1929 enters the Public Domain

As of January 1st, a new batch of films entered the public domain—this time films from 1929. Among the notable films from that year are the Alfred Hitchcock film Blackmail, the first Marx Brothers film, The Cocoanuts, and the number 1 grossing film of that year, The Broadway Melody. Even though there aren’t many films from this year’s offerings that I will screen on my show, it’s still exciting for me as a horror host as it inches us that much closer to the big two becoming public domain. And by those big two, I mean the two films that kicked off a new era of monster movies for Universal Studios and had a huge impact on me as a kid… Dracula and Frankenstein. Due to their 1931 creation, both Dracula and Frankenstein will become public domain in 2027.

That will be a day to celebrate, but it’s absolutely incredible to me to consider where we’d be if it hadn’t been for one particular piece of legislation and one particularly diabolical congressman—Sonny Bono. That’s right, Sonny Bono, of Sonny and Cher fame. Sonny became a congressman in California, and Disney quickly got him in their pocket. He proposed a piece of legislation largely to protect the copyright of Mickey Mouse. It became known as the Copyright Term Extension Act, also known as the Sonny Bono Act. It essentially put a moratorium on films entering the public domain for 20 years. 20 YEARS!

That means that instead of films from 1929 entering the public domain this year, we would have had films from 1949 entering. That blows my mind. The Third Man, Rope, It’s a Wonderful Life, Casablanca, Citizen Kane, Miracle on 34^th Street, Abbott and Costello Meet Frankenstein, Bride of Frankenstein, House of Dracula, The Wolf Man, The Cat People, The Maltese Falcon, King Kong, and SO MANY others would be public domain now.

Sonny Bono will forever be a villain in my book, right up there with Fredric Wertham (the psychiatrist that attacked and smeared EC comics and their fellow comic book companies in the 1950s). His name should forever go down in infamy.

Shout! Factory Shenanigans and YouTube

UPDATE: Since the time of this initial posting SHOUT! Factory has reviewed and released claim on the video in question. See my post here for full details.



This is a follow-up to yesterday’s post about SHOUT! FACTORY and THE BRAIN THAT WOULDN’T DIE. This has been a hot topic here and on facebook, where I posted the article. Lots of people are angry and disappointed that SHOUT! FACTORY would continue pushing such a flimsy narrative as the fact they “own” this public domain film. That begs the question, why are they doing this?

It is very simple. Money. If you go to YouTube and type in “The Brain that Wouldn’t Die” you are presented with multiple pages of videos of that film – some feature the entire film, some just clips from it, some reviews. YouTube offers 22 videos per page – and there are hundreds of videos that can be “claimed” by a copyright holder. Some have views in the thousands (even hundreds of thousands).

Even if the monetary amount from any one video isn’t that much, multiply that by hundreds of videos and you see it quickly adds up. My fellow horror movie host Karlos Borloff in the DC area was mentioning this morning that he is having a similar issue, once again from our good friends at SHOUT! FACTORY. BUT it is with a totally different film – ATOM AGE VAMPIRE.

Who knows how many public domain films SHOUT! FACTORY is claiming “ownership” of on YouTube and monetizing.

The truth of the matter is that the blame for this lies with YouTube themselves, for allowing this to continue. They have a system in place where a person can claim to own a video and not have to show any proof. If it is questioned they merely continue to say they own it, and YouTube takes them on their word.

When I disputed the claim from SHOUT! FACTORY, here is the response I got back from YouTube:

Hi drgangrene,

After reviewing your dispute, Shout! Factory, LLC has decided that their copyright claim is still valid.

Video title: Dr. Gangrene's Creature Feature - The Brain that Wouldn't Die
Includes: Audiovisual content
Claimed by: Shout! Factory, LLC

SHOUT! FACTORY decided their claim is still valid!
Well of course they did! They’re not going to arbitrarily give up their easy money! How about you look at it yourselves YouTube, and make a determination, make them show proof of ownership – which doesn’t exist! -  before allowing them to make money off other people’s work!

It’s my hope that if enough people continue to expose YouTube’s shameful copyright system - as well as the shady practices of companies such as SHOUT! FACTORY - that something will eventually be done about this.

In the meantime here are the host bits – without the movie – for my hosting of THE BRAIN THAT WOULDN’T DIE, for your enjoyment… at least until Shout! Factory decides to claim ownership of it, too.

The Brain that Wouldn't Die Fiasco

 * UPDATE - Since the time of this posting SHOUT! Factory has reviewed and released their claim. See the full update here.


