MovieChat Forums > Spider Baby or, the Maddest Story Ever Told (1967) Discussion > Public Domain?

Public Domain?

posted 17 years ago by beware308
4 replies | jump to latest

For Christmas, my uncle gave me a 5 DVD Set called Weird Cinema: 15 Freaky Flicks. It's got 15 movies spread out onto 5 DVDs, and one of the movies was Spider Baby. At first, i thought this might have been an older release, but from the scant information i found, this package came out this past November.

I've never seen the movie before, and couldn't find the September DVD release when it came out, and forgot about it. Im wondering if anyone has any information regarding this release or anything? All the other movies are public domain, such as Carnival of Souls, Night Tide, and Santa Claus Conquers The Martians. The quality is really damn good, too. A bit shaky, but you couldn't tell that it's a public domain movie.

[–] VinnieRattolle 15 years ago

Fangoria did a big article on the movie in the mid-'90s. Apparently, yes, the movie did lapse into public domain, and director Jack Hill had to illegally forge some paperwork just to get a good print of the movie in circulation -- cuz the public domain prints were abysmal. I'm not clear on if the movie's still in public domain or if they were able to reclaim the copyright due to a technicality (which has happened in a few other instances). If there is a print that's still in public domain, chances are it doesn't include the scene in the car where the origin of the dynamite is explained (that scene's been added into the newer "director's cut"). Some of the companies releasing those public domain DVD-multipacks have screwed up and included things that are copyrighted ("Deadtime Stories" instantly springs to mind), so it could simply be a goof.

http://vinnierattolle.blogspot.com/

[–] Tchoutoye 14 years ago

Like many other public domain films, Spider Bay is available for download/streaming at archive.org:

http://www.archive.org/details/SPIDERBABY1964_0

[–] jedi1007 14 years ago

The director's cut is available on Amazon.

[–] Eligius1 11 years ago

I recently saw it on a community television station. They usually only show public domain films. The print they had was very good!