Public Domain Movies

The Unholy Three, 1930

Frank 🎥 — Thu, 03 Sep 2026 08:04:30 GMT

The Unholy Three is a 1930 American pre-Code melodrama directed by Jack Conway and starring Lon Chaney. Its plot involves a crime spree. The film is a sound remake of the silent 1925 film of the same name, with both films based on the novel The Unholy Three, by Tod Robbins.

In both versions, the roles of Professor Echo and Tweedledee are played by Lon Chaney and Harry Earles respectively. This film is notable for the fact that it was Chaney’s last film, as well as his only talkie. Chaney died from throat cancer one month after the film’s release.

The Criminal Code, 1930 directed by Howard Hawks

Frank 🎥 — Tue, 01 Sep 2026 10:19:38 GMT

The Criminal Code is a 1931 American pre-Code romantic crime drama film directed by Howard Hawks and starring Walter Huston and Phillips Holmes. The screenplay, based on a 1929 play of the same name by Martin Flavin, was written by Fred Niblo Jr. and Seton I. Miller, who were nominated for Best Adaptation at the 4th Academy Awards. The film is the first of three film adaptations of the play released by Columbia Pictures. It was followed by Penitentiary (1938) and Convicted (1950).

Although The Criminal Code is an early sound film, it has been noted for its sophisticated use of sound. Hawks’ direction yielded dialogue that is at times rapid and often overlaps.

Cartoon: The Chain Gang, 1930 starring Mickey Mouse

Frank 🎥 — Sun, 30 Aug 2026 07:51:38 GMT

The Chain Gang is a 1930 Mickey Mouse animated film produced by Walt Disney Productions for Columbia Pictures, as part of the Mickey Mouse film series. It was the twenty-first Mickey Mouse short to be produced, the sixth of that year. It is one of a group of shorts produced by Disney immediately after Ub Iwerks left the studio.

The cartoon was primarily drawn by Norm Ferguson, and featured a pair of bloodhounds, who helped to track down Mickey after his prison escape. Although these dogs were not named, the style in which they were drawn makes them clear forerunners of Pluto, who first officially appeared a few months later in The Picnic. The animation for one of the bloodhound scenes in The Chain Gang was recycled as Pluto in four later cartoons. Additionally, a few scenes contain reused animation from the Oswald the Lucky Rabbit cartoon Sagebrush Sadie.

Since the cartoon was published 1930, it entered the public domain in the United States on January 1, 2026.

The Divorcee, 1930 starring Norma Shearer, award for Best Actress

Frank 🎥 — Sat, 29 Aug 2026 08:36:13 GMT

The Divorcee is a 1930 American pre-Code drama film directed by Robert Z. Leonard. It was written by Nick Grindé, Zelda Sears, and John Meehan, based on the 1929 novel Ex-Wife by Ursula Parrott. At the 3rd Academy Awards, The Divorcee received nominations for Best Picture, Best Director, and Best Writing (Meehan), and Norma Shearer won the award for Best Actress for her work on the film.

As a film published in 1930, it entered the public domain on January 1, 2026.

The Royal Family of Broadway, 1930

Frank 🎥 — Thu, 27 Aug 2026 07:52:45 GMT

The Royal Family of Broadway is a 1930 American pre-Code comedy film directed by George Cukor and Cyril Gardner and released by Paramount Pictures. The screenplay was adapted by Herman J. Mankiewicz and Gertrude Purcell from the 1927 play The Royal Family by Edna Ferber and George S. Kaufman. It stars Ina Claire, Fredric March, Mary Brian, Henrietta Crosman, Arnold Korff, and Frank Conroy.

It was shot at the Astoria Studios in New York. As a film published in 1930, it entered the public domain on January 1, 2026.

Our Blushing Brides, 1930 starring Joan Crawford

Frank 🎥 — Tue, 25 Aug 2026 08:37:49 GMT

Our Blushing Brides is a 1930 American pre-Code society comedy/romantic melodrama directed and produced by Harry Beaumont and starring Joan Crawford, Robert Montgomery, Anita Page and Dorothy Sebastian.

The film follows Our Dancing Daughters (1928) and Our Modern Maidens (1929), which also starred Crawford, Page and Sebastian, though they portray different characters in each film. Although the two previous installments in the series were silent films, Our Blushing Brides is a sound film, a relatively new technology at the time.

Our Blushing Brides is Crawford’s 31st film (of 86 total), and her fourth sound film. In her first “shopgirl-Cinderella” role, Crawford plays the role of Gerry, a department store model who falls in love with the wealthy son of her boss. The role was a departure from Crawford’s flapper-girl persona of the silent era as Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer began to develop a more sophisticated image for her.

