Educational films
385–432 of 4,000 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
Women Inside. [Motion picture]
Reel 2 available here Title from data sheet Also issued as videorecording Search Educational Film Journals at Media History Project for references to this…
Internet Archive
Great Railway Journeys of The World: The Long Straight
Great Railway Journeys of The World: The Long Straight Reel 2 Reel 1 available here Playwright and journalist Michael Frayn journeys by train across Australia…
Internet Archive
Buster Keaton Rides Again
Producer, Julian Biggs; director and photographer, John Spotton; commentary, Donald Brittain An informal view of Buster Keaton, showing how he relaxes, plots…
Internet Archive
The San Andreas Fault
Produced in cooperation with the American Geological Institute With teacher's guide Producer, Bert van Bork; collaborators, William H. Matthews, John S.…
Internet Archive
New York, New York
Musical score, Gene Forrell Fast-moving, colorful, semi-abstract images made with special lenses are interspersed with photographs of the city. Muscial score…
Internet Archive
Sociobiology: The Human Animal
Sociobiology: The Human Animal, Reel 2 Reel 1 available here Focuses on sociobiology, a new and controversial science which holds that behavior is…
Internet Archive
The Aging of lakes
Traces the aging process of lakes, showing how man's interference with the environment causes critical changes in the natural ecology. Describes efforts to…
Internet Archive
Witches [motion picture] : new fashion, old religion
A businessman who studies witchcraft as a hobby and a businesswoman who heads a coven are interviewed about their beliefs and practices. Shows the initiation…
Internet Archive
The Second World War: Prelude to Conflict (1963)
The Second World War: Prelude to Conflict Reviews significant events in the last days of the Civil War, noting the effect of the industrial might of the North…
Internet Archive
The Fisherman and His Wife
Producers, Nick Bosustow, C. B. Wismar; director, Sam Weiss; voices, Hans Conreid, June Foray; music, Larry Wolff; editor, Lars Floden An animated film about…
Internet Archive
The World at War 22 -- Japan
Recounts the way in which the Japanese at home were persuaded to support the war, which came as a complete surprise to them. A Japanese woman says, "Stories…
Internet Archive
The Grizzly bear--a case study in field research
Special edited version With teacher's guide Search Educational Film Journals at Media History Project for references to this film Summary Demonstrates various…
Internet Archive
Pollution is a Matter of Choice
Pollution is a Matter of Choice reel 1 Examines the environmental dilemma of modern man who has it in his power to preserve or ruin his environment. Uses the…
Internet Archive
Q'eros: the shape of survival, a film
Robert Gardener, Caitlin FitzGerald Edited by Paul Justman ; sound by Emilio Rodriquez Summary Looks at the lifestyle of the Qeros Indian who have lived in…
Internet Archive
Normal Speech Articulation (1965)
Demonstrates through extensive use of X-ray motion pictures, some of the characteristics of speech sound articulation in normal speakers. Biologist and author…
Internet Archive
The Shock of the New: The Threshold of Liberty: Part 2
The Shock of the New: The Threshold of Liberty: Part 2 Part 5 of an 8-part series which presents a social history of the impact and development of the visual…
Internet Archive
Development of the child: infancy.
Examines behavior and cognitive patterns which are characteristic of the first eighteen months of life, including object permanence, stranger and separation…
Internet Archive
Signs of the times.
Videotape on reel and videocassette also issued With teacher's guide by Alice M. Schwartz and learning resources kit Traces the development of signs and…
Internet Archive
Greatest Days Of Your LIfe... So Far
A motivational speaker talks to high school students about how great their experiences are - followed by a short ad for Josten class rings and yearbooks.
Internet Archive
Physical education for primary grades.
Presents the methods, materials, and forms of physical education that encourage purposeful activity. Shows children's movement exploration, rhythmic…
Internet Archive
Black cop.
Produced by NET Music by the John Coltrane Quartet Summary Explores the relationship of the Bla.k policeman to other blacks by interviewing those on both…
Internet Archive
Le Haricot
Musical soundtrack with no dialogue [Director, Edmond Sechan] ; photography, Guy Delattre, Georges Goudard ; music, Francis Seyrig ; editor, A. Werlin Search…
Internet Archive
Discovering Electronic Music
Portrays the physical basis of music and shows how music can be created and altered by electronic means. Includes music from a sound synthesizer and…
Internet Archive
F.D.R. and Hitler, the dynamics of power.
