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Zelda, Dreams, about public domain and movies...
The only sound movies in the public domains are due to errors and mix-ups. In the US, the "everything in the Public Domain" date starts in Dec. 31, 1922. Anything after that date is still under copyright unless the rule weren't properly carried out. That means, that at the 28 year mark (with one year grace), the copyright had to be renewed, formally, by the copyright holder. If it wasn't, the work fell into public domain. So certain movies weren't renewed properly, and fell into the public domain, but most were properly renewed. The Awful Truth was properly renewed, and isn't in the public domain. Since the US 1976 revision, nothing up for renewal after 1978 could fall into the public domain, it was automatically stretched to 70 years, then 95. My condolences, mon cheris. That is why the motion picture industry is behind all the copyright extensions, because their old stuff still generates lots of revenue...
Feeling good was part of the 1930's, (post code) movie making. There was so much misery around, that people wanted to see something happy for an hour or two. It's part of what made the Golden Age of Hollywood Golden...
As to Topper Returns, I'd love to see it too. But it has never been released on anything but VHS...
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