Film producers may be familiar with the National Archives and Records Administration (“NARA”) as a source of “uncopyrightable” moving images created by the United States Government, but did you know that a substantial body of copyrighted film content also exists in its holdings? Material can be collected by Federal Agencies or donated by production companies (in this case the Fox Movietone collection), individuals, and even former Presidents (most of the content in NARA’s Presidential LIbrary system prior to 1981 was donated!).
Thanks to changes in the Copyright Law in the US in 1977 and 1978, all films created in 1928, including this newsreel item, an early talkie from 1928, fell into the Public Domain on January 1st of this year. It features the first filmed interview of famed playwright and author George Bernard Shaw. You can hear his approaching footsteps and hints of birdsong from the country setting. His meandering interview touches on many topics, even, amusingly, his impression of Italian dictator Benito Mussolini! The audio recording for film was still very new and Fox Movietone was in its first year of operation, so they were charmingly still figuring out how to use this new technology. This particular film was recorded off a flatbed film viewer in NARA’s research room in College Park, Maryland.
Older content finds its way onto the web with regularity, but less than 10% of the moving image content in the National Archives’ collections is available digitally on-line. Professional researchers have the ability to locate content that is only available on-site in many institutions nation-wide. Contact an archival media researcher today to add special value to your production or publication!
Historicity Research Services 