I know that after that avalanche of Roger Corman reviews, you seriously need a dose of good taste. That explains why I am reviewing the Richard Chamberlain-starring adaptation of The Count Of Monte Cristo, which also stars Tony Curtis, Trevor Howard, and Donald Pleasence. Never say that The Unknown Movies doesn’t look out for readers of The B-Masters Cabal page.
#1 by PB210 on November 25, 2010 - 1:23 pm
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‘”See, this movie’s copyright, for some reason, was not renewed several years back, so it’s now in the public domain. I found it on a DVD paired with the Alain Delon Zorro movie at a price of just over one dollar”.
It may not have fallen into the public domain, but the cut rate companies probably do not expect anyone to call them on it.
Live Video released this CMC as part of a series of TV movies. This also included a well-regarded adaptation of the Scarlet Pimpernel with Jane Seymour and Anthony Andrews.
Regarding the Alain Delon Zorro, a woman in China noted that she knew about Zorro. Apparently, this resulted from the success of the Delon Zorro.
#2 by Greywizard on November 25, 2010 - 2:33 pm
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Thanks for the information. If the movie is still under copyright and the DVD manufacturer thought no one would call them on it, it’s odd they would use such a crappy print instead of getting a copy of the VHS edition and copying that.
#3 by Read MacGuirtose on November 26, 2010 - 9:36 am
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It’s possible that it’s out of copyright, but it’s not very likely.
According to U.S. copyright law, works made between 1964 and 1977, if published with a copyright notice, maintain their copyright until 95 years after publication. This means that The Count of Monte Cristo wouldn’t fall out of copyright until 2070. However, works published during that period without a copyright notice are now in the public domain. (The rule about the copyright notice no longer applies today — anything is copyrighted until 70 years after the death of the author or 95 years after publication, whether or not they’re published with a copyright notice — but that change in the law wasn’t retroactive for older works that had already fallen into the public domain by then; after all, it wouldn’t be feasible to bring works back out of the public domain.) So it could be that The Count of Monte Cristo is in the public domain, if it was published without a copyright notice — that would have been a huge oversight, of course, but it’s happened before (that’s exactly why Night of the Living Dead is now in the public domain).
(As an added detail, it’s not entirely clear if U.S. copyright law is the law that applies here, given that at least one of the production companies involved was British. If its copyright was registered in the United Kingdom but not in the U.S., then U.K. copyright law would apply. However, while it’s more difficult to find information on U.K. copyright law online than U.S. copyright law, what I have been able to find seems to indicate that its copyright would last at least until fifty years after publication, which would still put it under copyright protection. Aside from this, it seems very unlikely that the movie was intended to be distributed in the U.S. the producers wouldn’t have copyrighted it there, if they copyrighted it at all. So this nicety can probably be safely ignored.)
Even if it is still under copyright, however (as seems likely), PB210 may be right about the company being unlikely to be called on using it. Of the two production companies involved, one has no credits since 1996 and is presumably defunct. The other the IMDb shows as having no credits after 1985, except for one lone credit in 2006… given that it seems improbable that a production company could remain in business for twenty years without releasing any movies, I’m guessing this is one of the IMDb’s occasional errors (perhaps the 2006 movie was released by a different production company that had taken the name of the earlier company, but didn’t necessarily have any other connection with it). If neither of the production companies involved with the movie is still in business, then even if it is still in copyright there may be no one in a position to enforce it.
#4 by Luke Blanchard on November 27, 2010 - 8:23 pm
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The swordfight at the climax of Scaramouche (1952) was once said to be the longest ever. I think the one at the climax of the Dellon Zorro film is longer.
#5 by supersonic on November 29, 2010 - 2:55 am
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In spite of which the film remains dull and forgettable.