Archive.org has the usual Public Domain Day 2024 Remix Contest

“Make a 2–3 minute movie using at least one work published in 1928 that will become Public Domain on 1st January 2024.”

With one of 2024’s possible themes being “Weird Tales of 1928″ and another being somewhat detective-ish, “Sleuthing the Public Domain”.

A quick look at my Public domain in 2024 post suggests a film-maker could choose from Wandrei’s “Sonnets of the Midnight Hours” series in Weird Tales. In books, small parts of Wild Animal Interviews and wild opinions of us and the prescient The Day After To-morrow: What is going to happen to the world? might make amusing cartoons.

Talking of cartoons, Mickey Mouse’s first appearance finally enters the public domain, so a makeover for the malodorous mouse is not impossible. Imagine…

‘It is 1928. Mickey the Rat is piloting the sinister river steamer Whippoorwill to Providence, with a malign black cat as the skipper. They sail up through the mists to Providence to relieve Mr. Lovecraft of some Lovecraftian creatures which have escaped his imagination and entered reality. A sign indicates the creatures are to be imprisoned on the Isles of Shoals. Mickey also smuggles aboard H.P. Lovecraft himself, who as usual is seeking a cheap ticket to his beloved Newport. But the master’s presence excites the massed weird creatures to a chaotic cacophony of sinister cosmic music, as each one strives to emit its unique sounds. As they set sail again Mickey the Rat then conducts them all in a wild and somewhat co-ordinated sonic worship of their creator. The short ends with Lovecraft ignominiously put off on a lonely lighthouse rock near Providence, while Mickey the Rat is stuck on kitchen duty boiling tentacles… the fun has been foiled by the skipper.’

Whippoorwill was indeed the name of Mickey’s steamboat, captained by a cat. The above makeover closely follows the plot.