Entertainment
Free Movies! The Best Films In The Public Domain
List Rules
Vote up your favorite royalty free movies.
The best free movies in the public domain number among some of the best movies of all time, and since their copyrights have lapsed, they are royalty free to watch, distribute, and remake. Many of these free films in the public domain and out of copyright were once high-grossing, Academy Award-winning movies that have since become open to public use. Classic movies like The Wizard of Oz, Metropolis, and Metropolis are now part of the general public experience.
What is the best film in the public domain? What Oscar winning films are now free to use? What are the greatest films whose copyrights have lapsed? Vote on the movies you think are the best available in the public domain and if you want to see them again, you might be able to watch them on YouTube.
Ranked by
- 1Cary Grant, Rosalind Russell, Ralph Bellamy
- Released: 1940
- Directed by: Howard Hawks
When hard-charging New York newspaper editor Walter Burns discovers that his ex-wife, investigative reporter Hildy Johnson, has gotten engaged to milquetoast insurance agent Bruce Baldwin, he ...more - 2Cary Grant, Audrey Hepburn, Walter Matthau
- Released: 1963
- Directed by: Stanley Donen
After Regina Lampert (Audrey Hepburn) falls for the dashing Peter Joshua (Cary Grant) on a skiing holiday in the French Alps, she discovers upon her return to Paris that her husband has been ...more - 3Duane Jones, Judith O'Dea, Karl Hardman
- Released: 1968
- Directed by: George A. Romero
A disparate group of individuals takes refuge in an abandoned house when corpses begin to leave the graveyard in search of fresh human bodies to devour. The pragmatic Ben (Duane Jones) does his best ...more - 4Lon Chaney, Mary Philbin, Norman Kerry
- Released: 1925
- Directed by: Rupert Julian
In this silent horror classic, aspiring young opera singer Christine Daaé (Mary Philbin) discovers that she has a mysterious admirer intent on helping her become a lead performer. This enigmatic ...more - 5Charlie Chaplin, Mack Swain, Tom Murray
- Released: 1925
- Directed by: Charlie Chaplin
In this classic silent comedy, the Little Tramp (Charles Chaplin) heads north to join in the Klondike gold rush. Trapped in a small cabin by a blizzard, the Tramp is forced to share close quarters ...more - 6Buster Keaton, Marion Mack, Glen Cavender
- Released: 1926
- Directed by: Clyde Bruckman, Buster Keaton
One of the most revered comedies of the silent era, this film finds hapless Southern railroad engineer Johnny Gray (Buster Keaton) facing off against Union soldiers during the American Civil War. ...more - 7Lon Chaney, Patsy Ruth Miller, Ernest Torrence
- Released: 1923
- Directed by: Wallace Worsley
In 15th-century Paris, Jehan (Brandon Hurst), the evil brother of the archdeacon, lusts after a Gypsy named Esmeralda (Patsy Ruth Miller) and commands the hunchback Quasimodo (Lon Chaney) to capture ...more - 8Vincent Price, Giacomo Rossi-Stuart, Umberto Raho
- Released: 1964
- Directed by: Sidney Salkow, Ubaldo Ragona
The Last Man on Earth is a 1964 science fiction horror film based on the Richard Matheson 1954 novel I Am Legend. The film was directed by Ubaldo Ragona and Sidney Salkow, and stars Vincent Price. ...more - 9Edmond O'Brien, Pamela Britton, Luther Adler
- Released: 1949
- Directed by: Rudolph Maté
Frank Bigelow (Edmond O'Brien) is about to die, and he knows it. The accountant has been poisoned and has only 24 hours before the lethal concoction kills him. Determined to find out who his murderer ...more - 10John Wayne, Maureen O'Hara, Yvonne De Carlo
- Released: 1963
- Directed by: Andrew V. McLaglen
Aging rancher George Washington McLintock (John Wayne), a wealthy self-made man, is forced to deal with numerous personal and professional problems. Seemingly everyone wants a piece of his enormous ...more - 11Candace Hilligoss, Frances Feist, Sidney Berger
- Released: 1962
- Directed by: Herk Harvey
Mary Henry (Candace Hilligoss) ends up the sole survivor of a fatal car accident through mysterious circumstances. Trying to put the incident behind her, she moves to Utah and takes a job as a church ...more - 12Gary Cooper, Barbara Stanwyck, Edward Arnold