I've been posting episodes of my CREATURE FEATURE TV series on YouTube lately, and last week decided to post the THE BRAIN THAT WOULDN'T DIE episode. That one originally aired April 8, 2006 on Nashville's CW58 - almost 10 years ago to the day I type this. It was one we spent a little more time on than usual with set design, lighting, and skits. It turned out really well, and I looked forward to sharing it.

However, within fifteen minutes of posting this video on YouTube I received eight copyright claims against it. This will sound familiar to anyone who has dealt with YouTube lately. It is common practice for people to try and claim copyright on well-known public domain films such as THE BRAIN THAT WOULDN'T DIE. They are bogus claims and are usually dropped once a dispute is placed. That wasn't the case this time, however.


For those not familiar with the process, the way it works is you post a video and if there are copyright claims against the video you receive email notification from YouTube informing you who is making the claim and against what element of your video (video, music, etc). From that point on the claimant is granted immediate rights to your video, meaning they can monetize it and make money off your video, block it in certain parts of the world, or even force it down immediately and give you a copyright strike.


Your only option at that point, if you feel the claim is unjustified, is to file a dispute. I did this, as seven of the claims were against music and clearly bogus claims from non-existent companies. One of the claims, however, was for the video itself, and came from SHOUT! FACTORY.

Now Shout! Factory is a well known video distribution company. They make great products, and I love their work. Their claim to own THE BRAIN THAT WOULDN'T DIE, however, is complete and utter horseshit.


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THE BRAIN THAT WOULDN'T DIE is a 1962 b-horror film directed by Joseph Green, written and produced by Rex Carlton. it's a wonderfully trashy mad-science flick about a doctor who keeps his wife's severed head alive in a tray while searching for a replacement body in the local strip clubs.


It is also clearly in the public domain.



On September 29th, 1988 Rex Carlton Productions filed for copyright renewal of this film - the case # is PA#399511. They cited 1959 as the year of production and October 31, 1962 as date of publication.  Their copyright was NOT renewed, meaning the film was now in the public domain.


Skip forward to August 26th, 1993. A company named BEST BRAINS INC. filed for copyright of this film, case # PA668-012. it was for Mystery Science Theater 3000 #513, THE BRAIN THAT WOULDN'T DIE. Copyright was granted, but it extended ONLY TO NEW MATERIAL - i.e. host bits of MST and their running commentary.

This is important to remember because MST is now distributed by, you guessed it, SHOUT! FACTORY, the company that is claiming on YouTube to own the entire film THE BRAIN THAT WOULDN'T DIE. They do not. I disputed this and within 24 hours was told that Shout! Factory reviewed my claim and decided they still own it. End of story.

Now my only recourse at this point is to file a formal appeal, but, here's the thing. It goes straight back to the claimant - Shout! Factory in this case - who simply says yes or no to owning it once again. There is no review process by YouTube, the claimant does not have to show proof of ownership, nothing. YouTube simply takes them on their word and upholds their case. I would at this point receive a copyright strike against my channel, meaning I lose rights to monetize any of the videos on my channel for 6 months. Any channel that receives three strikes is permanently removed!


So at this point there is nothing to do. I could just leave the video up and let Shout! Factory make money off my video, but it is the principal of the matter. they don't own this film. IT IS IN THE PUBLIC DOMAIN. They know fully well they don't own it. I did not use any elements from the Mystery Science Theater version of this film. I've never even seen the MST episode. Anyone who knows me knows I'm not a fan of their show, never have been. I respect what they've accomplished, but I'm not a fan. My material is 100% my own. The movie footage I used was from a copyright free copy of the movie.

ALPHA VIDEO version

of The Brain that Wouldn't Die

SO, SHOUT! FACTORY, if you see this post, please respond. You can reach me through email drgangrene at hotmail.com. If you really think you own this film, then I would love to know on what basis...


You distributed the impressive 2015 blu-ray edition of the film, and certainly own that cleaned-up edition - and you distribute the 1993 MST version, and clearly own that as well. But neither of those make you copyright owner of this movie. It is 100% in the public domain. The Rex Carlton Production company - who shot the film - couldn't renew copyright on it, and neither can you.




I am going to find another place to post this entire episode for folks to enjoy. In the meantime, I'll post just my host bits on YouTube, unless Shout! Factory decides to block that too.


Here is a link to the film on archive.org for those wishing to see the movie in its entirety:
https://archive.org/details/TheBrainThatWouldntDie_300


Note it's filed under PUBLIC DOMAIN.