Music Films

A pre-Code backstage musical and the directorial debut of Rouben Mamoulian, who brought his innovative theatrical staging to the early sound film. Helen Morgan plays Kitty Darling, a fading burlesque star who tries to save her convent-educated daughter April (Joan Peers) from following in her footsteps. Mamoulian's extensive use of a moving camera and simultaneous sound tracks was technically groundbreaking for the early sound era. The film's copyright expired on January 1, 2025, entering the public domain.

Drama · Music

Bad Man of Deadwood is a 1941 Republic Pictures western directed by Joseph Kane, starring Roy Rogers and George "Gabby" Hayes. Rogers plays sharpshooter Brett Starr, who rolls into the town of Deadwood with Professor Blackstone's traveling medicine show, alongside singer Sally Payne. The show's tuneful pitch gets a hostile reception from the crooked businessmen who run the town and the hired guns who enforce their rule, so Starr sticks around to help the townsfolk — including a reform-minded judge's daughter — break the gang's grip. A classic singing-cowboy oater from Rogers's peak Republic years, the film entered the public domain through non-renewal.

Western · Music

A musical short film written and directed by Dudley Murphy, set during the Harlem Renaissance. It was the first film to feature Duke Ellington and His Orchestra performing as a jazz band, and the film debut of actress Fredi Washington. The plot follows a couple in the performing arts: Duke's girlfriend Fredi, a dancer with a heart condition, collapses on stage while performing with the band. The Ellington Orchestra plays "The Duke Steps Out," "Black Beauty," "Cotton Club Storm," "Hot Feet," and the title piece "Black and Tan Fantasy." As a work published before 1930, the film is in the public domain.

Music · Drama

An independently made short musical film directed by Hanus Burger, shot in September 1941 but not released until 1944. Lena Horne stars as a kitchen maid who joins an after-hours jam session at a nightclub with boogie-woogie piano masters Albert Ammons and Pete Johnson, and Teddy Wilson and his orchestra. The film is significant in jazz history for its early glimpse of Horne (in only her second film) and as the only filmed record of Ammons and Johnson performing together. The film is in the public domain because its copyright was not renewed.

Music

Two producers trying to bankroll a musical lose their backer at the last minute, so they rope in female impersonator Bumpsie — played by vaudeville and Amos 'n' Andy star Tim Moore — to pose as a wealthy widow and keep the money flowing. Made by Herald Pictures for the "race film" circuit of Black theaters, it's a rare surviving showcase for a cast of African-American entertainers including Sheila Guyse and guest spots by the Harlemaniacs, with hot big-band numbers throughout. It is in the public domain.

Comedy · Music

A musical comedy short directed by Leigh Jason, featuring Ethel Waters as a Harlem woman who works tirelessly to feed and clean up after her lazy husband and his numerous relatives who have taken over her apartment. The film includes musical performances by Waters and the Southernaires quartet. As a work published between 1930 and 1963 whose copyright was not renewed, the film is in the public domain.

Comedy · Music

A swaggering Spanish toreador squares off against a mischievous bull in a bullring full of sight gags and musical flourishes. An early Walt Disney Silly Symphony. The 1929 film entered the public domain on January 1, 2025.

Animation · Comedy · Music

A college freshman goat arrives on campus and becomes the life of the party, leading a musical parade through a surreal academic world. A Harman-Ising Merrie Melodies short. The film entered the public domain through non-renewal.

Animation · Comedy · Music

A Merrie Melodies short directed by Rudolf Ising, and the first appearance of Goopy Geer, a tall, lanky piano-playing dog who entertains patrons at a nightclub. The cartoon is built around the Herman Hupfeld title song, with gags involving a gorilla waiter, a drunk horse seeing hallucinations in a mirror, and a chicken swimming in soup before it is served. Goopy Geer appeared in only three shorts before fading into obscurity, but the character remains a charming artifact of the early Merrie Melodies era when each cartoon was built around a song. The film is in the public domain.

