Works from 1929 and sound recordings from 1924 are now open to all in the U.S. This means all books, films, songs and art published throughout the Roaring 20s are without copyright protection, making 2025 a significant year for the public domain.
Here are some of the most notable works that are newly free to use.
- “A Farewell to Arms,” by Ernest Hemingway
- “The Sound and the Fury,” by William Faulkner
- “Seven Dials Mystery,” by Agatha Christie
- The first English version of “All Quiet on the Western Front” by Erich Maria Remarque, translated by Arthur Wesley Wheen
- “Rope,” by Patrick Hamilton
- “The Karnival Kid,” Mickey Mouse’s first talking appearance and the debut of his signature white gloves, along with 11 other Mickey shorts
- “The Cocoanuts,” the Marx Brothers’ first feature film, directed by Robert Florey and Joseph Santley
- “The Skeleton Dance,” Disney’s first “Silly Symphony” short, directed by Walt Disney and animated by Ub Iwerks
- “Blackmail,” directed by Alfred Hitchcock, his first sound film
- “Hallelujah,” directed by King Vidor, considered to be one of the first major studio films to feature an all-Black cast
- The character of Popeye by E. C. Segar as he appeared in the “Thimble Theatre” comic strip “Gobs of Work”
- The character of Tintin by Hergé as he appeared in the Le Petit Vingtième magazine comic strip “Les Aventures de Tintin”
- “Singin’ in the Rain,” music by Nacio Herb Brown, lyrics by Arthur Freed
- “An American in Paris,” composed by George Gershwin
- “Tiptoe Through the Tulips,” music by Joseph Burke, lyrics by Alfred Dubin