett (Walter Miller), the corrupt businessman who hounded Stanley's father to his death. When a struggle at the stockbroker's office ends in accidental death, Stanley is accused of murder and must use his invisibility device to clear his name and expose Barnett. The serial features what is believed to be the first appearance of a hand-held ray gun in film, along with robots and a "Destroying Ray." Added as the full 12-chapter serial (Chapter 1: "Accused of Murder").

Sci-Fi · Action · Adventure

A string of murders of young women baffles Scotland Yard, but Sherlock Holmes spots the pattern: respectable gentlemen are being hypnotized into believing they are the killers, then blackmailed. The trail leads through a society of mesmerists to a glamorous woman in green — and behind her, Professor Moriarty, reported hanged in Montevideo but very much alive. Basil Rathbone and Nigel Bruce's eleventh Holmes film, with Hillary Brooke and Henry Daniell as a memorably icy Moriarty, directed by Roy William Neill for Universal. The film entered the public domain through non-renewal.

Mystery · Crime · Thriller

A crime drama directed by James Whale, better known for his Universal horror classics. Warren William plays District Attorney Jim Stowell, a prosecutor who treats every homicide case as first-degree murder and keeps miniature skull replicas to tally his death sentences. When he himself is beset by the urge to murder, his worldview is challenged in a case that mirrors his own life. The film is a remake of Whale's own The Kiss Before the Mirror (1933), both based on the Ladislas Fodor play. It entered the public domain in 1966 when its copyright was not renewed.

Crime · Drama

A woman who has drifted apart from her husband must track him down through San Francisco after he witnesses a gangland murder and goes into hiding, with a reporter and a killer both following her. Ann Sheridan stars in this tight, location-shot noir. The film entered the public domain through non-renewal.

Noir · Crime · Thriller

Universal's ambitious silent adaptation of Jules Verne's novel, directed by Stuart Paton and produced by Carl Laemmle. Allen Holubar plays Captain Nemo, who stalks the seas in his submarine Nautilus seeking revenge against the man who destroyed his family, while a French professor and his companions are taken captive aboard the vessel. The production pioneered genuine underwater photography using the Williamson brothers' submarine tube, shot on location in the Bahamas, and was one of the most expensive films of its era at roughly half a million dollars. As a work published before 1930, it is in the public domain in the United States.

Adventure · Science Fiction · Silent

Africa is a 1930 Oswald the Lucky Rabbit cartoon directed by Walter Lantz for Universal Pictures. Oswald goes on a big-game hunting expedition in Africa, encountering lions, elephants, and other jungle animals in a series of gags. Portions of this short were reused from the film King of Jazz, where they were originally colored in two-strip Technicolor. As a 1930 work, the film entered the U.S. public domain on January 1, 2026.

Animation · Comedy

Africa Before Dark is a 1928 Oswald the Lucky Rabbit cartoon directed by Walt Disney and Ub Iwerks, produced by Winkler Pictures for Universal. Oswald goes hunting for big game in Africa, with the cartoon featuring the distinctive Iwerks animation style that characterized the Disney-era Oswald shorts. The film was lost for decades and rediscovered in Austria in 2013. As a 1928 work, the film is in the public domain.

Animation · Comedy

Based on Erich Maria Remarque's 1929 novel, the film follows a group of young German schoolboys who enlist in the army at the urging of their teacher and are ground down by the realities of trench warfare in World War I. Lewis Milestone directed with a documentary plainness that was unusual for its time, and the result is one of the first great anti-war films. Lew Ayres plays Paul Bäumer, the idealistic recruit whose patriotism is hollowed out by what he sees; Louis Wolheim is Katczinsky, the veteran who teaches the new men how to survive. The film won the Academy Awards for Outstanding Production and Best Director, the first picture to take both. Published in 1930, it entered the public domain in the United States on January 1, 2026.

War · Drama

All Wet is a 1927 Oswald the Lucky Rabbit cartoon directed by Ub Iwerks for the Walt Disney Studio, produced by Winkler Pictures for Universal. Oswald works as a lifeguard and gets into various aquatic misadventures. The cartoon was reissued in 1932 by Walter Lantz Productions with synchronized sound. As a 1927 work, the film is in the public domain.