Animation · Short · Comedy · Music

Betty Boop and Koko the Clown are overcome by contagious laughter when a mysterious laughing gas fills their apartment, sending everything in the room into hysterics. A Dave Fleischer-directed Fleischer Studios short. The film entered the public domain through non-renewal.

Animation · Comedy · Music

When a bookstore closes for the night, the characters from its literary classics spring to life in a musical extravaganza featuring caricatures of Hollywood personalities. A Frank Tashlin-directed Merrie Melodies short with Mel Blanc. The film entered the public domain through non-renewal.

Animation · Comedy · Music

Satan presides over a hellish jazz concert where demons and imps dance to a fiendish orchestra, until one rebellious devil challenges the boss. A Ub Iwerks-directed Disney Silly Symphony. The 1929 film entered the public domain on January 1, 2025.

Animation · Comedy · Horror · Music

A jazz-loving cat sneaks into a music shop after hours to conduct a symphony of instruments, only to be tormented by the mischievous mouse Katnip. A Seymour Kneitel-directed Noveltoons short. The film entered the public domain through non-renewal.

Animation · Comedy · Music

Piggy and his girlfriend journey to a caricatured minstrel-show "Hallelujah Land" in this early Merrie Melodies short, the final theatrical appearance of the character Piggy. A Rudolf Ising-directed Harman-Ising production. The film entered the public domain through non-renewal.

Animation · Comedy · Music

Bosko works on a construction site, finding musical inspiration in every girder and rivet, in this early Looney Tunes short. A Hugh Harman and Rudolf Ising-directed cartoon, the third in the Looney Tunes series. The film entered the public domain through non-renewal.

Animation · Comedy · Music

A circus parade springs to life with a procession of animals and performers, building to a series of musical sight gags. A Rudolf Ising-directed Merrie Melodies short. The film entered the public domain through non-renewal.

Animation · Comedy · Music

A band of mice throws a jazz party in a writer's office at night, until the family cat crashes the celebration. A Rudolf Ising-directed Merrie Melodies short that was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Animated Short. The film entered the public domain through non-renewal.

Animation · Comedy · Music

Striptease artist Dixie Daisy is riding out backstage feuds and fending off brash comic Biff Brannigan when a string of murders starts picking off her fellow dancers one by one — and she's next on the list. Barbara Stanwyck leads the wisecracking company in William A. Wellman's adaptation of Gypsy Rose Lee's novel The G-String Murders, with Michael O'Shea, Iris Adrian, and a backstage world rendered with real backstage bite. It is in the public domain after its copyright was not renewed.

Comedy · Mystery · Music

A 1929 Mickey Mouse short directed by Walt Disney, structured as a vaudeville-style revue hosted by Mickey. The cartoon features a parade of animal performers dancing, singing, and doing acrobatics, culminating in Mickey performing the song "Minnie's Yoo Hoo," the first original song written for a Disney cartoon. The short is a snapshot of the early Mickey Mouse era, when the character was more mischievous and the cartoons were essentially animated variety shows. Published in 1929, the film entered the public domain in the United States on January 1, 2025.

Animation · Short · Comedy · Music

When Gabby Kendrick refuses to breed his prize stallion Golden Sovereign to Roy Rogers' mare, fate intervenes — the horses run off, a rustler's bullet kills the Sovereign, and Roy is blamed and jailed. A year later he returns with Trigger, the Sovereign's son, determined to clear his name. Roy Rogers, Dale Evans, and Gabby Hayes star in the film Republic used to explain how the smartest horse in the movies came to Roy. It is in the public domain after its copyright was not renewed.

Western · Music

Two rival radio producers — small-town schemer Pinky Wilson and network man John Guedel — chase the same sponsor and the same idea: a show built around ordinary people doing ridiculous things. Jack Haley, Helen Walker, Rudy Vallee, and Ozzie Nelson star in this Paramount musical comedy spun off from Art Linkletter's hit radio program, directed by Sam White. It's an amiable peek at the era when radio gimmicks ruled the airwaves. The film is in the public domain after its copyright was not renewed.

