From: kludge@panix.com   
      
   Evelyn C. Leeper  wrote:   
   >On 9/8/25 5:48 PM, Gary McGath wrote:   
   >> I'm glad to talk about this whenever you're ready. The only reason I   
   >> stopped accompanying silent films at Boskone was that a lot of silents   
   >> were still under copyright then, and Kino in particular charged   
   >> expensive licensing fees.>   
   >>   
   >There's always the 1925 SHE, which certainly is in the public domain now   
   >(along with everything else from 1925).   
      
   The problems are first of all that some of the older silent films are   
   still in original copyright, but also that the restored and reconstructed   
   versions are individually copyrighted.   
      
   So... Boskone (or maybe Arisia, it's hard to tell) owns a 16mm print of   
   Metropolis which they bought from Blackhawk Films in the seventies.  The   
   Blackhawk prints come with rights conveyed, so they can show that to   
   anyone without paying any royalties.   
      
   BUT... the new re-edited version of Metropolis sold by Kino Lorber is   
   still in copyright because of the restoration work... and it is much   
   easier to follow the plot in the restored version.  (It still has a   
   lot of important stuff missing though.)   
      
   So, we can show a poor and fragmentary version but we can't show a more   
   complete and better-looking (but still far from original) version without   
   paying rights.   
      
   There ARE some old 16mm prints and public domain video transfers of   
   many great silent films, though.  Some of them are available through   
   the Library of Congress although their impending budget cuts may sink   
   that.   
   --scott   
   --   
   "C'est un Nagra. C'est suisse, et tres, tres precis."   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)