Animation · Comedy

Erich von Stroheim's directorial debut, in which he also stars as a predatory Austrian lieutenant who sets his sights on an American doctor's wife during a holiday in the Alps. Made for Carl Laemmle's Universal on a small budget, the film already bears von Stroheim's signatures: the meticulous detail, the moral rot beneath polite society, the contempt for men too absorbed in their work to notice their wives. Sam De Grasse and Francelia Billington play the couple, with Gibson Gowland as the mountain guide. The film is in the public domain in the United States.

Drama · Silent

The Los Angeles police know that Pete Ritchie is smuggling narcotics across the Mexican border, but they cannot make a single charge stick. They send an undercover officer, Madeleine Haley, to get close to his operation. Before she can get anywhere, she is grabbed by Johnny McEvoy, a government agent posing as a hoodlum who is also after Ritchie. Neither knows the other is on the same side of the law, and the two of them end up running the border together while Ritchie closes in. Fred MacMurray and Claire Trevor play the two agents who keep each other in the dark, and Raymond Burr is the heavy. The film was the first production of Borderline Pictures, formed by MacMurray, director William Seiter, and producer Milton Bren, who deferred their own salaries to make it. It entered the public domain due to non-renewal of its copyright.

Crime · Noir · Thriller

A boy and his dog romp through a Technicolor musical fantasy extolling the joys of pet ownership, originally produced as a sponsored short for Ipana Toothpaste. Walter Lantz directed this Castle Films home-movie perennial. The film entered the public domain through non-renewal.

Animation · Comedy · Family

Oswald the Lucky Rabbit works backstage at a theater trying to keep the show going amid chaotic animal acts and a runaway skeleton dance. A Walt Disney-directed Oswald short from the Winkler era. The film entered the public domain through non-renewal.

Animation · Comedy

A 1929 American musical crime film directed by Paul Fejos from the 1926 play of the same name by George Abbott and Philip Dunning. Universal's first talking picture with Technicolor sequences, Broadway follows the backstage drama of a Paradise Nightclub choreographer Roy (Glenn Tryon) and his dancer girlfriend Billie Moore (Merna Kennedy), who try to avoid the criminal element running the club. Evelyn Brent plays Pearl, a woman tied to the nightclub's gangster owner. Director Fejos developed a special crane capable of moving the extremely cumbersome camera at 600 feet per minute, giving the film inventive camera work that contrasts sharply with the mostly static musicals of the 1928-30 period. The film was produced by Carl Laemmle Jr. and distributed by Universal Studios. The film is in the public domain.

Musical · Crime · Drama

A 1953 feature film edited from the 1939 Universal serial Buck Rogers, re-released for theatrical distribution. A 20th-century pilot named Buck Rogers (Buster Crabbe) and his young friend Buddy Wade awaken from 500 years in suspended animation to find the world has been taken over by the outlaw army of Killer Kane. Buck joins the hidden resistance forces to defeat Kane and restore freedom. The original serial was directed by Saul A. Goodkind and Ford Beebe. The film entered the public domain via non-renewal of its copyright.

Sci-Fi · Action · Adventure

Audrey Hepburn's husband is murdered and she discovers he was involved in a wartime gold theft. Several men who were his accomplices are after the gold, and they think she knows where it is. Cary Grant keeps turning up and helping her, but his identity keeps shifting. The film is often called the best Hitchcock film Hitchcock never made. The screenplay by Peter Stone has a good ear for banter. Henry Mancini wrote the score. The film failed to include a copyright notice on its prints, which put it in the public domain immediately upon release.

Thriller · Romance · Comedy

Bela Lugosi's defining role. He plays Count Dracula, a Transylvanian nobleman who leases a ruined abbey in London and begins preying on the city's residents. The film was based on the stage play rather than Stoker's novel directly, which is why the pacing feels theatrical and the dialogue is sparse. Dwight Frye as Renfield is genuinely unhinged. The film was released during the Great Depression and was a box office hit, saving Universal from bankruptcy and launching the Universal monster franchise. Lugosi's interpretation of the Count, with his hypnotic stare and deliberate accent, set the template for every screen Dracula that followed.

