Talk:Africa Screams

PD

How come this film is PD if it was made in 1949? I thought the rule of thumb for the US was pre-1923. pfctdayelise (translate?) 12:48, 8 March 2006 (UTC)

• Many films from 1949 and after have fallen into the public domain for one reason or another, sometimes because of a poor copyright, sometimes because the film was never copyrighted, or because the copyright wasn't renewed or because of some other reason. The fact that this film can be downloaded online, and that it is being released by many different companies (including by Legend Films in a colorized version) leads me to believe that the film is in the public domain. (Sugar Bear 20:13, 9 March 2006 (UTC))

Meaning of the title?

What is the title "Africa Screams" supposed to connote? Is it a reference to something that was obvious in 1950? Is it a reference to a book or another movie title?--Petzl (talk) 15:33, 17 December 2011 (UTC)

I came here for the same reason.

We also have the earlier cartoon Africa Squeaks, but I don't know what the pun is on. The cartoon would be punning on something older.

Varlaam (talk) 17:48, 12 June 2012 (UTC)

In 1930 there was a very successful documentary called "Africa Speaks." 74.104.189.176 (talk) 23:30, 10 September 2021 (UTC)

Public Domain

The date (1977) and reason for the film falling into the PD is explained here. It is an Internet forum post by "Bob Furmanek" whose name can be found frequently on Wikipedia. Furmanek claims personal knowledge of the film history. He says:

Africa fell into the public domain because the rights were purchased in the early 1950's by an independent distributor in New York (Robert Haggiag) and he became quite wealthy from his other film interests. He failed to renew the copyright in 1977 because he had no interest in the film. When I tracked him down in the late eighties, the original nitrate elements had been un-touched since 1953, and most of the original camera negative was decomposed. I was able to transfer the fine grain to video, and I personally paid to have a 35mm safety dupe negative made from the nitrate fine grain. The film is now preserved on 35mm.

Although a forum post on hometheaterforum.com is considered a self-published source (WP:SPS), "Self-published expert sources may be considered reliable when produced by an established expert on the subject matter, whose work in the relevant field has previously been published by reliable third-party publications." Furmanek is an established expert about the film's history because he obtained the original and had it transferred to a new medium. Furmanek is also the author of Abbott and Costello in Hollywood (1991, Perigee Trade) further establishing his credentials and reliability. As such I believe this source is reliable-enough for this to be included in Wikipedia. -- GreenC 14:22, 13 February 2019 (UTC)

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One wonderful story I heard I can't "officially" enter because I've forgotten which book I saw it in.

Bud&Lou were fed up with studio president Nassour's interference on the set.On the last day of shooting,Lou went to a bakery and bought an entire day's worth of pies.

When the film was in the can and they knew they'd never be back,Bud&Lou staged a massive pie fight on the set---and sent Nassour the bill for both the pies and the janitor cleanup. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 198.23.5.11 (talk) 18:38, 1 July 2022 (UTC)

Restoration in the Public Domain?

Would the restored version be in the public domain? Or would that be under copyright? MonkeyBBGB (talk) 03:12, 8 February 2023 (UTC)