50+ years old Chinese movies (copyright expired)

[foolip]

I thought this might be of interest to fans of Chinese cinema. I did some research on Chinese copyright and found out that the copyright on cinematographic works in China is 50 years after its publication as opposed to 70 years in the USA and EU. This means that movies made before 1957 are now free for all to distribute at will. I've already put Princess Iron Fan (1941) on archive.org and am looking to put up Spring Time in a Small Town (1948) as well.

[tuxoar]

Wow, this is a real gold mine! Thanks for putting this stuff up and keep them coming!

[foolip]

Since these old movies generally don't have any English subtitles they aren't very accessible to the English-speaking world. Therefor I'm working on subtitles for Princess Iron Fan which I hope to make available within not too long (a few months). If you want to help out, check out this thread: http://www.chinese-forums.com/index.php?/topic/15-cctv-learn-chinese710

Alternatively, go directly to the project page on http://foolip.org/wiki/Princess_Iron_Fan and have a look.

[laolee]

A transcript for Spring in a Small Town is readily available on the 'net and an R1 DVD is slated for release in a few months.

http://www.dvdtimes.co.uk/content.php?contentid=64339

They're currently listed on amazon, along with

Crossroads

The Big Road

Queen of Sports

Song at Midnight

Daybreak

Way Down West/Romance of the West Chamber

[foolip]

That's really nice, laolee. I myself have already ordered to chinese DVDs of Springtime in a Small Town and hope the quality is ok. Where is that transcript you're talking about though?

[laolee]

This is it:

http://mclc.osu.edu/rc/pubs/spring/default.htm

[foolip]

Thanks. I should send them a mail and ask if it's OK to base subtitles on their translation.

[niubi]

while the copyright in general might be 50 years, i think a particular print or version could be copyrighted. i.e. a particular dvd print might be covered under a new copyright. therefore posting something you ripped from a dvd probably would be violating the copyright held by the company that published it. also the owner of the original prints from which a dvd might have been transfered would also be able to control any rights it might have given for its distribution.

on another note, there was a series of about 110 old films released on dvd with english subtitles - many of which have never been available with english subtitles. i am not sure if any of them are available online. i bought the whole set from a small store near the north gate of the beijing film academy.

[foolip]

Menus, subtitles and whatever is added to a new DVD release is certainly copyrighted, but unless the film or soundtrack is restored (i.e. a lot of work is put into it) it should be considered copying the film to a new medium, which I doubt strongly qualifies as a new work in any copyright legislation.

Do you have any more info of those 110 old films? Was that a long time ago? Do you have the name of the set? Is the video quality good?

[Gary Soup]

on another note, there was a series of about 110 old films released on dvd with english subtitles - many of which have never been available with english subtitles. i am not sure if any of them are available online. i bought the whole set from a small store near the north gate of the beijing film academy.

Was the publisher BoYing? I was able to get a few locally (San Francisco) for around $2 each.

[niubi]

no, it wasn't boying (i am fairly certain because i despise their 4:3 transfers of great european & american films which for much of the second half of 2006 were the only things available during the anti-piracy crackdown). i left all the paper cases back in my apartment in kunming, i will ship them this summer. looking on the disk itself, it says 福建省音像出版社 (fujiansheng yinxiang chubanshe). i might be able to ask a classmate who photocopied all my case covers for future reference in case he wanted to buy some of them to scan one and send it to me. it is a bit strange that i cannot find this series on dangdang, joyo, or yesasia.