Horror · Drama

The last of the fourteen Sherlock Holmes films starring Basil Rathbone and Nigel Bruce. Three apparently ordinary music boxes, made by prisoners in Dartmoor and sold at auction, turn out to hide a coded message pointing to a fortune in stolen Bank of England plates. A collector who buys one of the boxes is murdered, and Holmes and Watson race a coolly ruthless woman, Hilda Courtney, to recover the other two before she cracks the code. Patricia Morison plays the villain, one of the series' most memorable, against Rathbone's weary, finally retiring Holmes. Roy William Neill produced and directed his final film before his death later that year. Released in 1946, the film is in the public domain in the United States.

Mystery · Crime

A 1923 silent melodrama directed by Tod Browning and set in the opium underworld of Shanghai. Priscilla Dean plays Cassie Cook, an American woman smuggling opium who falls under the surveillance of a government agent disguised as a mining engineer. When she falls in love with him, she tries to leave the drug trade, but the head of the ring will not let her go. Wallace Beery plays her menacing confederate, and Anna May Wong appears in a supporting role. The film is based on the 1910 Broadway play by John Colton and Daisy H. Andrews and was produced by Carl Laemmle at Universal. It is a precursor to the stranger, darker films Browning would make later in the decade. The film's copyright expired at the end of its first term, and it entered the public domain in the United States on January 1, 2019.

Drama · Crime · Silent

A 1940 American 12-chapter science fiction serial from Universal Pictures, co-directed by Ford Beebe and Ray Taylor, and the last of the three Universal Flash Gordon serials. A mysterious plague called the Purple Death ravages the Earth. Dr. Zarkov discovers a ship from planet Mongo seeding the atmosphere with dust — Ming the Merciless is up to his old tricks. Flash, Dale, and Zarkov return to Mongo to stop Ming, encountering the Rock People and the Arborians along the way. Buster Crabbe reprises his role as Flash, with Carol Hughes replacing Jean Rogers as Dale Arden. The serial entered the public domain via non-renewal of its copyright.

Sci-Fi · Action · Adventure

Erich von Stroheim's third directorial effort was advertised as "the first million-dollar picture," a claim producer Carl Laemmle happily promoted even as he battled his director over the spiraling budget. Stroheim stars as Count Karazmin, a phony Russian aristocrat who, with his "cousins" Marietta and Olga, sets up in a villa above Monte Carlo to prey on wealthy women. The production recreated the casino and plaza of Monte Carlo on the California coast at Point Lobos, with hundreds of carpenters building an entire Riviera resort. Stroheim's obsessive attention to detail, from hand-tailored uniforms to accurate military decorations, established the template for his later extravaganzas. The surviving version runs about 130 minutes, a fraction of the director's original cut. As a work published before 1930, the film is in the public domain in the United States.

Drama · Silent

Oswald the Lucky Rabbit leads a band of animal soldiers in a silent-era parody of war films, complete with cannon gags and battlefield absurdity. A Walt Disney-directed Oswald short produced by Winkler Pictures. The film entered the public domain through non-renewal.

Animation · Comedy · War

A wartime drama based on the real-life Makin Island raid by the U.S. Marine Corps' 2nd Raider Battalion, led by Colonel Evans Carlson. Randolph Scott plays the officer who assembles a volunteer unit of "Carlson's Raiders" from civilians and soldiers, trains them in jungle warfare, and leads them on a mission to attack a Japanese-held Pacific island. The film was made with the cooperation of the Marine Corps and was released less than a year after the raid it dramatizes. A young Robert Mitchum appears in one of his earliest credited roles. The film entered the public domain due to non-renewal of its copyright.

War · Drama

Directed by Edward Sloman and produced by Carl Laemmle at Universal, this silent drama tells the story of a poor Russian-Jewish pushcart peddler on New York's Lower East Side and his two sons. The elder son, Morris, ashamed of his immigrant roots, wants to become a lawyer and assimilate into American society. The younger son, Sammy, secretly becomes a prizefighter under the name "Battling Rooney" to help support the family. When the father falls ill and Morris denies his own parent at an engagement party, Sammy denounces his brother and drags him home. The film was praised for its sympathetic and detailed portrayal of Jewish immigrant life, and was a major commercial success, reportedly grossing $3 million. As a work published before 1930, the film is in the public domain in the United States.

