Public Domain Movies - Ranked Worst to Best
Movies listed in the public domain on this Wiki:
Note that many of the movies are in a gray-area, and should be researched before assuming there will be no legal difficulties in copying / remaking the source material.
Note that many of the movies are in a gray-area, and should be researched before assuming there will be no legal difficulties in copying / remaking the source material.
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- DirectorRowland V. LeeStarsPola NegriJean HersholtKenneth ThomsonThe Secret Hour is a lost 1928 silent film romance drama directed by Rowland V. Lee and starring Pola Negri. It is based on the 1924 Broadway play, They Knew What They Wanted by Sidney Howard. It was produced by Paramount Famous Lasky Corporation and distributed through Paramount Pictures.
- DirectorHarold P. WarrenStarsTom NeymanJohn ReynoldsDiane AdelsonA family gets lost on the road and stumbles upon a hidden, underground, devil-worshiping cult led by the fearsome Master and his servant Torgo.
- DirectorNicholas WebsterStarsJohn CallLeonard HicksVincent BeckThe Martians kidnap Santa Claus because there is nobody on Mars to give their children presents.
- DirectorBernard L. KowalskiStarsKen ClarkYvette VickersJan ShepardA backwoods game warden and a local doctor discover that giant leeches are responsible for disappearances and deaths in a local swamp, but the local police don't believe them.
- DirectorLouis J. GasnierStarsDorothy ShortKenneth CraigLillian MilesCautionary tale that features a fictionalized take on marijuana use. A trio of drug dealers lead innocent teenagers to become addicted to "reefer" cigarettes by holding wild parties with jazz music.
- DirectorDwain EsperStarsBill WoodsHorace B. CarpenterTed EdwardsA former vaudevillian gifted at impersonation assists a mad scientist in reanimating corpses and soon goes mad himself.
- DirectorTom GraeffStarsDavid LoveDawn BenderBryan GrantA young alien and a teenage earthling fall in love, and plot to stop the alien's race from using Earth as a food-breeding ground for giant lobsters from their planet.
- DirectorAlex NicolStarsJohn HudsonPeggy WebberRuss ConwayA man's new Wife believes the ghost of his dead first Wife is haunting her at an eerie Southern mansion.
- DirectorEdward D. Wood Jr.StarsGregory WalcottTom KeeneMona McKinnonEvil aliens attack Earth and set their terrible "Plan 9" into action. As the aliens resurrect the dead of the Earth, the lives of the living are in danger.
- DirectorSam NewfieldStarsBilly CurtisYvonne Moray'Little Billy' RhodesAn evil gunslinging midget comes to terrorize the good little people of Tiny Town. The townspeople organize to defeat him, and zany antics ensue.
- DirectorEdward D. Wood Jr.StarsEdward D. Wood Jr.Bela LugosiLyle TalbotA psychiatrist tells the stories of a transvestite (Glen or Glenda) and a pseudohermaphrodite (Alan or Anne).
- DirectorHarold F. KressStarsPalPaul KellyBruce CowlingAn intrepid dog comes to the rescue when a boy's life is put at risk by the greed inflamed by a gold strike.
- DirectorJack PollexfenStarsLon Chaney Jr.Max ShowalterMarian CarrA brutal death row inmate double-crossed by his crooked lawyer gets his chance for revenge when, following his execution, a bizarre experiment brings him back to life and deadlier than ever.
- DirectorJoseph GreenStarsJason EversVirginia LeithAnthony La PennaA doctor experimenting with transplant techniques keeps his girlfriend's head alive when she is decapitated in a car crash, then goes hunting for a new body.
- DirectorRoger CormanStarsSusan CabotAnthony EisleyBarboura MorrisThe head of a major cosmetics company experiments on herself with a youth formula made from royal jelly extracted from wasps, but the formula's side effects have deadly consequences.
- DirectorAllan DwanStarsThe Ritz BrothersJimmy RitzHarry RitzAfter a wealthy man is threatened by a killer known as The Gorilla, he hires the Ritz Brothers to investigate. A real escaped gorilla shows up at the mansion just as the investigators arrive.
- DirectorDon HartmanStarsLana TurnerEzio PinzaMarjorie MainA beautiful romance between a singer and a persistent prince
- DirectorHerbert BrenonStarsFrank McCormickRalph ForbesLester VailAn American joins the French Foreign Legion in order to rescue a boyhood friend.
- DirectorRoger CormanFrancis Ford CoppolaJack HaleStarsBoris KarloffJack NicholsonSandra KnightA young French soldier cut off from his unit is beguiled by a mysterious woman, whom he learns is the wife of the local Baron - and that she seemingly died twenty years earlier.
- DirectorWill PriceStarsAlan Freed and his Rock 'n Roll BandFran ManfredTuesday WeldDori is trying to get together enough money to buy a strapless gown; Daddy has cut off Dori's allowance, but gee, she's gotta go to the prom.
- DirectorRobert N. BradburyStarsJohn WaynePolly Ann YoungAnita CampilloIn a horse-riding rodeo contest bad guys want John Weston to lose. When he doesn't go along they add some insurance: a poisoned needle just under his saddle.
- DirectorMelville W. BrownStarsFreeman F. GosdenCharles J. CorrellSue CarolTypical Amos 'n Andy storyline has the boys trying to make a go of their "open-air" taxi business while they get caught up in a society hassle, involving driving musicians to a fancy party. All the regular characters are here (or mentioned), including the famous Mystic Knights of the Sea. The only film appearance of radio's long-running characters.
- DirectorLowell ShermanStarsBebe DanielsKenneth ThomsonLowell ShermanA woman of low morals who runs a gambling operation in her house takes pride in destroying the men she ensnares in her net. One of these men's wives (played by Bebe Daniels) will not let her get away with it. She poses as a single girl to get hired by the woman as her secretary and then proceeds to singlehandedly take her operation apart.
- DirectorRobert N. BradburyStarsJohn WayneVerna HillieGeorge 'Gabby' HayesA gang working for The Shadow is terrorizing the town. John Travers decides to take on the job of sheriff and do something about it.
- DirectorChristy CabanneStarsBessie LoveNed SparksHugh TrevorFor the last four years Margaret Holt has been helping her brother, assistant D.A. Victor Holt, to try to bring down the dope dealing Schemer Marko gang. Margaret kills Marko (aka 'James Morton') when he discovers she's found evidence to use against him. Looking for someplace to hide out, she flees to a local house for disadvantaged women. Her secret is discovered by gossip columnist John Howell and crotchety old mystery writer Winthrop Clavering, who concoct a plan to try to clear Margaret of the crime and, at the same time, capture the Marko gang, who have since kidnapped Victor and are now hot on Margaret's trail as well.