Educational films
337–384 of 4,001 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 Ones | Films for young children by name: nursery rhymes, lullabies, preschool. |
|---|---|
| Kids | Cartoons and animation, children's and family films, and educational films, unless they deal with war, propaganda, crime, horror or drugs, or carry racial caricature. |
| Tweens | Documentaries, science, nature and space, classic comedies, newsreels, commercials and lectures. |
| Teens | Everything else, including anything we cannot tell about; war, crime, horror and westerns go no lower. |
| Adult | Sexual themes (such as the old "sex hygiene" films), gore, surgery, slaughter, atrocity footage. |
Internet Archive
Miss Goodall and the Wild Chimpanzees
Narrator, Orson Welles Special edited version of the 1965 motion picture of the same title With teacher's guide Describes the experiences of a 26-year-old…
Internet Archive
The Very Remarkable Yamato Family.
Produced by NET Presents contrasts in society and politics in modern Japan: the change in family structure away from a strong matriarchy, school children…
Internet Archive
A World Is Born
An excerpt from the 1940 motion picture Fantasia, with narration An interpretation of Stravinsky's Rite of spring. Depicts the first two billion years of the…
Internet Archive
The Long Search: 3 -- Buddhism: Footprint of the Buddha
The Long Search: 3 -- Buddhism: Footprint of the Buddha, Reel 2 Reel 1 available here A look at how Buddhism is practiced in Sri Lanka and India. A religion…
Internet Archive
Women in Prison, part 1
Examines the condition of women in prisons. Shows how women are often treated brutally in prison and explores plans which put women offenders under community…
Internet Archive
The Sky is Gray
Based on the story of the same title by Ernest Gaines, about a young Black farmboy's dawning of awareness about himself and society. Search Educational Film…
Internet Archive
The Day The Universe Changed: 9 - The New Physics Newton Revised
Title from data sheet Host, James Burke In two parts Ages 16 through adults Deals with the new era of scientific inquiry that started around 1800 with the…
Internet Archive
P.J. and the President's Son
Originally shown on the television series ABC afterschool specials Also issued as videorecording Two 15-year-olds in Washington, D.C.--one, an average…
Internet Archive
Almost everyone does
Credits: Producer, director and script, Gene Feldman; music, the Eric Turkel Quartet; photographer, Richard Francis; film editor, Michael Weiner French…
Internet Archive
What are we doing to our children?
Produced by CBS. Commentary by child psychologist Dr. Robert Coles Focuses on a low-income apartment complex in Atlanta, Georgia, which houses 8,000…
Internet Archive
L'Humour francaise.
An overview of French humour. Interviews Pierre Danino and Rene Lefevre; discusses satirical newspapers such as Le Canard Enchaine, cartoons, and the…
Internet Archive
The Long Search 9 -- Buddhism: The Land of the Disappearing Buddha
Also issued as videocassette Producer, Peter Montagnon; narrator, Ronald Eyre Visits Japan to investigate the Japanese experience of Buddhist worship and the…
Internet Archive
Baobab, Portrait of a Tree
Looks at the baobab trees that grow in the dry bush country of Africa and shows the ecosystem created by them. Title from data sheet Summary Shows a century…
Internet Archive
Chemical families. Motion picture
A CHEM Study film Presents experimental evidence of the periodic nature of chemical elements and explains the development of the periodic table. Includes…
Internet Archive
FDR and Hitler: their rise to power
Host and narrator, Eric Sevareid The careers and styles of Franklin D. Roosevelt, aristocrat and democrat, and Adolph Hitler, bourgeois and demagogue, are…
Internet Archive
Destination America 2 -- on a Clear Day You Could See Boston
Director, Tom Steel Traces the history of Irish immigration to the U.S. from the famines of the 1850's. Documents the rise of Irish Americans from a much…
Internet Archive
Christmas Every Day
Producers, Thea Flaum, Dick Orkin ; associate producer, Loretta Petersohn Based on a story by Wiliam Dean Howells Through Tilly, her family, and a magical…
Internet Archive
Harlem renaissance: the black poets
With study guide Presents dramatic vignettes which portray the emergence of black poets, essayists, and novelists. Includes excerpts from Countee Cullen,…
Internet Archive
Home front, 1917-1919: war transforms American life
Robert Ryan, narrator Music, Morton Gould Originally broadcast on the CBS-TV documentary program World War I in 1965 Shows how World War I brought about…
Internet Archive
Adventures in perception.