Drama · Silent

Oswald the Lucky Rabbit and his pal ride the rails as hungry hobos, scrambling for food and finding comic misadventure in a farmer's field. A Walt Disney-directed Oswald short produced by Winkler Pictures. The film entered the public domain through non-renewal.

Animation · Comedy

Jungle Jingles is a 1929 Oswald the Lucky Rabbit cartoon directed by Walter Lantz for Universal Pictures. The short features Oswald in a jungle setting with musical sequences, part of the early sound-era Oswald cartoons produced by Lantz after he took over the series from Walt Disney. As a 1929 work, the film entered the U.S. public domain on January 1, 2025.

Animation · Comedy · Musical

A lavish two-color Technicolor revue built around bandleader Paul Whiteman, then billed as the "King of Jazz." Stage veteran John Murray Anderson transferred his flair for spectacle to the screen with a parade of musical numbers, comedy sketches, and dance routines. The film is notable as the feature debut of Bing Crosby, who appears with the Rhythm Boys vocal trio, and for its ambitious staging of George Gershwin's Rhapsody in Blue, which Whiteman had premiered in 1924. The two-color Technicolor gives the whole thing a pastel dreaminess that is part of its charm. Published in 1930, the film entered the public domain in the United States on January 1, 2026.

Musical · Comedy

Paul Fejos's lyrical tone poem about two lonely strangers in New York City who meet at Coney Island and fall in love over the course of a single day, only to be separated by the crowd and the city's relentless pace. Glenn Tryon and Barbara Kent play the unnamed couple, whose brief connection stands in vivid contrast to the mechanized urban world around them. The film features early Technicolor sequences at Coney Island and brief synchronized sound dialogue scenes, making it a fascinating transitional work between the silent and sound eras. As a work published before 1930, it is in the public domain in the United States.

Drama · Romance · Silent

Making Good is a 1932 Oswald the Lucky Rabbit cartoon directed by Walter Lantz and Bill Nolan for Universal Pictures. It is the 57th Oswald cartoon produced by Lantz's studio and the 110th overall. The short features Oswald in a series of gags and adventures. The film had an original copyright notice but was not renewed, placing it in the public domain. The film is in the public domain.

Animation · Comedy

Oh Teacher is a 1927 Oswald the Lucky Rabbit cartoon directed by Walt Disney. Oswald competes with a rival for the affections of a female rabbit in this early silent short. The cartoon was produced during Disney's brief but influential period with the Oswald character, before he lost the rights to Universal and created Mickey Mouse. As a 1927 work, the film is in the public domain.

Animation · Comedy

Oh What a Knight is a 1928 Oswald the Lucky Rabbit cartoon directed by Walt Disney. Oswald is a knight who must rescue a princess from a castle, with plenty of gags along the way. The short features medieval fantasy settings and the distinctive animation style of Disney's Oswald period. As a 1928 work, the film entered the U.S. public domain on January 1, 2024.

Animation · Comedy · Fantasy

A 1930 American pre-Code crime film directed by Tod Browning and starring Edward G. Robinson. The picture is a remake of the 1920 film of the same name starring Lon Chaney, which was also directed by Browning. Robinson plays Cobra Collins, the ruthless boss of a criminal gang who is willing to do anything to prevent a rival gangster from pulling off a bank robbery on his territory. The film was one of Robinson's early sound films, made before his breakout role in Little Caesar (1931). Produced by Carl Laemmle Jr. and distributed by Universal Studios. The film is in the public domain.

Crime · Drama

Ozzie of the Mounted is a 1928 Oswald the Lucky Rabbit cartoon directed by Walt Disney. Oswald appears as a Canadian Mountie on patrol, pursuing a wanted outlaw through the wilderness. The short features the slapstick humor and visual gags characteristic of Disney's Oswald period. As a 1928 work, the film entered the U.S. public domain on January 1, 2024.

