Public Domain Movies released in 1949

My Dear Secretary

Would-be writer Laraine Day takes a job as secretary to best-seller Kirk Douglas. You can find more information regarding this film on its IMDb page.

Trapped

The film tells the story of the U.S. Treasury Department who, with the aid of a counterfeiter, try to track down and stop of counterfeiting ring. The counterfeiter, Tris Stewart (Lloyd Bridges) serving time in prison, is released under the agreement that he will assist in the capture of the phoney money printers.

The Big Cat

During the Great Depression, a young man leaves his Eastern home for his late mother's birthplace in the Utah hills. He finds that things are far from peaceful on the frontier, thanks to a feud between rival ranchers and a deadly mountain lion on the prowl.

The Big Wheel

The plot focus is on Mickey Rooney's character Bill Coy who follows in his father's footsteps for good and for bad.

C-Man

When his best friend is murdered in pursuit of jewel smugglers, customs agent Cliff Holden (Dean Jagger) finds himself assigned to track down the killers and close the case. He flies to Europe in order to catch a return flight on which a chief suspect (Réné Paul) will be traveling.

Impact

"Wealthy businessman survives attempt by wife to have him killed, makes it look like she succeeded and starts a new life in small town as auto mechanic. Variation on idea elevated to noir importance by The Killers (1946), where victim of femme fatale tries to abandon the city and his past identity." - noir expert Spencer Selby

Jigsaw

The plot is about a shadowy group called the Crusaders, which has been organizing itself into a power center. Its poster shows a handsome Aryan lad against the waving American flag. Their slogan, "Join The Crusaders -- Fight for America!". The implication is clear...the Crusaders will be against anyone who doesn't look, sound or believe the way that Aryan poster boy does. When a columnist is killed while looking into the Crusaders, Howard Malloy finds himself appointed a special prosecutor.

D.O.A.

D.O.A. (1950) is a film noir drama film directed by Rudolph Maté, considered a classic of the stylistic genre. The frantically-paced plot revolves around a doomed man's quest to find out who has poisoned him – and why – before he dies. The film begins with a scene called "perhaps one of cinema's most innovative opening sequences" by a BBC reviewer. The scene is a long, behind-the-back tracking sequence featuring Frank Bigelow (O'Brien) walking through a hallway into a police station to report a murder: his own.