A request regarding the Basil Rathbone/Sherlock Holmes movies

[Alessandro Bottero]

hi to everyone.
i've a request regarding a project i'm working on, for another italian publisher.
is there anyone who knows if the 12 Basil Rathbone/Sherlock Holmes movies are Public Domain?
or, is there someone wich could tell me WHERE to find this kind of info?

thanks a lot.

Alessandro Bottero

[skybandit]

The Woman in Green, The Secret Weapon, Terror by Night and Dressed to kill are in the public domain.  The rest have had their copyrights renewed.

[narfstar]

Thanks for chiming in Sky good to see you in the forum been awhile

[Alessandro Bottero]

thanks, skybandit. it confirms the infos i had.
anyay, i found there is a TV series of 1954 (39 half-hour episodes) wich should be in public domain.
this is the info i found on the web

"The first and only American television series of Sherlock Holmes adventures aired in syndication in the fall of 1954. The 39 half-hour mostly original stories were produced by Sheldon Reynolds and filmed in France by Guild Films, starring Ronald Howard (son of Leslie Howard) as Holmes and Howard Marion Crawford as Watson. Archie Duncan appeared in many episodes as Inspector Lestrade (and a few as other characters). Richard Larke, billed as Kenneth Richards, played Sgt. Wilkins in about fifteen episodes. The series’ associate producer, Nicole Milinaire, was one of the first women to attain a senior production role in a television series."

Archive.org list it under "Public Domain"
 

[josemas]

The 1950s Holmes' television series is indeed PD.  Millcreek has an inexpensive DVD collection of the complete series available.
There are a number of silent Holmes films that are PD although all are not known to survive.  There are also some other pre-Rathbone Holmes talkies from the 1930s that are PD.

Best

Joe

[Alessandro Bottero]

thanks a lot

[jfglade]

Thanks for the tip on the Mill Creek collection. I like some of their collections (i.e. Robin Hood) a great deal. I'll keep an eye out for the Holmes collection.

[bminor]

Arthur Wonter did a fine job in a few films that still exit from the very early 1930's. They are in the public domain and can be seen on www.archive.org I don't know if these are all available at ARCHIVE.


Arthur Wontner

    * The Sleeping Cardinal (1931 film)
    * The Missing Rembrandt (1932 film)
    * The Sign of Four (1932 film)
    * The Triumph of Sherlock Holmes (1935 film)
    * Silver Blaze (1937 film)

[RJBowman]

There were several Rathbone films that took place in the "modern", modern being defined as the WWII era during which the films were made. I remember one of the films beginning with a title card explaining something to the effect that Holmes is a "timeless" character that could have adventures in any era. Can anyone tell me which film this is? I have been looking for the text of that title card.

[phabox (RIP)]

" The Voice of Terror" was the first of the Updated Universal Holmes movies and if memory serves that title card was used there to explain the reason for him and Watson now being in the then modern setting.

-Nigel