Animation · Comedy · Adventure

Pantry Panic is a 1941 Woody Woodpecker cartoon directed by Walter Lantz for Walter Lantz Productions, distributed by Universal Pictures. The third cartoon in the Woody Woodpecker series, it features Woody facing a hungry cat during a harsh winter when food is scarce. The short is notable as one of the few early Woody cartoons where he does not say "Guess Who?" in the opening titles. The film is in the public domain.

Animation · Comedy

Rival Romeos is a 1928 Oswald the Lucky Rabbit cartoon directed by Walt Disney. Oswald and a rival suitor compete for the affections of a female rabbit, with each attempting to outdo the other in a series of romantic and slapstick gags. The short is a classic example of the competitive courtship formula common in silent animation. As a 1928 work, the film entered the U.S. public domain on January 1, 2024.

Animation · Comedy · Romance

A mild-mannered middle-aged cashier and amateur painter is manipulated by a cynical young woman and her hustler boyfriend, who pass his work off as her own and sell it to a dealer. Fritz Lang's first of three films with Joan Bennett and Dan Duryea is a bleak noir of guilt and doom. The film entered the public domain when its copyright was not renewed.

Drama · Noir

Scrub Me Mama with a Boogie Beat is a 1941 animated short from Walter Lantz Productions, distributed by Universal Pictures. A boogie-woogie playing laundry woman inspires a sleepy town's inhabitants to clean up and dance. The cartoon is a swing-era musical with the popular boogie-woogie sound of the early 1940s. Like many cartoons of the era, it contains racial stereotypes that reflect the prejudices of its time. The film is in the public domain.

Animation · Comedy · Musical

The fourth of Universal's Sherlock Holmes films updates Arthur Conan Doyle's "The Adventure of the Dancing Men" to wartime. Holmes smuggles a Swiss scientist out of Zurich ahead of the Gestapo and brings him to London, where the man has developed a revolutionary bombsight he intends to give the Allies. When the scientist is kidnapped, Holmes and Watson discover that Professor Moriarty is behind it, working to deliver the weapon to Nazi Germany. Basil Rathbone and Nigel Bruce are in their familiar roles, with Lionel Atwill as a silkily malevolent Moriarty. The film grafts a spy thriller onto a Conan Doyle puzzle and was made on a small budget at a moment when the series leaned hard into the war effort. It was released in 1943 and is in the public domain in the United States.

Mystery · Crime · Thriller

Shoes is a social-problem drama directed by Lois Weber, one of the most important women directors of the silent era. Mary MacLaren stars as Eva Meyer, a young shopgirl who works in a five-and-dime store to support her destitute family. When her worn-out shoes finally fall apart and she cannot afford new ones, she faces an agonizing moral dilemma. Weber's film is a powerful indictment of poverty and the exploitation of working women, made with a realism and sensitivity that was unusual for its time. The film was selected for preservation in the United States National Film Registry by the Library of Congress in 2014. As a work published before 1930, it is in the public domain in the United States.

Drama · Silent

The 1929 Show Boat was the first film adaptation of Edna Ferber's 1926 novel, produced by Carl Laemmle at Universal Pictures and directed by Harry A. Pollard. Laura La Plante stars as Magnolia Hawks, the daughter of a show boat captain, who falls for the gambler Gaylord Ravenal (Joseph Schildkraut). The film incorporates songs from Jerome Kern and Oscar Hammerstein II's 1927 stage musical, including "Ol' Man River" and "Can't Help Lovin' Dat Man." Made during the transition to sound, the film is a part-talkie with both silent intertitles and sound sequences. As a work published before 1930, it is in the public domain in the United States.

Drama · Musical · Romance

Singer Angie Evans gives up her own rising career to marry struggling crooner Ken Conway, and when his star finally ascends she finds herself alone with a baby, a bottle, and a husband who's never home. Susan Hayward earned her first Academy Award nomination as the wife sliding into alcoholism, with Lee Bowman, Eddie Albert, and Marsha Hunt in support. Walter Wanger produced and Stuart Heisler directed this stark melodrama, released by Universal-International. It is in the public domain after its copyright was not renewed.

Drama · Noir

Smouldering Fires is a silent drama directed by Clarence Brown for Universal Pictures. Pauline Frederick stars as Aurelie Kimball, a successful businesswoman whose much younger secretary (Laura La Plante) catches the eye of her husband, setting in motion a story of jealousy, desire, and self-discovery. The film explores the tensions between age, ambition, and romantic longing with a subtlety characteristic of Brown's direction. As a work published before 1930, it is in the public domain in the United States.