Producers, William T. Cartwright and Kenneth Koerner; writer, Anthony Potter; narrator, Eric Sevareid Both Hitler and Roosevelt appreciated the value of mass…
Internet Archive
Preparation of oxygen.: seven demonstrations
Demonstrates basic methods for isolating one element from other elements. Experiments include: the reaction of sodium peroxide and water, catalytic…
Internet Archive
Anna Karenina
Tolstoy's brilliant tale of Czarist Russia about the plight of a woman caught in an archaic social situation make this a compelling love story with Greta…
Internet Archive
Brian's Song
Based on the book I am third, by Gale Sayers Producer, Paul Junger Witt; director, Buzz Kulik; screenplay, William Blinn; music, Michel Legrand James Caan,…
Internet Archive
The fat fighters.
Director of photography, Robert W. Stum ; editor, Peter G. Czerny 756 ft A group of women is introduced and followed as members of a behavior modification…
Internet Archive
Little Red Riding Hood
Little Red Riding Hood An animated version of the Brothers Grimm tale about Little Red Riding Hood who, in defiance of a promise to her mother, strays off the…
Internet Archive
How To Build An Igloo
A demonstration of igloo-building in Canada's Far North, showing how the site is selected and how blocks of snow are used to make a snug shelter in only an…
Internet Archive
Cry of the marsh
With teacher's guide Director and photographer, Robert Hartkopf; editor, John T. McDonough Shows what is happening to the natural resources when a prairie…
Internet Archive
Digestive systems in animals.
Author and editor, George Vuke; photographers, George Vuke, Tom Held Compares the digestive systems of a variety of phyla, examining digestive cavities and…
Internet Archive
Consumer power: advertising
Consumer advocate Ralph Nader and advertising executive Ted Factor discuss the morality of advertising, the role of private and public consumer protection…
Internet Archive
The Eye Hears, the Ear Sees
With teacher's guide Introduces Norman McLaren and his work. Shows examples of his multiple exposure effects. Demonstrates how he makes moving pictures…
Internet Archive
Bushmen of the Kalahari
Also issued as videocassette Shorter version (24 min.) issued under title: The Kalahari Desert people Producers, Dennis B. Kane, Nicholas Clapp; directors…
Internet Archive
Calumet, pipe of peace.
Discusses the history, legends, uses, rituals, and origin of tobacco and pipes among the Great Plains Indians. Describes traditional methods of fashioning and…
Internet Archive
Ben and Me
Tells how a poor church mouse, Amos, guides Benjamin Franklin and Thomas Jefferson and assists in writing the Declaration of Independence
Internet Archive
Sociobiology: The Human Animal
Sociobiology: The Human Animal, Reel 1 Reel 2 available here Focuses on sociobiology, a new and controversial science which holds that behavior is…
Internet Archive
Wheat Farmer, The
Portrays the life and work of a wheat farmer and his family in the Midwest. Shows how they plant and harvest the winter wheat and how they attend to other…
Internet Archive
The Salvage Gang
Based on a story by Mary Cathcart Borer Producer, Hindle Edgar; director, John Krish; photography, James Allen; editor, David Howes A comedy about a young…
Internet Archive
The Shock of the New: View From the Edge part 2
Nineteenth-century romanticism gave way to 20th-century expressionism and the angst-ridden works of Die Brucke, Munch, Soutine, and Francis Bacon. But with…
Internet Archive
The World at War: 6 -- Banzai! Japan 1931-1942
The World at War: 6 -- Banzai! Japan 1931-1942, Reel 1 Reel 2 available here An elderly Japanese couple are shown going through the religious ritual they have…
Internet Archive
Dr. Carl Gustav Jung
Producers, John Freeman, Hugh Burnett Dr. Carl Jung discusses his life, work, and philosophy
Internet Archive
Mole and the Christmas Tree
Made in Czechoslovakia Producer and writer, Zdenek Miler An animated film about a mole who brings a Christmas tree home and invites his friend Mouse to…
Internet Archive
Kon-Tiki (Motion picture)
35 mm. version released in 1951 by RKO Radio Pictures. 16 mm. and 35 mm. versions distributed in 1964 by Irving Lesser Enterprises Presents a documentary…
Internet Archive
Water Movement in Soils (1959)
Uses time - lapse photography to show how water moves into and through unsaturated soil. Points out how strata, such as hard pans or coarse sand layers, slow…
Internet Archive
A Home run for love.
From WorldCat: A drama set in the 1940's about a fatherless white boy who learns about friendship and love by sharing his preoccupation with baseball with an…
Internet Archive
Lay My Burden Down
Producer, Jack Willis Surveys the accomplishments of the civil rights movement during the one year after the dramatic Selma-to-Montgomery march and the…