This is not a small budget, slipshod production by any means. From the number of budget DVDs though, it must have slipped into the public domain.
How was that ever allowed?
The story of "It's A Wonderful Life" having gone into and out of the public domain is very interesting.
Just wondering if anyone here has any similar info on "McLintock!".
I was also surprised to see McLintock! in the public domain - it is available to view for free on various websites. So I did some digging...
John Wayne decided to get into movie production and, in 1952, he formed Batjac Productions. Batjac produced fifteen movies starring Wayne but retained the rights to only four of them:
The High and the Mighty
Hondo
Island in the Sky
McLintock!
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Batjac_Productions#The_.22Lost.22_Wayne_films
McLintock! was released in 1963. At that time, US copyright protection lasted for 28 years - as per the Copyright Act of 1909. The act allowed for copyright to be renewed for one additional period of 28 years.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Copyright_Act_of_1909
In 1991, Batjac should have renewed the copyright for McLintock! but did not, so it entered public domain. If Batjac had renewed the McLintock! copyright in 1991 then it would have been protected until 2038, i.e. another 47 years - rather than 28 years. This is because the Copyright Act of 1976 extended protection to a fixed term of 75 years from publication.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Copyright_Act_of_1976#Term_of_protection
In 1992, the law was amended so that copyright is automatically renewed - rights holders no longer have to apply for renewal. However, this change came too late for McLintock! as it had entered public domain the previous year.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Copyright_Renewal_Act_of_1992
For works that received their copyright before 1978, a renewal had to be filed in the work's 28th year with the Copyright Office for its term of protection to be extended. The need for renewal was eliminated by the Copyright Renewal Act of 1992, but works that had already entered the public domain by non-renewal did not regain copyright protection. Therefore, works published before 1964 that were not renewed are in the public domain.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Copyright_law_of_the_United_States#Works_created_before_1978