Drama · Romance · Silent

A 1927 American silent romantic drama directed by Edward Sloman, based on the 1915 play Lea Lyon by Alexander Brody. The film stars Mary Philbin as Lea Lyon, daughter of a rabbi in a Galician town near the Russian border, and Ivan Mosjukine as Constantine, a Russian prince. When war is declared and the Russians occupy the town, Constantine demands Lea surrender to him, threatening to burn the village and its inhabitants. Impressed by her character, the prince discovers he loves her and spares both the town and the girl. This was Mosjukine's only American film — a major star of Russian and French silent cinema, he never made another Hollywood picture.

Drama · Romance · War

Sherlock Holmes and Dr. Watson board the London-to-Edinburgh express to guard the Star of Rhodesia, a priceless diamond with a bloody history. When the jewel's owner is murdered and the stone vanishes, Holmes must unmask the killer among a carriage full of suspects — including the eminent Colonel Sebastian Moran — before the train reaches its destination. Basil Rathbone and Nigel Bruce's thirteenth outing as Holmes and Watson, directed and produced by Roy William Neill for Universal, compresses the series' formula into a brisk, atmospheric hour. The film entered the public domain through non-renewal.

Mystery · Crime · Thriller

The Bandmaster is a 1931 Oswald the Lucky Rabbit cartoon directed by Walter Lantz and Bill Nolan for Walter Lantz Productions, distributed by Universal Pictures. Oswald leads a marching band through a series of musical gags and surreal sight gags, showcasing the Keaton-like physical comedy that characterized the Lantz-era Oswald cartoons. The short features animation by Clyde Geronimi, Manuel Moreno, Ray Abrams, and Tex Avery. The film is in the public domain.

Animation · Comedy · Musical

The relatives of the eccentric Cyrus West gather at his brooding mansion twenty years after his death to hear the reading of his will. The heir is Annabelle West, but only if she is deemed sane; otherwise the fortune passes to a successor whose name is sealed in an envelope. Before the lawyer can reveal it, he disappears, and the night brings secret passages, a escaped lunatic known as the Cat, and a growing sense that someone in the house is not what they seem. Paul Leni, a German Expressionist director who came to Hollywood late in his career, blended stylized shadows with broad comedy in a way that defined the "old dark house" genre for decades. The film was a cornerstone of Universal's early horror line and a direct influence on the 1939 Bob Hope remake. Pre-1930 films are in the public domain in the United States.

Horror · Comedy · Silent

The most ambitious American silent production to that point, and the film that proved Universal could mount a spectacle. Lon Chaney plays Quasimodo, the deaf, deformed bell-ringer of Notre Dame, who falls in love with the kind gypsy dancer Esmeralda and tries to protect her from the forces closing in around her: a lecherous archdeacon, a treacherous captain, and the beggar king Clopin. Chaney designed his own horrific makeup, contorted his body under a 72-pound hump, and hung by a rope from the cathedral's towers for real. The Paris sets were built full-scale on the Universal lot and helped define the look of the studio for decades. The film was a huge hit and saved Universal from financial trouble. Its copyright was not renewed at the end of its first term, and it entered the public domain in the United States in 1951.

Romance · Drama · Silent

Oswald the Lucky Rabbit rides a mechanical cow that causes chaos when it goes haywire, leading to a wild chase through the countryside. A Walt Disney-directed Oswald the Lucky Rabbit short. The film entered the public domain through non-renewal.

Animation · Comedy

Oswald the Lucky Rabbit attempts to hop across the ocean, encountering sea creatures and comic obstacles along the way. A Walt Disney-directed Oswald the Lucky Rabbit short. The film entered the public domain through non-renewal.

