Prelinger Archives

577–624 of 10,345 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 Hydraulics 1936 · Film · Subtitles "PRINCIPLES OF HYDRAULICS EXPLAINED, CENTERING ON THE VALUE FOR SAFETY & COMFORT OF HYDRAULIC BRAKES." Internet Archive Opportunities Unlimited 2026 · Film · Subtitles 1950s part-animated film about the middle-income consumer in the 1950s. Nice animation illustrating patterns and habits of post-war consumption. 10:19:24:02… Internet Archive Destination Earth 1956 · Film · Subtitles This animated cartoon follows the adventures of "Colonel Cosmic," a Martian, as he learns that Oil and Competition are the two things that make America great.… Internet Archive Redwood Saga 1940 · Short · 10 min · Subtitles Cutting, loading, transportation, mill sawing and finishing operations of the Northern California's redwood lumber industry. Internet Archive Caught Mapping 1940 · Film · Subtitles How maps are made from earliest times to the present. In modern times, the map makers call on automobiles with the stuff to help them in their survey and… Internet Archive Looking Ahead Through Rohm & Haas Plexiglas (Part II) 1947 · Short · 4 min · Subtitles Plastics industry makes the transition from military applications to peacetime futuristic designs. Internet Archive "Your Name Here" Story, The (Outtakes) 1964 · Film · Subtitles Outtakes and unused footage from "The 'Your Name Here' Story. PA-0815 / Rolls 9097; 9073; 9074; 9080; 9076; 9072; 9075 (unknown in which order) 04:00:53:17 CU… Internet Archive Human Bridge, The 1949 · Short · 27 min · Subtitles Traces the birth of the 1949 Ford from the drawing board to the roads of the world, showing different stages of automobile design and manufacturing. Run time… Internet Archive Newspaper Story 1950 · Film · Subtitles Steps in the completion of a newspaper story from recording the incident through the taking & finishing of pictures, writing, editing, setting in type,… Internet Archive Blasting Cap Danger 1957 · Short · 14 min · Subtitles Shows the dangers to which children expose themselves when they play with blasting caps. Internet Archive [Amateur film: Golden Gate International Exposition] Home movie · 10 min · Subtitles Amateur pictures, including aerials and color shot from ground level, of the San Francisco World's Fair on Treasure Island. Internet Archive Independent Radio Station 1951 · Short · 18 min · Subtitles Military training film on a New York radio station, WMCA, owned by the Nathan Straus family, showing its ownership, management and activities. Good view of… Internet Archive Booked for Safekeeping (Part II) 1960 · Short · 12 min · Subtitles Fascinating documentary made to train police officers in the assistance and management of mentally ill and confused persons, produced in New Orleans by… Internet Archive When the Circuit Breaks: America's Energy Crisis (Part I) 1975 · Short · 13 min · Subtitles Explains that all forms of energy have circuit breakers; when demand exceeds supply, the circuit breaks; when several circuits break at the same time, we have… Internet Archive News Magazine of the Screen, The (Vol. 2, Issue 6) 1952 · Newsreel · 22 min · Subtitles Newsreel stories reformatted for classroom presentation. Includes: Dwight D. Eisenhower enters 1952 Republican party primary; blizzard at California's Donner… Internet Archive What a Wonderful World It Would Be 1965 · Film · Subtitles Great color - sitcom (drama?) about product reliability & job performance. Dog enters thru special door. Man & woman sleeping in bed. CU sleeping man. CU… Internet Archive Rudolph, The Red-Nosed Reindeer 1948 · Film · Subtitles "AN ANIMATED CARTOON FOR CHILDREN, TELLING THE STORY OF RUDOLPH, A SMALL REINDEER, WHOSE NOSE IS SO RED & SHINY THAT SANTA CLAUS SELECTS HIM TO BE HIS HEAD… Internet Archive Combat America (Part III) 1945 · Short · 16 min · Subtitles Follows the Flying Fortress crews of the 351st Bombardment Group from the end of their training at a Colorado training field to actual combat over Germany. Internet Archive Personal Hygiene (Part II) 1950 · Short · 17 min · Subtitles Military training drama showing how the residents of a barracks convince a sloppy soldier to clean up his act. With many folk songs on cleanliness. Internet Archive [Anatomy of a Murder Premiere Story] 1959 · Short · 2 min · Subtitles Promotional trailer showing premiere activities and publicity surrounding release of Otto Premingers film ANATOMY OF A MURDER (United Artists), which was… Internet Archive Passenger Train, The (Second Edition) 1955 · Short · 10 min · Subtitles A young boy travels from Chicago, Illinois to Lamy, New Mexico via passenger train. Internet Archive Barbers 1959 · Short · 13 min · Subtitles Shows the jobs of a hairstylist, a barber and a beautician and the transformations they bring about on an entire family. Internet Archive Early Settlers of New England (Salem 1626-1629) 1940 · Short · 10 min · Subtitles Dramatized impressions of the life of the pioneer settlers in a New England colony. Internet Archive [Amateur films: Ivan Besse