Now showing: Your favorite ‘talkies’ from 1929

By Michael R. Malone [email protected] 01-16-2025

This past Jan. 1 on Public Domain Day 2025, the intellectual property rights expired for a montage of movies made in 1929-films that include the musically inspired "Gold Diggers of Broadway" and "The Broadway Melody" to animated shorts featuring iconic images of "Oswald the Lucky Rabbit" (Bugs Bunny), "The Karnival Kid" (Mickey Mouse), "Popeye the Sailor," and Walt Disney's "The Skeleton Dance."

While clips, images, and sometimes the entirety of these films have seeped surreptitiously onto the internet over the years, their release on Public Domain Day eliminates copyright costs and clears the legal pathway for creators to breathe new life into these classics.

"Before you would have had to pay clearance rights to use clips from the films, but now they're basically free, up for grabs," explained Rene Rodriguez, an instructor with the University of Miami School of Communication and program manager for the Bill Cosford Cinema.

"For example, a company like Criterion Collection-in business for 30 years and considered the Rolls Royce of home video-can take some of these movies and release them and include all kinds of extra information-documentaries, commentary tracks, and put these movies into context-because now the movie itself doesn't cost them anything."

Some entertainment critics suggest that "the class of 2025" could be a stellar class, and a number of film remakes-a far cry from the originals-are purportedly in the works such as three new Popeye-inspired horror films, including "Popeye the Slayer Man."

But Rodriguez, for decades the film critic for the Miami Herald and a protégé of the legendary film critic Bill Cosford for whom the University theater is named, doubted that many of the films would meet the expectations of audiences today.

"This batch of movies belongs to an era when Hollywood was still figuring out what they could do and how to make these movies; they were still getting their bearings," he explained. "With the exception of a few international films, this group of movies is still mostly remembered for their historic importance, not their craftsmanship."

While 1929 was the year that synchronized sound truly took over, Rodriguez highlighted that the transition to "talkies" was far from seamless.

"Silent films were what audiences knew and loved," he said. "All of a sudden you introduce the element of sound, and there was a huge cost factor involved-movie theaters had to be fitted with sound equipment, and it was a completely new way of watching movies.

"'The Jazz Singer,' for example, had sound portions, and people were like 'oh my God, we're listening to him sing,'" Rodriguez said. "Today that seems silly, but back then it was mind-blowing, and it completely changed the industry. It had ramifications that no one knew about."

Some actors who were hugely famous in silent films couldn't make the crossover because their voices were not suitable-they either had squeaky voices or heavy accents, Rodriguez explained. He pointed out that the film "Babylon," a film released in 2022, charted this technological and sociological transition as part of its narrative.

"It was difficult for filmmakers to adjust. Just going and shooting a camera is one thing, but sound is probably the most difficult aspect of filmmaking," Rodriguez said. "Once you're recording sound, it becomes very elaborate and complicated, so Hollywood had to learn its lesson, and audiences had to learn how to watch these films."

A list of the top 10 highest grossing films in 1929 in North America were all musicals and sound-influenced films, Rodriguez noted. "The Broadway Melody" was the first sound film to win an Academy Award for best picture and was one of the earliest to have technicolor, which would later introduce Hollywood to color films.

While "Broadway" holds up for later audiences because of its innovative quality, most of the films of that era would not.

"The attraction of these movies was basically just the novelty of sound. A lot of them were made to show off the new technology," Rodriguez said. "They're not great films in the way we think of great films today with the narrative and writing. Yet these films were forging a new path."

While the 1929 films may not find broad appeal with audiences, they are gems for film history buffs.

"With these kinds of movies, there will be more of a boom to the University's educational programs-it's a way into teaching the silent film era and the progression from silence into sound," said Rodriguez, who teaches an Aspects of Contemporary Cinema course. "We'll see more remakes once we enter the 1930s because at that point sound was more incorporated into Hollywood; it had become routine, and so filmmakers started experimenting with film noir and gangster movies, and screwball comedies.

"And those movies are remembered not just for the use of sound but because they were great movies that just happened to have sound tech in them," Rodriguez said. "In a couple of years (with the release through Public Domain Days), you'll see a bigger impact in terms of availability and programming and screening."

Public Domain Day, which is country specific, was reinstated in 2019 in the United States following a unique 20-year hiatus owing to the Sonny Bono Copyright Term Extension Act (CTEA) of 1998. Works remain protected until the end of each calendar year, and those after 1978 are now protected for the life of the author plus 70 years.