The Magic Bag, 1958 Felix the Cat S01E01

Frank 🎥 — Sun, 23 Aug 2026 08:52:34 GMT

Felix the Cat is an American animated television series featuring the cartoon character of the same name.

Like The Van Beuren Corporation before, Joe Oriolo gave Felix a more domesticated and pedestrian personality, geared more toward children, and introduced Felix’s now-famous item of the “Magic Bag of Tricks”, a satchel that can assume the shape and characteristics of anything Felix wants, and several new main characters such as Felix’s arch-enemy, The Professor and his cigar-smoking bulldog sidekick Rock Bottom. The cartoons are divided into two parts, with the first part ending in a cliffhanger resolved after a commercial break.

Whoopee!, 1930

Frank 🎥 — Sat, 22 Aug 2026 08:39:36 GMT

Whoopee! is a 1930 American pre-Code comedy musical Western film photographed in two-color Technicolor. It was directed by Thornton Freeland and stars Eddie Cantor, Ethel Shutta and Eleanor Hunt. The film’s plot closely follows that of the 1928 stage show produced by Florenz Ziegfeld.

The Walter Donaldson song “My Baby Just Cares for Me” was introduced in the film version of Whoopee!.

For the Defense, 1930

Frank 🎥 — Thu, 20 Aug 2026 08:20:03 GMT

For the Defense is a 1930 pre-Code crime drama film starring William Powell as a lawyer whose ethics are challenged when the woman whom he loves kills a pedestrian while driving with another suitor.

New York criminal defense attorney William Foster is so successful that prosecutors regard him as a menace. He holds himself to high ethical standards but is willing to mislead without actually lying.

The Big Trail, 1930 starring 23-year-old John Wayne in early wide-screen film

Frank 🎥 — Tue, 18 Aug 2026 08:35:09 GMT

The Big Trail is a 1930 American epic pre-Code Western early widescreen film shot on location across the American West starring 23-year-old John Wayne in his first leading role and directed by Raoul Walsh. It is the final completed film to feature Tyrone Power Sr. before his death in 1931, as well as his only sound role.

In 2006, the United States Library of Congress deemed this film “culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant”, and selected it for preservation in the National Film Registry, saying “the plot of a trek along the Oregon Trail is aided immensely by the majestic sweep provided by the experimental 70mm Grandeur wide-screen process used in filming”. Fox officials told Walsh that its opening scenes were the greatest filmed in Hollywood to that point.

Cartoon: The Plowboy, 1929 - Mickey Mouse

Frank 🎥 — Sun, 16 Aug 2026 08:19:22 GMT

The Plowboy is a 1929 American animated short film directed and produced by Walt Disney. It is the eighth film of the Mickey Mouse film series. It was the eighth Mickey Mouse short to be produced, the fifth of that year.

The short is notable for the livestock it features. Minnie’s cow is considered to be Clarabelle Cow making her second appearance, and Mickey’s plow horse is considered to be Horace Horsecollar making his debut. Both characters became fully anthropomorphic in the 1930 short The Shindig, where they were treated as Mickey and Minnie’s friends rather than farm animals. By 1933, Disney Studio publicity referred to The Plowboy as Horace’s first film.

Born Reckless, 1930 directed by John Ford

Frank 🎥 — Sat, 15 Aug 2026 11:15:31 GMT

Born Reckless is a 1930 American pre-Code crime film directed by John Ford and staged by Andrew Bennison[1] from a screenplay written by Dudley Nichols based on the novel Louis Beretti.

The film starred Edmund Lowe, Catherine Dale Owen and Marguerite Churchill.

Billy the Kid, 1930 directed by King Vidor

Frank 🎥 — Thu, 13 Aug 2026 08:55:27 GMT

Billy the Kid is a 1930 American pre-Code Western film directed in widescreen by King Vidor about the relationship between frontier outlaw Billy the Kid (Johnny Mack Brown, billed as “John Mack Brown” during his brief career peak) and lawman Pat Garrett (Wallace Beery).

Directed by King Vidor, the movie was filmed in an early widescreen process called Realife, a 70mm format similar to Fox Film Corporation’s Grandeur used for the lavish The Big Trail the same year.

While The Big Trail, starring John Wayne, has been restored so that the 1930 widescreen process can be evaluated by modern viewers, no widescreen prints of Billy the Kid are known to currently exist and the movie can be viewed only in a standard-width version that was filmed simultaneously with the widescreen version. The widescreen format did not get a commercial foothold with movie-going audiences until The Robe two decades later, largely because the Depression was under way by 1930 and few theatres could afford to upgrade their equipment after just converting to sound.