Comedy · Music

The very first Looney Tunes cartoon, directed by Hugh Harman and Rudolf Ising for Leon Schlesinger and Warner Bros. Bosko, a cheerful, rubber-limbed character, sings the title song in his bathtub before a series of gags involving his car, his girlfriend Honey, and a goat. The short established the formula for the early Looney Tunes: a song-based cartoon built around Bosko, animated in the round, fluid style that Harman and Ising had developed at Disney. The title tune, "Sinkin' in the Bathtub," was the first of many popular songs the series would showcase. The film is in the public domain.

Animation · Short · Comedy · Music

When a gang starts slaughtering game out of season to corner the meat market, cowboy Roy Rogers rides in to help wildlife officer Cap Foster protect the herds — and ends up framed for Foster's murder. Republic's King of the Cowboys is joined by Trigger, Jane Frazee, Andy Devine, and the Sons of the Pioneers in this Trucolor musical western from ace serial and B-western director William Witney. The archive.org source is the uncut Trucolor version. It is in the public domain after its copyright was not renewed.

Western · Music

A two-reel short film directed by Dudley Murphy and the only known film appearance of Bessie Smith, the "Empress of the Blues." Smith plays a woman abandoned by her roving lover (Jimmy Mordecai) for a younger woman (Isabel Washington). In a speakeasy during Prohibition, she sings the W. C. Handy standard "St. Louis Blues" accompanied by James P. Johnson on piano and the Hall Johnson Choir. The film features an entirely Black cast and was selected for the National Film Registry. As a work published before 1930, it is in the public domain.

Music · Drama

A Depression-era family drama built around music. Aging concert violinist Adolph Greig (Al Shean, of the vaudeville team Gallagher and Shean) has sacrificed everything for his art; his son (John Darrow) distrusts him and keeps his own boy from the old man, while Paula (Evelyn Brent) — once Adolph's pupil — is torn between the two generations. Directed by Poverty Row workhorse Frank R. Strayer for Invincible Pictures, it is a sentimental studio B-feature redeemed by its musical sequences and Shean's warm performance. The film's copyright was not renewed; it is in the public domain in the United States.

Drama · Music

That's My Baby! is a 1944 comedy directed by William Berke and starring Richard Arlen as a comic book artist and Ellen Drew as the publisher's daughter. The film follows a love triangle complicated by the father's severe melancholy, which requires an emergency cure of laughter. The film features a variety of musical acts and comedy routines, including performances by Mike Riley and His Musical Maniacs and Freddie Fisher and His Schnikelfritz Orchestra. Produced by Walter Colmes and released by Republic Pictures, the film is a lighthearted wartime entertainment. As a public domain film, it is freely available.

Comedy · Music

Mickey Mouse plays fiddle and dances with Minnie at a lively barn dance, competing with Pete for her affections. A Walt Disney-directed Mickey Mouse short, the third in the series. The 1929 film entered the public domain on January 1, 2025.

Animation · Comedy · Music

Josef von Sternberg's adaptation of Heinrich Mann's novel Professor Unrat follows a respectable schoolteacher, Immanuel Rath, who is undone by his infatuation with Lola Lola, the cabaret singer at the Blue Angel. Emil Jannings plays the professor's descent from authority to humiliation, and Marlene Dietrich, in her breakthrough role, introduces "Falling in Love Again (Can't Help It)." Von Sternberg's command of light and shadow gives the cabaret scenes a smoky opulence that defined his style. The film made Dietrich an international star and launched her seven-film collaboration with von Sternberg in Hollywood. Published in 1930, it entered the public domain in the United States on January 1, 2026.

Drama · Music

Bosko revels on the farm, dancing with a cow, playing a horse's tail like a violin, and getting tipsy with three pigs in this early Looney Tunes short. A Hugh Harman and Rudolf Ising-directed cartoon. The film entered the public domain through non-renewal.

Animation · Comedy · Music

Tommy and Jimmy Dorsey play themselves in this musical biopic tracing the brothers from their coal-country boyhood through their rise to the top of the swing era, their famous on-stage breakup, and their reunion. The plot is a sanitized version of a genuinely combative relationship, but the band sequences — including a show-stopping "Green Eyes" — are the real thing. Directed by Alfred E. Green for United Artists, with Janet Blair and Paul Whiteman. The film is in the public domain.