- Released: 1941
- Directed by: Frank Capra
A reporter writes a fictitious column about a man named "John Doe," who claims to despair at America's neglect of the little people and plans to kill himself. The newspaper then hires a ...more - 13Jonathan Haze, Jackie Joseph, Mel Welles
- Released: 1960
- Directed by: Roger Corman
Seymour Krelboin (Jonathan Haze) works in the Skid Row flower shop owned by Mr. Mushnik (Mel Welles). In his spare time, Seymour creates a new plant species he names Audrey Junior in honor of his ...more - 14Bing Crosby, Bob Hope, Dorothy Lamour
- Released: 1952
- Directed by: Hal Walker
In this musical, Harold (Bob Hope) and George (Bing Crosby) are two vaudeville performers in Australia. After they realize their local gal pals intend to marry them, they sign up for a diving ...more - 15Mae Questel, Jack Mercer, Gus Wickie
- Released: 1936
- Directed by: Dave Fleischer
Popeye the Sailor Meets Sindbad the Sailor is a two-reel animated cartoon short subject in the Popeye Color Feature series, produced in Technicolor and released to theatres on November 27, 1936 by ...more - 16Tom Neal, Ann Savage, Claudia Drake
- Released: 1945
- Directed by: Edgar G. Ulmer
In New York, piano player Al Roberts (Tom Neal) laments when his singer girlfriend, Sue Harvey (Claudia Drake), leaves for Hollywood, Calif. When Al gets some money, he decides to hitchhike to ...more - 17Mary Pickford, ZaSu Pitts, Theodore Roberts
- Released: 1917
- Directed by: Marshall Neilan
The Little Princess is a 1917 American silent film directed by Marshall Neilan based upon the novel A Little Princess by Frances Hodgson Burnett. This version is notable for having been adapted by ...more - 18John Wayne, Gail Russell, Harry Carey
- Released: 1947
- Directed by: James Edward Grant
Quirt Evans (John Wayne), a cowboy on the run, is injured when his horse stumbles near a Quaker family's land. The family takes him in as he regains his health, and he falls for their young daughter, ...more - 19Lanny Ross, Pinto Colvig, Jessica Dragonette
- Released: 1939
- Directed by: Dave Fleischer
In this animated tale, seaman Lemuel Gulliver (Sam Parker) is the sole survivor of a shipwreck on the distant land of Lilliput, whose people are no bigger than peanuts. Unaware of Gulliver lying on ...more - 20José Ferrer, Mala Powers, William Prince
- Released: 1950
- Directed by: Michael Gordon
Poet, romantic and sword fighter Cyrano de Bergerac (Jose Ferrer) loves the beautiful Roxane (Mala Powers), but although he is proud enough of his bulbous proboscis that he regularly duels those who ...more - 21Barbara Stanwyck, Van Heflin, Kirk Douglas
- Released: 1946
- Directed by: Lewis Milestone
Young Martha (Barbara Stanwyck) inadvertently causes the death of her cruel, authoritarian aunt. Martha lies to the cops, and Walter (Kirk Douglas), who saw the crime, corroborates the girl's story. ...more - 22Helen Hayes, Gary Cooper, Adolphe Menjou
- Released: 1932
- Directed by: Frank Borzage
Frederic Henry (Gary Cooper), an American driving ambulances for the Italian Army during World War I, falls for British Red Cross nurse Catherine Barkley (Helen Hayes), to the displeasure of jealous ...more - 23Bela Lugosi, Madge Bellamy, Robert Frazer
- Released: 1932
- Directed by: Victor Halperin
Murder Legendre (Bela Lugosi) is the menacingly named zombie master of Haiti. So it's to him that Charles Beaumont (Robert Frazer) goes when he needs help for a twisted plan. Spurned in marriage by ...more - 24Larry Fine, Moe Howard, Curly Howard
- Directed by: Jack White
Disorder in the Court is the 15th short subject starring American slapstick comedy team the Three Stooges. The trio made a total of 190 shorts for Columbia Pictures between 1934 and 1959. - 25Fred Astaire, Jane Powell, Peter Lawford
- Released: 1951
- Directed by: Stanley Donen
American sibling song-and-dance team Tom (Fred Astaire) and Ellen Bowen (Jane Powell) are in London in 1947, when all of England is in a tizzy over the impending nuptials of Princess Elizabeth and ...more
