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24 April 2008
Can you prove it didn't happen? Perhaps the greatest film ever made by human hands - Plan 9 From Outer Space.
Perhaps the greatest film... Yes - ILM weeps when they watch this, and Bergman is a cheap hack. Tarkovsky rolls in his grave and if you turn the volume up loud enough you can hear the wings of doves. Stands at the peak with Pink Flamingos and Faster, Pussycat! Kill! Kill! I've seen it at least twice.
Someone's uploaded the whole thing to Google vids? And they're still hosting it?
Anyway, Plan 9 is unbelievably bad. I have a copy on DVD that I lend out occasionally. People borrow it knowing it's bad but most, so far, haven't managed to get all the way through it.
It most certainly is not. Wtf? Why would it be, I don't recall some law saying B-movies enter public domain when the director dies. Does that only happen if they're alcoholics? Passport stuidio should still have the rights unless they sold them (but why would they do that when they can make money on it by making DVD's and whatnot, I mean, people still want to see this movie).
Wow, at archive.org people are even arguing about it. Weird. They think it's public domain just because it's ON TV A LOT? Someone needs to be hit over the head with a "copyright for dummies" book.
Wait a second, it's "Pubic domain" because archive.org says it is? See slashdot. Wow, the internet never ceases to surprise me. I think they mean "can now be watched for free at archive.org"
I seem to recall there being several different releases of Plan 9 on video back in the 80s. If I recall correctly, the story was that the rights had lapsed into public domain. I believe something similar had happened to It's A Wonderful Life. Again, I don't really know - I had the conversation about 25 years ago and was amazingly high at the time.
ah, I think I figured it out, seems to be a loop here: Works published with notice of copyright or registered in unpublished form prior to January 1, 1964, had to be renewed during the 28th year of their first term of copyright to maintain copyright for a full 95-year term. OR the film did not include a proper copyright notice when published which seems to have been mucho important back then. Maybe it is in the public domain then. wIkipedia even cites " the images of Frank Capra's classic film, It's a Wonderful Life (1946) entered into the public domain in 1974, because someone inadvertently failed to file a copyright renewal application with the Copyright Office during the 28th year after the film's release or publication." so that sounds like the same thing may have happened to plan 9.
Oh, oh --- JanetLand, that might be the hardest I laugh all day!
I like Bela's much taller replacement, the chiropractor with the necessarily cape-covered face. His posture --- hunching slightly, lowering the head, wrapping the arm around the face, and walking off --- has entered our, uh, physical vocabulary. Usually it indicates that the pantomimer is doing something they know might be really dumb.
photo by splunge
photo by TheophileEscargot
photo by Kronos_to_Earth
photo by ethylene
