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!

It’s surrealism month here on Public Domain Theater! Our feature presentation is that bizarre, perplexing, avant garde French film, L’Age d’Or, directed by Luis Buñuel, and co-written by Buñuel with Salvador Dalí. These two heroes of surrealism had previously collaborated on the acclaimed short film “Un Chien Andalou”, which Public Domain Theater took a look at last year. If you remember that headtrip of a film, it should give you some idea what to expect from their feature length collaboration (though maybe not at quite as frenetic a pace).

With such a surreal film as our feature, our opening cartoon must be no less surreal. Luckily, the field of early animation is brimming with surrealist outings – it’s an embarrassment of riches, really. I ultimately decided on the 1930 cartoon “Felix the Cat Woos Whoopee”. It stars Felix the Cat (natch), staggering home after a night of hard drinking. When the already loose reality of early cartoons gets mixed up with rum induced hallucinations, the result is a parade of bizarre imagery that’d be terrifying if it weren’t so cute and whimsical.

Prepare to enter an altered state of mind, because we’re taking you on a trip out of reality and into those gaga realms where anything goes … all from the comfort of Public Domain Theater!

Opening Cartoon:

Feature Presentation: