Ephemeral films

193–240 of 19,488 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 Gaia Hypothesis 1984 · Film Professor Lynn Margulis of Boston University speaks before an audience of NASA employees in 1984 to explain the gaia hypothesis. This 30 minute video was… Internet Archive Stalin (1963) 1963 · Educational · 26 min Depicts the life of Stalin, under whose strong - arm rule the USSR became a world power. Explains Stalin's part in making Russia a communist state. Presents a… Internet Archive Classic Dope 7 1995 · Film · Subtitles 7, Jan-Feb 1995 . Dave Mathews Band neo-psychedelic, Cranberries “Zombie,” David Bowie “Major To” junkie song. Deep Space 9, Dax’s hallucinations. Diana Ross… Internet Archive The Feast 1968 · Educational Credits: Producers, Timothy Asch, Napoleon Chagnon ; filmmaker, Timothy Asch Illustrates the feasting practices of the Yanomamo Indians of southern… Internet Archive Joy Ride - an Auto Theft 1976 · Educational This cautionary tale was aimed towards young, thrill-seeking teens. The exciting car chase at the end of the film may have glamorized joy-riding to students… Internet Archive Red Nightmare 1962 · Film Jack Webb (Dragnet) plays a Rod Serling-like role as he introduces us to Jerry Donovan – an average guy who shrugs off his inconvenient, civic… Internet Archive The Shock of the New: The Mechanical Paradise. 1980 · Educational · 26 min · Subtitles Title from data sheet Also issued as videorecording Writer and narrator, Robert Hughes Explores Western art during the period 1870-1914 and shows how the… Internet Archive John Muir on Hetch Hetchy 1995 · Film Animation showing Yosemite's Hetch Hetchy Valley before and after inundation, with a quote from John Muir Internet Archive The Gilded Cage 1915 · Film Melodrama about a woman trapped in a loveless marriage, preserved in collaboration with the New Zealand Film Archive and the Library of Congress. Internet Archive Tony Little Target Training: Abdominal Muscle Toning And Reduction System 1993 · Film "Tony Little is a Certified Physical Fitness Specialist, former National Body building Champion....His One-On-One training methods...are serious and concise.... Internet Archive Hiroshima Mon Amour. [motion picture] 1959 · Educational · 34 min In French, with English titles Director, Alain Resnais; writer, Marguerite Duras Summary Features use of film techniques interweaving past and pres./i in the… Internet Archive Connections: 4 -- Faith in Numbers 1979 · Educational · 49 min · Subtitles Title from data sheet Also issued as videorecording Directors, Mick Jackson, David Kennard; writer, James Burke Host James Burke shows how such inventions… Internet Archive End of the Trail: American Plains Indian 1967 · Educational · 51 min · Subtitles End of the Trail: American Plains Indian reels 1 and 2 Descibes the American westward movement and its tragic impact upon the American Indian. Discusses the… Internet Archive The Remarkable, Riderless, Runaway Tricycle 1981 · Educational Title from data sheet Based on: The remarkable riderless runaway tricycle / Bruce McMillan Intended audience: Ages 3-7 Issued also as videorecording A… Internet Archive America: 10--The Promise Fulfilled and the Promise Broken 1972 · Educational · 53 min · Subtitles America: 10--The Promise Fulfilled and the Promise Broken reels 1 and 2 Deals with the promise of unlimited prosperity after World War I, the boom of the… Internet Archive William Faulkner 1952 · Educational · 14 min · Subtitles Originally telecast on the television program Omnibus Producer, Robert Saudek William Faulkner, among his lifetime neighbors in his home town of Oxford,… Internet Archive Eye Of The Storm Educational · Subtitles "This documentary explores the nature of prejudice in a dramatic third-grade classroom experiment conducted in a small Midwestern town, a town without… Internet Archive DOPE 122 1989 · Film · Subtitles Joe Cocker at Woodstock...Nursing mothers shouldn't drink...Cocaine pipeline...Electric blue love potion...Drugs in the workplace See liner note scans for… Internet Archive Tom Fleming on Mayor Lapham and Blacks in SF 1999 · Film Thomas Fleming, former editor of SF Sun Reporter, tells how then Mayor Roger Lapham wondered in a 1946 press conference when the thousands of… Internet Archive Berlin Airlift 1949 · Short · 10 min The Western powers airlift of supplies to Berlin during the Soviet Blockade of Berlin. Operation Plain Fare . The Berlin blockade. Post Second World War.… Internet Archive Pedestrian Crossing 1948 · Short · 8 min Humorous road safety trailer on the correct use of pedestrian crossings. Belisha beacons Internet Archive Gateways to the Mind 1958 · Feature · 58 min The story of what science has learned about the human senses and how they function. Includes documentary sequences. Subtitle files thanks to Elizabeth… Internet Archive AIDS 90 NOV RED HOT BLUE Videos 1990 · Film · Subtitles AIDS, AIDS Quarterly, Red Hot and Blue, Music, Puerto Rico AIDS & IVDU, SF General Hospital AIDS Ward, Gloria Lockett, Women and AIDS, World AIDS Day, June-… Internet Archive Black Shadows on a Silver Screen 1975 · Educational · 53 min · Subtitles Executive producer, Ray Hubbard; writer, Thomas Cripps; director, Steven York; narrator, Ossie Davis This history of black filmmakers between 1900-1950… Internet Archive How blood clots. 1969 · Educational · 12 min · Subtitles Human circulatory system and functions are illustrated through animation and cinemicroscopy. Time-lapse photography reveals composition of blood and its… Internet Archive Connections 7 -- the Long Chain 1979 · Educational · 40 min · Subtitles Connections 7 -- the Long Chain Search Educational Film Journals at Media History Project for references to this film Summary Traces the connection between… Internet Archive Solo 1971 · Educational Producers, David Adams, Mike Hoover; director and writer, Mike Hoover Portrays the efforts and exhilarations that are experienced by the solo mountain… Internet Archive Roots: 12 -- Freedom, Part 2 1977 · Educational · 30 min · Subtitles Roots: 12 -- Freedom, Part 2, Reel 1 Reel 2 available here The long awaited return of Chicken George after the Civil War, bringing news of a promised land and… Internet Archive Make Winter Driving Safer 1982 · Film Outlines the adjustments in skills necessary for winter driving and the precautions motorists should take to prepare a car for cold weather. Emphasizes the… Internet Archive DOPE 018 1987 · Film · Subtitles Frontline "Stopping Drugs Pt. 2," CBS anti-drug crusades, valium abuse, Traci Lords, Koop, NYC crack siege, AIDS Angels, Koop never talked to Reagan about… Internet Archive Alcohol Is Dynamite 1958 · Film Teens Bud and Jack, eager to get some alcohol from the liquor store, ask the adult to buy it for them. Instead, the adult tells them a story of three… Internet Archive Civilian Conservation Corps 1935 1935 · Film Reel 1, unemployed youths loiter on street corners, listen to revolutionist orators, and display apathy and lack of ambition. Pres. Roosevelt signs the CCC… Internet Archive Into the Blue 1950 · Short · 10 min How Britain developed her civil airlines since the war. commercial jet-aircraft. De Havilland Comet. Bristol Brabazon. air travel Internet Archive Journey to the Outer Limits 1974 · Educational · 7 min · Subtitles Also issued as videocassette Shows students of the Colorado Outward Bound School as they confront themselves and some of nature's greatest challenges.… Internet Archive Tipping the Scales 1981 · Educational · 51 min Discusses the problems that arise when food intake is not coordinated with energy output, examining both obesity and anorexia nervosa. Shows how the body… Internet Archive LIFE IN THE ANIMAL KINGDOM; UNTAMED AFRICA; VOLUME II; SURVIVAL ON THE SERENGETI 1995 · Film · Subtitles "...the wildebeests favorite feeding grounds and the place where they give birth...to reach these fertile lands of the Serengeti, they must once more cross… Internet Archive The Shock of the New: Culture as Nature. 1980 · Educational · 31 min · Subtitles Title from data sheet Also issued as videorecording Writer and narrator, Robert Hughes Discusses why the 20th century brought about a major change in the… Internet Archive Darrell Rogers On Zebra Killings And Resistance To Mandatory ID Cards 2016 · Film · Subtitles San Francisco native Darrell Rogers (b. 1945 in the Fillmore) describes the civil disobedience he participated in with 18 other young men in 1970 when the SF… Internet Archive Permutations 1969 · Educational Computer program by Jack Citron ; music by Balachander A computer-designed graphics film, creates series of mathematical forms that resemble fireworks,… Internet Archive Yankee Doodle Cricket 1975 · Cartoon Uses animation in presenting a story about the experiences of a mouse, a cat, and a cricket during the American Revolution. For elementary grades. The War of… Internet Archive DOPE 092 1988 · Film · Subtitles Great America Smoke-out, "Toxic Zombies" pot farmers sprayed with herbicide. WWII nostalgia. American Werewolf in London. Sid & Nancy heroin scenes.… Internet Archive Brothers and Sisters - filmstrip 1953 · Film Little Steve wishes that he didn't have so many siblings. But when he dreams that his siblings all go away, is he really happy? This ZIP file contains each… Internet Archive Syntha Vision Sampler 1974 · Commercial Investigates applications of computer-generated films for advertising. Animation is handled in block colors with hidden lines removed Internet Archive Darrell Rogers On Willie Brown 2016 · Film · Subtitles San Francisco native (b. 1945) and resident Darrell Rogers remembers the early Willie Brown when he was an attorney at Scott and Sutter, and details the… Internet Archive Allures 1961 · Cartoon A metaphor of creation. Spirals, circles, and abstract forms move against alternating dark and light backgrounds. An orb changes color, appearing in flash… Internet Archive The Shock of the New: The View from the Edge 1979 · Educational · 31 min · Subtitles Robert Hughes Profiles selected 19th century European and 20th century American and European artists, with emphasis on expressionism Internet Archive Split brain. 1964 · Educational · 12 min · Subtitles Demonstrates and explains experiments performed by the California Institute of Technology utilizing animals and humans in which the two cerebral hemispheres… Internet Archive Last Vikings 1972 · Educational · 46 min · Subtitles Last Uikings Summary Explains that the Scandinavians of ten centuries ago were pirates and plunderers and points out that today their descendents are still…