Public Domain Movies released in 1933

A Study In Scarlet

From IMDb: In London, a secret society led by lawyer Thaddeus Merrydew collects the assets of any of its deceased members and divides them among the remaining members. Society members start dropping like flies. Sherlock Holmes is approached by member James Murphy's widow, who is miffed at being left penniless by her husband. When Captain Pyke is shot, Holmes keys in on his mysterious Chinese widow as well as the shady Merrydew. Other members keep dying--Malcom Dearing first, then Mr. Baker.

Skyway

A poverty-row film from Monogram.

The Emperor Jones

The Emperor Jones is a 1920 play by American dramatist, Eugene O'Neill which tells the tale of Brutus Jones (Paul Robeson), an African-American man who kills a man, goes to prison, escapes to a Caribbean island, and sets himself up as emperor.

Riders of Destiny

John Wayne portrays Singin' Sandy Saunders and has a reputation as the most notorious gunman since Billy the Kid. That's somewhat ironic though, since it's later revealed that he's a special Secret Service agent sent from Washington to investigate a land swindle scheme under the direction of town boss James Kincaid (Forrest Taylor).

The Kennel Murder Case

Philo Vance investigates one of his most famous locked-room murders.

The failure of the original copyright holder to renew the film's copyright resulted in it falling into public domain, meaning that virtually anyone could duplicate and sell a VHS/DVD copy of the film. Therefore, many of the versions of this film available on the market are either severely (and usually badly) edited and/or of extremely poor quality, having been duped from second- or third-generation (or more) copies of the film.

Philo Vance - The Kennel Murder Case

Archer Coe has been found dead in his locked bedroom. The cops consider it suicide, but Philo believes otherwise. When the Coroner shows up, he finds that Archer had been hit with a blunt object, stabbed and shot - making suicide unlikely. When the evidence points to his brother, Brisbane is found stabbed to death in the closet. Archer had a number of enemies, any one of which would have been glad to knock him off, but which one did and how did the murder occur in a room looked from the inside.

The Big Chance

Frankie (John Darrow), a young prizefighter, wins a fixed boxing match as part of a crime boss's (Matthew Betz) plan to have him build up a following and then have him throw a championship fight. Later, while training, Frankie meets Mary (Merna Kennedy) as she is going to church with her family, and he begins a romance with her. The crime boss orders Frankie to stay away from Mary, while continuing to arrange for Frankie to win more fights. Just before Frankie's fight with the champion, he and the boss have an argument.

Sagebrush Trail

Imprisoned for a murder he did not commit, John Brant (John Wayne) escapes and ends up out west where, after giving the local lawmen the slip, he joins up with an outlaw gang. Brant finds out that 'Jones' (Nancy Shubert), one of the outlaws he has become friends with, committed the murder that Brant was sent up for, but has no knowledge that anyone was ever put in jail for his crime.

A Shriek in the Night

A madman shrieks as the body of a man falls from an upper floor of an apartment building, bringing unwanted attention from a rival reporter to a racketeering case an undercover reporter is investigating. Stars: Ginger Rogers and Lyle Talbot IMDb Page The 665MB MPEG4 file was derived from the 1.7GB MPEG2 found on this page.

The Vampire Bat

"These are the TALONS of The Vampire Bat" This copy is sharper than the others that appear on the Internet Archive. Copyright Status: PUBLIC DOMAIN Registered: THE VAMPIRE BAT. 1933. 7 reels. Credits: Producer, Phil Goldstone; director, Frank Strayer; screen story, Edward T. Lowe; film editor, Otis Garrett. (c) Majestic Pictures Corp.; 19Jan33; LP3579. NO RENEWALS FOUND. There are two versions available for download: - NTSC (480p @ 24 fps) Run Time: 1:02:37 - PAL (576p @ 25 fps) Run Time: 1:00:08 They are both transferred from the same complete, uncut print of the film.

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