Welcome to Public Domain Theater, your home for the wonderful world of films that have (in the United States, at least) fallen into the public domain, and are free for everyone to see!
This month, we have for you the 1924 silent film adaptation of Peter Pan!
… I don’t need to explain what Peter Pan is about, do I? If you’re reading this in English, an at least cursory awareness of Peter Pan is kind of assumed.
I will say that this particular adaptation, the first ever film portrayal of the story, is remarkably faithful to the original stage play (aside from the minor indulgence of making the Darling family American). It even keeps the play’s tradition of having Peter Pan played by a young woman, which makes some of the scenes with Peter & Wendy … I mean, I don’t know if this film has an LGBTQ following, but it feels like maybe it should.
Peter Pan is a tale so full of the bizarre and the fanciful, our opening cartoon will need to be particularly screwball if it doesn’t want to be overshadowed. So of course we turned our eye to Looney Tunes, for the Bob Clampett picture “Nutty News”.
A spoof of newsreels, the whole thing is an excuse for a bunch of quick, disconnected skits – it bounces from one premise to another every thirty seconds or so, whenever the narrator changes the subject (on an unrelated note, said narrator sounds an awful lot like one Elmer J. Fudd). But folks don’t come to Looney Tunes for the plot – they come for the gags, and this one is packed with plenty of great ones.
With all that ready for you, let’s not wait any longer – sprinkle on some fairy dust, think some happy thoughts, and come flying away to a marvelous land known as the Public Domain.
Opening Cartoon:
Feature Presentation:
