Cliffhanger serials

1–48 of 59 films, free to watch, from the world's open archives.

Where these films come from, and who sees what

Every film here plays from the archive that keeps it: the Internet Archive, Wikimedia Commons, the NASA Image and Video Library, the Library of Congress and Open Images (the Netherlands Institute for Sound and Vision). Nothing is copied to this site. Each film's page names its archive, links to its page there, and states its licence or status as the archive does.

Archive films carry no age ratings, so each is placed from the collections it sits in and the subjects the archive gives it, cautiously. Sexual content and nudity are left out altogether.

Little OnesFilms for young children by name: nursery rhymes, lullabies, preschool.
KidsCartoons and animation, children's and family films, and educational films, unless they deal with war, propaganda, crime, horror or drugs, or carry racial caricature.
TweensDocumentaries, science, nature and space, classic comedies, newsreels, commercials and lectures.
TeensEverything else, including anything we cannot tell about; war, crime, horror and westerns go no lower.
AdultSexual themes (such as the old "sex hygiene" films), gore, surgery, slaughter, atrocity footage.
Internet Archive Panther Girl of the Kongo (1955) 1955 · Film A wildlife photographer who has gained a reputation as the elephant-riding, vine-swinging, miniskirted Panther Girl, battles a greedy scientist who has… Internet Archive The Phantom (1943) 1943 · Film A professor and his niece are searching Africa for the Lost City of Zoloz, reputed to contain a hidden treasure. But it is also sought by a local crook, as… Internet Archive The Shadow (1940) 1940 · Film A noted scientist and criminologist fights crime using a disguise that allows him to hide himself in the shadows. But now he is up against an evil mastermind… Internet Archive Great Adventures of Wild Bill Hickok (1938) 1938 · Film The famed U.S. Marshal rides to the rescue when an outlaw gang attacks a cattle drive over the Chisholm Trail from Texas to Abilene, Kansas. Hickok also… Internet Archive Mandrake, the Magician (1939) 1939 · Film While performing on a cruise ship, Mandrake and his assistant Lothar meet and agree to help a professor who has developed a radium energy device that is being… Internet Archive Radar Men from the Moon (1952) 1952 · Film Strategic targets on Earth are being destroyed by an unknown weapon that turns out to be an "atomic ray" originating from the Moon. A scientist with a secret… Internet Archive The Great Adventures of Captain Kidd (1953) 1953 · Film Two British officers are assigned to gather evidence to convict legendary swashbuckler Captain Kidd of piracy. They join his crew, posing as ordinary seamen,… Internet Archive The Last Frontier (1932) 1932 · Film A crusading newspaper editor becomes a masked vigilante to stop an outlaw who is provoking an indian uprising to drive away settlers, so that he can claim a… Internet Archive The Phantom Creeps (1939) 1939 · Film An eccentric scientist (Bela Lugosi), inventing weapons that threaten the world, is pursued by foreign spies, a military intelligence officer, and a reporter.… Internet Archive Haunted Harbor AKA Pirates' Harbor (1954) 1954 · Film Framed for theft and murder, a sea captain escapes to a South Pacific island in search of the real killer, where he becomes involved in the investigation of a… Internet Archive King of the Rocket Men (1949) 1949 · Film One of the members of Science Associates, an group of America's greatest scientists, deveops an advanced, atomic-powered rocket suit, which Jeff King uses to… Internet Archive Canadian Mounties vs. Atomic Invaders (1953) 1953 · Film The Royal Canadian Mounted Police try to foil a foreign agent's efforts to establish a secret Canadian base from which to launch atomic missiles at the U.S.… Internet Archive The Tiger Woman (1944) 1944 · Film Greedy oil speculators are trying to force Tiger Woman (Linda Stirling) and her band of warriors from their jungle home, but she gets help from Allen Saunders… Internet Archive The Masked Marvel (1943) 1943 · Film When an insurance exutive is murdered in connection with series of bombings, his daughter joins the Masked Marvel and Marvel's three aides to find and expose… Internet Archive Perils of Nyoka (1942) 1942 · Film In this semi-sequel to Jungle Girl, Nyoka is in Libya attempting to recover the Golden Tablets of Hippocrates, which contain lost medical secrets. But the… Internet Archive Flying Disc Man from Mars (1950) 1950 · Film A Martian and a Nazi industrialist plan to conquer the Earth, but their attempt to build an atomic superweapon gets the attention of an aviator who fights to… Internet Archive Drums of Fu Manchu (1940) 1940 · Film The nefarious Dr. Fu Manchu searches for the sacred sceptre of Genghis Khan, in order to fulfill a prophecy that will enable him to conquer Asia and then the… Internet Archive Jungle Girl (1941) 1941 · Film Growing up in Africa with her physician father, Nyoka is fooled when his criminal twin brother shows up looking for a diamond mine and takes his place,… Internet Archive The Spider's Web (1938) 1938 · Film A criminologist uses two fake identities, one an underworld habitué and the other a terrifying masked figure known as The Spider. Aided by his faithful Sikh… Internet Archive The Return of Chandu (1934) 1934 · Film Bela Lugosi gets to play the hero for once, as a master of the mystic arts who must rescue his love, an Egyptian princess. In this adaptation of the radio… Internet Archive Don Daredevil Rides Again (1951) 1951 · Film When a gang of night riders tries scaring the local ranchers away so that a villain can take over their land, a young man dusts off his grandfather's old… Internet Archive Trader Tom of the China Seas (1954) 1954 · Film A trader is asked to help prevent subversives from fomenting revolution in the islands of southeast Asia. He gets help from the daughter of a schooner… Internet Archive Ghost of Zorro (1949) 1949 · Film Clayton Moore of "Lone Ranger" fame plays the grandson of Don Diego Vega, who in 1865 is an engineer laying line for the telegraph. So when unscrupulous men… Internet Archive The Miracle Rider (1935) 1935 · Film Tom Morgan joins the modern Texas Rangers to avenge his father's death and to follow in his path as a proponent of native American rights. His first task is… Internet Archive The Invisible Monster (1950) 1950 · Film Richard Webb (TV's Captain Midnight) plays an insurance investigator trying to stop a criminal's fiendish plot to take over the country using a ray that will… Internet Archive Terry and the Pirates (1940) 1940 · Film Young Terry Lee and his older friend Pat journey to the jungles of southeast Asia to find his father, who is trying to decipher ancient inscriptions of a lost… Internet Archive Secret Agent X-9 (1937) 1937 · Film A secret agent goes after the notorious thief whose gang stole the crown jewels of a European monarchy. Based on the comic strip detective created by Dashiell… Internet Archive Flying G-Men (1939) 1939 · Film Government aviators fight to protect the US and its allies from an enemy spy ring led by The Professor, who steals the design for a new military aircraft and… Internet Archive The Fighting Devil Dogs (1938) 1938 · Film In Singapore, two US Marine Lieutenants discover the threat of a new masked villain called The Lightning, who uses a powerful lightning-based weapon in his… Internet Archive Jungle Queen (1945) 1945 · Film During World War II, a mysterious jungle queen (Ruth Roman) helps 3 Americans thwart the plans of German agents who are in the African jungle to stir up local… Internet Archive Undersea Kingdom (1936) 1936 · Film Crash Corrigan, a recent graduate of Annapolis, and Diana, a go-getting reporter, join Professor Norton in a search for the source of a string of earthquakes.… Internet Archive Captain Midnight (1942) 1942 · Film A daring masked aviator tracks down a murderous foreign agent who is attacking West Coast munitions plants, promising a scientist's daughter that he will… Internet Archive Spy Smasher (1942) 1942 · Film A former reporter has become a masked vigilante battling a gang of Nazi saboteurs, who are secretly spying on the Commissioner of Naval Intelligence, his… Internet Archive Lost City of the Jungle (1946) 1946 · Film Following the end of WWII, a war-monger looking ahead to WWIII initiates a search for Meteorium 245, a newly discovered element that is the only known defense… Internet Archive Blackhawk: Fearless Champion of Freedom (1952) 1952 · Film A veteran WW2 aviator and his flying squadron discover that a gang of foreign spies is intent on stealing two inventions: a deadly electronic Ray projector… Internet Archive Pirate Treasure (1934) 1934 · Film A daring aviator uses his winnings from a recent flight to fund an expedition to recover treasure buried by a pirate ancestor on a tropical island. However, a… Internet Archive Cody of the Pony Express (1950) 1950 · Film Jock Mahoney (of TV's Range Rider & Yancy Derringer) plays an army lieutenant who, operating undercover, joins forces with a young pony express rider (who… Internet Archive Gang Busters (1942) 1942 · Film Kent Taylor (TV's Boston Blackie) leads detectives who must track down a clever group of gangsters spreading a terrifying net of evil over the city. Are they… Internet Archive Adventures of Red Ryder (1940) 1940 · Film Red Ryder's father is killed by the henchmen of a conniving banker who plans to drive ranchers from their land so he can profit from the forthcoming railroad.… Internet Archive The Mysterious Mr. M (1946) 1946 · Film A federal agent and an insurance investigator must stop an evil scientist trying to steal a revolutionary engine design using a drug that forces people to do… Internet Archive Darkest Africa (1936) 1936 · Film While on Safari in East Africa, famed animal trainer Clyde Beatty comes to the aid of a boy who claims that his sister is being held captive by the High… Internet Archive The Sea Hound (1947) 1947 · Film Capt. Silver (Buster Crabbe) is sailing in the South Pacific when he receives a distress call from a yacht that has been attacked by modern-day pirates while… Internet Archive Tim Tyler's Luck (1937) 1937 · Film Frankie Thomas (of Tom Corbett, Space Cadet) plays a boy who goes to Africa in search of his scientist father, and joins forces with a woman who is on the… Internet Archive The Master Key (1945) 1945 · Film A gang of Nazis kidnap a scientist who has developed a machine that extracts gold from seawater. On their trail are a federal agent, a police detective, a… Internet Archive Secret Service in Darkest Africa (1943) 1943 · Film An American secret agent travels to Morocco (not quite Darkest Africa) to thwart a Nazi spy ring, unaware that a German officer has taken the place of the… Internet Archive King of the Royal Mounted (1940) 1940 · Film Dave King of the RCMP discovers that a German spy ring is operating a fake hospital in Canada in order to obtain a medical compound whose unusual magnetic… Internet Archive The Phantom Rider (1936) 1936 · Film Buck Grant, hiding his secret identity as the Phantom Rider, helps rancher Mary Grayson fight off a ruthless band of outlaws out to seize control of her… Internet Archive The Valley of Vanishing Men (1942) 1942 · Film A former confederate soldier is searching for his father, who disappeared in New Mexico territory while prospecting. A ruthless outlaw leader has been…