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!
Happy New Year!
2026 is upon us, and while no one can be certain what the year will bring, we can at least take comfort in knowing the public domain has once again grown a bit larger. Everything released in 1930 is now copyright free and available for anyone to use/copy/distribute/turn-into-a-low-budget-slasher-movie as they see fit. And 1930 gave us some real gems, first and foremost this month’s offering, All Quiet on the Western Front!
Based on the novel by Erich Maria Remarque, it’s the story of several young German lads who enlist to fight in World War I, unprepared for the harsh realities that await them. What follows is a brutal, moving, and frightfully realistic depiction of life in the trenches, earning the film lasting fame as one of the finest anti-war movies ever made. It was so good at being an anti-war movie, in fact, that several governments banned it on accusations of promoting pacifism – this ranged from the usual suspects (Nazi Germany, natch) to some that are quite surprising (Victoria, Australia? Seriously?).
Of course, it wouldn’t have that impact if it wasn’t a well-made film, and All Quiet on the Western Front is very, very well made. At a time when most films were still grasping and flailing to get this whole “sound picture” thing to work, director Lewis Milestone pioneered new ways of working with the technology, and created a film full of beautiful and harrowing shots as well as heartbreaking performances (little surprise it won Best Picture and Best Director at the Oscars).
All Quiet on the Western Front is just a damn good picture, full stop. So it seems kind of a shame to pair it with the opening cartoon “Dizzy Dishes”.
“Dizzy Dishes” is all right – it’s a perfectly fine music-&-gags cartoon, of the sort that dominated the animation industry in 1930. You probably won’t walk away from it bored, but probably not enraptured by it, either. I’m including it in this Public Domain Theater, though, because it is historic. This, my fine viewers, is the debut that cartoon sensation, the one and only Betty Boop!
(Though here Betty is a supporting character rather than the star, and sports some weird, dangling ears, because at this point they hadn’t decided whether Betty should be a human being or a particularly sexy cartoon dog.)
Whether you want a landmark production in cinema, or the introduction of a classic cartoon star, you can ring in the New Year right here at Public Domain Theater!
Opening Cartoon:
Feature Presentation:
Watch on the Internet Archive here