Reaching for the Moon, 1930

Frank 🎥 — Tue, 11 Aug 2026 07:51:26 GMT

Reaching for the Moon is a 1930 American pre-Code black and white musical film. Originally released at 91 minutes; surviving versions are usually cut to 62 minutes. A 74-minute version aired in 1998 on AMC.

The film’s working title was Lucky Break and is known as Para alcanzar la Luna in Spain. It is not to be confused with the 1917 Fairbanks silent film Reaching for the Moon.

Cartoon: Pioneer Days, 1930 - Mickey Mouse

Frank 🎥 — Sun, 09 Aug 2026 08:09:22 GMT

Pioneer Days is a Mickey Mouse short animated film first released on November 20, 1930, as part of the Mickey Mouse film series. It was the twenty-fourth Mickey Mouse short to be produced, the ninth of that year.

The short features Mickey Mouse and Minnie Mouse; Horace Horsecollar and Clarabelle Cow can also be seen in background scenes.

Due to being published in 1930, the cartoon entered the public domain on January 1, 2026.

Paid, 1930 starring Joan Crawford

Frank 🎥 — Sat, 08 Aug 2026 08:25:21 GMT

Paid is a 1930 American pre-Code drama film starring Joan Crawford, Robert Armstrong, and Kent Douglass in a story about a wrongly accused ex-convict who seeks revenge on those who sent her to prison using a scam called the “Heart Balm Racket”.

The film was adapted by Lucien Hubbard and Charles MacArthur from the play, Within the Law by Bayard Veiller (1912) and was the fourth film version of the play. The film was directed and produced by Sam Wood.

Sinners' Holiday, 1930 featuring James Cagney

Frank 🎥 — Thu, 06 Aug 2026 09:47:23 GMT

Sinners’ Holiday is a 1930 American pre-Code all-talking crime drama film starring Grant Withers and Evalyn Knapp, and featuring James Cagney (in his film debut), Lucille La Verne, and Joan Blondell. It is based on the 1930 play Penny Arcade by Marie Baumer.

Both Cagney and Blondell reprised the roles they played in the original Broadway production.

Anna Christie, 1930 starring Greta Garbo

Frank 🎥 — Tue, 04 Aug 2026 08:56:51 GMT

Anna Christie is a 1930 American pre-Code romantic drama film adaptation of the 1921 play of the same name by Eugene O’Neill. It was adapted by Frances Marion, produced and directed by Clarence Brown with Paul Bern and Irving Thalberg as co-producers. The cinematography was by William H. Daniels, the art direction by Cedric Gibbons and the costume design by Adrian.

The film stars Greta Garbo, Charles Bickford, George F. Marion, and Marie Dressler. It was marketed using the slogan “Garbo Talks!”, as it was her first talkie film. Of all its stars, Garbo was the one that MGM kept out of talking films the longest for fear that one of their bigger stars, like so many others, would not succeed in them. Her famous first line is: “Gimme a whisky, ginger ale on the side, and don’t be stingy, baby!”

In fact, Garbo’s English was so good by the time she appeared in this film, she had to add an accent in several retakes to sound more like the Swedish Anna. In addition to the English and German-language version of this film, a silent version with titles was also made. George F. Marion performed the role of Anna’s father in the original Broadway production and in both the 1923 and 1930 film adaptations.

It was nominated for Academy Awards for Best Director, Best Actress (Greta Garbo) and Best Cinematography.

Cartoon: The Barn Dance, 1929 - Mickey Mouse

Frank 🎥 — Sun, 02 Aug 2026 08:21:12 GMT

The Barn Dance is a 1929 American animated short film directed by Walt Disney and animated by Ub Iwerks. It is the third short film in the Mickey Mouse film series. It was released on March 14, 1929 by Celebrity Productions. Columbia Pictures reissued the film after Walt Disney Productions switched distributors.

The short’s copyright was renewed on December 10, 1956, so it entered the US public domain on January 1, 2025.

Africa Speaks!, 1930

Frank 🎥 — Sat, 01 Aug 2026 10:58:07 GMT

Africa Speaks! is a 1930 American documentary film directed by Walter Futter and narrated by Lowell Thomas. It is an exploitation film.

Although the film was shot over the fourteen months of the expedition in the Serengeti and in Uganda, a scene involving an attack by a lion on a native was apparently staged at the Selig Zoo in Los Angeles and involved a toothless lion.

The title of the film was parodied in the 1940 cartoon Africa Squeaks and the 1949 Abbott and Costello film Africa Screams.