Hacker Cinema
Shadow of the Law
1930 · Film · 69 min
Directed by Louis J. Gasnier
John Nelson, a well-to-do businessman, is escorting a woman he knows as Ethel Barry to the door of her apartment suite when a man steps out of the shadows and angrily demands to know where she has been. The embarrassed Nelson excuses himself and goes to his rooms in the same hotel. The woman rushes into his apartment followed by the man who met her in the hall. The man threatens her with violence and Nelson comes to her defense. In the ensuing fight, the man is knocked out of the window and falls to his death to the pavement many stories down. He is charged with the killing and his only witness that can prove self-defense for him has disappeared, and can not be found.
1 neutralfrom 1 commenter
Where to watch
No streaming data for this title.
1 comment on Hacker News
The earliest Woody Woodpecker clips won't enter the public domain util 2035.
The Shadow debuted in 1930, so it is also not yet in the public domain, but was also in a movie as recently as 1994, and it still appearing in licensed comics in 2015 and ongoing.
Some Tom Swift books have entered the public domain, but not all, and the character is still covered under trademark law also.
You're making a great point about how copyright is too long, leaving characters to languish, but none of your examples are actually in the public domain.