An introduction to the graphic works of the Dutch artist Maurits Escher, noted for his visual experiments with evolving forms, interlocking images, and…
Internet Archive
The Medieval Mind
Points out the tensions and conflicts of the middle ages, and shows how the architecture of the cathedrals reflects the uneasy balance of opposing forces with…
Internet Archive
The Heritage of Slavery
The Heritage of Slavery Search Educational Film Journals at Media History Project for references to this film Illustrates the nature of slavery and discusses…
Internet Archive
The doctor
Supplementary note: Prepared in collaboration with I. Blanche Bourne Evaluation information: This material has been reviewed by Specialized Office 3 and…
Internet Archive
Unknown Chaplin: 3 -- Hidden Treasure
Unknown Chaplin: 3 -- Hidden Treasure, Reel 1 Reel 2 available here Third in a trilogy documenting the results of film archivists / directors Kevin Brownlow…
Internet Archive
French Revolution-- death of the old regime.
Combines live-action scenes with pictorial and sculptural masterpieces of the period to re-create the chaotic events in the last days of the old regime: the…
Internet Archive
How to Look at a City (1964)
How to Look at a City Gives a report on research which is making giant strides toward pinpointing the body controls that cause aging. Notes that someday there…
Internet Archive
And everything nice
With study guide Shows how women are developing new images of themselves and of their capabilities in conscious-raising sessions. Helps women understand the…
Internet Archive
Night Journey
Martha Graham, Betram Ross, Paul Taylor Photography, Stanley Meredith ; editing, Miriam Arsham ; music, William Schuman Martha Graham's direction of Night…
Internet Archive
The Day the Earth Stood Still
Creature film; feature Michael Rennie, Patricia Neal, Hugh Marlowe, Sam Jaffe, Billy Gray, Frances Bavier, Lock Martin, Frank Conray, Carleton Young, Fay…
Internet Archive
Story of Chinese art.
Surveys the history of Chinese art using animated maps and art objects selected for their beauty and significance. Considers the influence of central Asia,…
Internet Archive
The Day The Universe Changed: 7 - The Social Impacts of New Medical Knowledge
VHS Written and presented by James Burke; produced by the BBC and RKO Pictures Traces contemporary society's recognition of the value of statistics to…
Internet Archive
Behavior Theory in Practice.
Defines respondent and operant behavior and shows laboratory experiments with mice, pigeons etc. illustrating biological and non- biological reinforcers and…
Internet Archive
America: 6 -- a Firebell in the Night
America: 6 -- a Firebell in the Night Summary Describes developments from early slave importation to present South.rn shanty towns. Presents Alistair Cooke…
Internet Archive
Other People's Garbage
Ron Wescott Cinematographers, Kevin Benke, Skip Brouen; editor, Ron Blair Historical archaeologists investigate the recent U.S. past in excavations of slave…
Internet Archive
Night of The Squid
Night of The Squid Reel 2 Reel 1 available here Traces the life cycle of the giant squid, and shows some of its antics and bizarre night life. Summary Traces…
Internet Archive
The Larynx and voice: physiology of the larynx under daily stress
Producers, Hans von Leden, Paul Moore ; writers, Paul Moore, Hans von Leden Uses high speed photography to show the human larynx in action and demonstrate its…
Internet Archive
The Real West
Televised on the NBC program Project 20 on March 29, 1961 A story of the American West, using vintage photographs and new film. Tells about hardship, hunger,…
Internet Archive
The Human Brain
Title from data sheet Consultant, William V. Mayer Intended audience: Junior and senior high school students Issued also as videorecording Describes the…
Internet Archive
Arabic X-ray film.
Examines standard colloquial Damascan, the ordinary conversational speech of educated male Muslims. Material is selected to illustrate the contrast between…
Internet Archive
Let's make a film.
Shows how children between the ages of five and eighteen, working at the Yellow Ball Workshop, make animated films using hinged cut-outs, clay, toys, painted…
Internet Archive
The Little Prince
Title from data sheet Based on the book of the same title, by Antoine de Saint Exupéry Director and producer, Will Vinton Shows a child whose…
Internet Archive
How Life Begins
How Life Begins Search Educational Film Journals at Media History Project for references to this film Summary Presents the many and varied ways in which both…
Internet Archive
The Vice Presidency
The Vice Presidency Summary Studies the rights and duties of the vice president and the men who have served in that capacity, from John Adams to Richard Nixon.
Internet Archive
Alcoholism: Life Under The Influence
Alcoholism: Life Under The Influence Reel 1 Reel 2 available here An interdisciplinary report on alcoholism, focusing on a scientific understanding of the…
Internet Archive
Do we really need the Rockies?
Produced by WGBH for the Nova series Investigates the pros and cons of shale oil production in the western Rocky Mountains. States that while there is more…
Internet Archive
Heidelberg
Second edition With student handbook by Harmut Steinecke and W. Gregor Heggen Summary A German language film. Surveys areas of Heidelberg, such as the…
Internet Archive
Temple of Moloch, The
From Journal of the Outdoor Life By National Tuberculosis Association February 1914: The plot of this year's picture, "The Temple of Moloch," is laid in a…
Internet Archive
Summer Solstice
Summer Solstice Summary Looks at a couple whose marriage has lasted 50 years. Joins them on a visit to the beach where they met and fell in love and where…