Don’t assume movies in the public domain are just too lousy to make renewing copyright worthwhile. That’s true of only 99.99 percent of them! Here are 10 worth downloading for your PSP or iPod. Find them at sites like PublicDomainTorrents.com or Archive.org.
1) Detour (1945)
Snappy dialog, femme fatale, guilt-ridden hero, flimsy sets – it’s protonoir that helped launch a genre.
2) Driller Killer (1979)
Abel Ferrara (Bad Lieutenant) directs and plays a homicidal artist. Not the 1948 dance hit Killer Diller.
3) Night of the Living Dead (1968)
George Romero’s gritty classic out-brains the avalanche of zombie flicks it inspired. Mmm ... brains.
4) Santa Claus Conquers the Martians (1964)
It’s a Wonderful Life is out of the public domain? So what. The interplanetary battle for Christmas rules!
5) Superman cartoons (early 1940s)
Modern superhero flicks got nothin’ on these perfectly drawn shorts.
6) The Battle of San Pietro (1943)
Forget Private Ryan and get into real WW II bunkers with this gripping John Huston documentary.
7) The General (1927)
Buster Keaton is still the king of physical comedy. This train-hijacking romp is his masterpiece.
8) The Lost World (1925)
We’ll take the stop-motion dinosaurs in this seminal f/x flick over Jurassic Park’s CG crap any day.
9) The Street Fighter (1974)
Quentin Tarantino’s idol Sonny Chiba literally tears bad guys apart in a graphic karate-palooza.
10) Reefer Madness (1936)
One puff of wacky tobacky turns Depression-era teens into sex fiends, pinkos, and jazz pianists.
– Chris Baker
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Minimal Surfaces, Maximal Bricks
What's Inside: Squirt-On Cheese
For Every Problem, a Cut-Rate Solution
The Best: Movies in the Public Domain
Boost Your Life the Urawaza Way
Better Drinking Through Chemistry
Keep Your Eyes Locked in the Full, Upright Position