Animation · Comedy

A disfigured composer named Erik lives in the catacombs beneath the Paris Opera House and falls in love with Christine, a young soprano he secretly trains. When she lifts his mask, he kidnaps her, and her fiancé Raoul descends into the cellars to find her. Lon Chaney designed his own makeup for the role, including wires to distort his nose and a technique that has never been fully reproduced. The unmasking scene, when the audience first sees his face, is one of the most famous moments in silent film; some theaters reportedly kept smelling salts on hand for audience members who fainted. The film was Universal's first horror production and helped establish the genre as a studio staple. The famous two-strip Technicolor ball sequence is included in this print. The film is in the public domain as a pre-1930 work.

Horror · Silent

A Lon Chaney silent for Universal, directed by Lambert Hillyer. Chaney plays Wilse Dilling, a crippled San Francisco underworld enforcer sent to infiltrate a rural household, where his growing conscience and affection for the daughter (Virginia Valli) pull him against his boss's scheme. One of the rare Chaney films in which his character wins the girl, it showcases his gift for transformation through a physically demanding, sympathetic performance. Made for roughly $90,000, it was a sizable hit for the studio. As a work published before 1930, it is in the public domain in the United States.

Drama · Silent

A gentle French-Canadian trapper in the Northwest is swindled of his furs and his bride by a brutal rival, and his slow-burning revenge turns him from man to wolf. Lon Chaney stars in this silent wilderness drama. The film entered the public domain through non-renewal.

Western · Drama

A string of murders of young women baffles Scotland Yard, but Sherlock Holmes spots the pattern: respectable gentlemen are being hypnotized into believing they are the killers, then blackmailed. The trail leads through a society of mesmerists to a glamorous woman in green — and behind her, Professor Moriarty, reported hanged in Montevideo but very much alive. Basil Rathbone and Nigel Bruce's eleventh Holmes film, with Hillary Brooke and Henry Daniell as a memorably icy Moriarty, directed by Roy William Neill for Universal. The film entered the public domain through non-renewal.

Mystery · Crime · Thriller

The first released Oswald the Lucky Rabbit cartoon, directed by Walt Disney and animated almost entirely by Ub Iwerks. Oswald plays a trolley conductor whose packed car runs afoul of a stubborn cow, a steep hill, and a runaway descent. The short was a hit, launching Oswald as Universal's cartoon star and establishing Disney and Iwerks as major talents. Universal had rejected the first-produced Oswald short, Poor Papa, as too sluggish, so Trolley Troubles became the character's debut. Published in 1927, the film entered the public domain in the United States on January 1, 2023.

Animation · Short · Comedy

The 1931 sound reissue of the 1927 Oswald the Lucky Rabbit short, re-released by Walter Lantz Productions after Lantz took over the Oswald series from Walt Disney. The original silent cartoon was fitted with a synchronized music and sound effects track to compete with Disney's sound Mickey Mouse cartoons. Oswald the trolley conductor packs his car with passengers, battles a cow on the tracks, uses a goat to climb a hill, and then loses control on the way down. The reissue was published in the United States between 1929 and 1963 and the copyright was not renewed, placing it in the public domain.

Animation · Short · Comedy

A short documentary about the U.S. Marine assault on the Japanese-held island of Tarawa in November 1943, directed by Louis Hayward, who served in the Marine Corps. Shot in full color with no actors, it shows the landing, the fight across the beach, the casualties, and the burial of the dead at sea. The footage was so graphic that Hollywood distributors refused to release it, and only President Roosevelt's personal approval sent it to theaters. The film was meant to show Americans at home that the war was not a parade of easy victories. It won the Academy Award for Best Documentary Short Subject. As a work of the U.S. federal government, the film is in the public domain.

War · Documentary

A crime drama directed by James Whale, better known for his Universal horror classics. Warren William plays District Attorney Jim Stowell, a prosecutor who treats every homicide case as first-degree murder and keeps miniature skull replicas to tally his death sentences. When he himself is beset by the urge to murder, his worldview is challenged in a case that mirrors his own life. The film is a remake of Whale's own The Kiss Before the Mirror (1933), both based on the Ladislas Fodor play. It entered the public domain in 1966 when its copyright was not renewed.

Crime · Drama

A woman who has drifted apart from her husband must track him down through San Francisco after he witnesses a gangland murder and goes into hiding, with a reporter and a killer both following her. Ann Sheridan stars in this tight, location-shot noir. The film entered the public domain through non-renewal.

Noir · Crime · Thriller