Music · Drama · Biography

A pre-Code early sound musical drama directed by James Cruze, based on Ben Hecht's short story "The Rival Dummy." Erich von Stroheim stars as Gabbo, a ventriloquist who becomes increasingly unhinged as he relies more and more on his dummy Otto as his only means of emotional expression. Betty Compson co- stars as Mary, his former assistant and lover. The film was originally released with Multicolor sequences, now surviving only in black and white. As a work published before 1930, it is in the public domain.

Music · Drama · Horror

A ten-minute short film starring Frank Sinatra, directed by Mervyn LeRoy and written by Albert Maltz. While on a break from a recording session, Sinatra stops a group of boys from chasing a Jewish youngster and talks to them about racial and religious tolerance, singing the Earl Robinson-Abel Meeropol song "The House I Live In." Commissioned by the Anti-Defamation League of B'nai B'rith to oppose anti-Semitism at the end of World War II, the film received an Honorary Academy Award and a special Golden Globe in 1946. It was selected for the National Film Registry in 2007. The film is in the public domain.

Drama · Music

The Jazz Singer is the film that ended the silent era. It was the first feature-length motion picture with synchronized music and lip-synchronous speech, and its release in 1927 announced that sound had arrived. Al Jolson plays a young man torn between his father's wish that he become a cantor and his own dream of singing on the Broadway stage. Most of the film is silent, with intertitles, but Jolson's songs and a few spoken lines stop the show. The moment he ad-libs, "Wait a minute, wait a minute, you ain't heard nothin' yet," is one of the most famous in cinema history. The film entered the public domain in the United States on January 1, 2023.

Drama · Musical · Music

A colony of merry dwarfs celebrates with music and dancing in a forest clearing, in this early Silly Symphony short. A Ub Iwerks-directed Disney cartoon. The film entered the public domain through non-renewal.

Animation · Comedy · Music

Betty Hutton plays silent-serial queen Pearl White in this energetic Paramount musical biopic — from sweatshop seamstress to vaudeville fill-in to the daredevil star of cliffhanger chapter plays, with John Lund as the leading man who can't keep up with her stardom. Directed by George Marshall with songs by Frank Loesser, it's a fond, funny love letter to the chaotic early days of moviemaking. It is in the public domain after its copyright was not renewed.

Comedy · Music

A radio-era whodunit from Monogram. Crooner Norman Wilder (Ralph Forbes) is the most popular voice on the air — but the voice isn't his: he has been secretly lip-syncing to a blacklisted singer, the "phantom" of the broadcast. When Wilder is shot dead mid-performance, detectives and rival singers pile into a case where everyone in the station had a motive and nobody is who they claim to be. Phil Rosen, one of Poverty Row's most prolific directors, keeps the mystery brisk. Its copyright was never renewed; it is in the public domain in the United States.

Mystery · Crime · Music

Mickey Mouse plows a field with the help of his animals, turning farm work into a musical comedy of errors. A Ub Iwerks-directed Mickey Mouse short. The film entered the public domain through non-renewal.

Animation · Comedy · Music

A musical Western directed by Sam Newfield and produced by Jed Buell, billed as the world's only musical Western with an all-dwarf cast. Billy Curtis stars as the hero Buck Lawson, who must rescue the town from the villainous Bat Haines while winning the heart of Nancy Preston. The film uses a conventional Western story to showcase gags such as cowboys walking under swinging saloon doors and riding Shetland ponies. It is frequently cited as one of the worst films ever made. The film is in the public domain due to non-renewal of its copyright.

Western · Comedy · Music

Underground gnomes must wake Old Man Winter and coax Spring to arrive, painting the landscape with flowers and greenery in a vibrant Technicolor musical. A Happy Harmonies short and the directorial debut of William Hanna, co-directed with Paul Fennell. One of only three MGM cartoons in the public domain. The film entered the public domain through non-renewal.

Animation · Comedy · Music