collection: Britton, South Dakota 1938-39] (Part X) 1938 · Home movie · 9 min · Subtitles Daily life in a South Dakota town during the Great Depression, shot by Ivan Besse. Internet Archive Living Stereo 1958 · Short · 7 min · Subtitles Introducing stereophonic phonograph records. Internet Archive Combat America (Part II) 1945 · Short · 13 min · Subtitles Follows the Flying Fortress crews of the 351st Bombardment Group from the end of their training at a Colorado training field to actual combat over Germany. Internet Archive [Kinograms Newsreel] 1925 · Newsreel · 6 min · Subtitles Typical newsreel from the silent era, featuring Jack Dempsey, a balloon race, women dancing in chilly breezes, a juggler, and opium being confiscated and… Internet Archive [Frigidaire Imperial Line] 1956 · Short · 20 min · Subtitles Promotional film for Frigidaire dealers showing features of the new Imperial Line of refrigerators. Internet Archive Why Vandalism? 1955 · Short · 16 min · Subtitles Life of a teenage outsider; what makes him that way and how his anger flares into violence. Internet Archive Big Delivery Wagon, The 1951 · Short · 11 min · Subtitles Shows transportation system necessary to move agricultural crops from farm to factory, where they are made into Heinz food products, especially ketchup. Internet Archive Desert Venture (Part I) 1948 · Short · 13 min · Subtitles "This is a story of a venture by American capital in a strange and ancient land," says the narrator. Shows the search and extraction of oil in Saudi Arabia,… Internet Archive American Maker 1960 · Film · Subtitles Relates how Americans build, from youth throughout life, by using their ingenuity not only in technological advancement but in everyday efforts by everyone. Internet Archive Emotional Maturity 1957 · Short · 19 min · Subtitles The story of Dave, an emotionally unstable adolescent who cannot accept that his girlfriend has quit going steady with him and the football coach has benched… Internet Archive Story of Enterprise 1955 · Short · 12 min · Subtitles How a young couple parlays their frozen custard booth into a multimillion dollar business and constructs a parable of capitalist economics. With Prof. Clifton… Internet Archive It Happened in Mayfair 1937 · Short · 17 min · Subtitles Advertising film presenting landmarks, businesses and people of a neighborhood in northeast Philadelphia during the Depression. Presented by Herb Shulman,… Internet Archive [Amateur film: Summers collection: San Francisco, California, 1941] (Part II) 1941 · Home movie · 12 min · Subtitles Evocative silent Kodachrome compendium of San Francisco scenes just before the U.S. entered World War II, concentrating on aerials, Chinatown, Market Street,… Internet Archive Television Remote Control (Tuner) 1961 · Short · 5 min · Subtitles Early technology to enable the channel-surfer. Internet Archive Miracles From Agriculture 1960 · Short · 12 min · Subtitles Presents today's supermarkets as the showplaces of agriculture; discusses methods of improvement in the growing, handling, processing, and shipping of food… Internet Archive Adelante Cubanos (Part I) 1959 · Short · 10 min · Subtitles Exhorts the Cuban people to support industrialization on the island and the production of consumer goods. Internet Archive Black Widow Spider: Her Life Cycle and Her Enemies 1960 · Film · Subtitles 18:04:58:28 CU Underside of black widow spider on web over title credits; VS CU black widow spider on web; CU red hourglass mark on black widow spider.… Internet Archive Coveted East Indies, The (Part I) 1938 · Film · Subtitles This film appears MOS, but originally had sound and was produced and narrated by the radio world travel radio commentator Deane Dickason. Interesting silent… Internet Archive Consuming Women (Women as Consumers) 1967 · Short · 3 min · Subtitles Strange, highly generalized portrait of the American woman consumer. Internet Archive Something New From Something Old 1958 · Short · 12 min · Subtitles Young couple living in a walkup on the Lower East Side in the 1950s with more love than money fixes up their apartment. Internet Archive Chevrolet Leader News (Vol. 3, No. 4) 1937 · Film · Subtitles BARBERSHOP ON WHEELS. COMBINATION RAIL & HIGHWAY VEHICLE IN TENNESSEE. GERMAN SHEPHERD HELPS FIGHT FIRES. NEW JERSEY STATE POLICE DIRECT TRAFFIC FROM… Internet Archive Principles of Electricity 1945 · Short · 20 min · Subtitles Breaks down structure of matter into atoms and, by use of conventional symbols, shows the action of electrons within an atom. The principles involved in the… Internet Archive Tornado 1955 · Film · Subtitles 09:38:36:04 CU raining dripping on glass window. 09:38:39:16 CU alarm clock reads 3:26. 09:38:44:06 CU disembodied hand lifts coffee pot off of stove; LS… Internet Archive Jay Can Do It 1965 · Short · 12 min · Subtitles Shows how an 11-year old boy and his brothers share each other's interests and activities. Shows projects such as building a tree house, baking cookies and… Internet Archive Going Places 1948 · Short · 11 min · Subtitles Defines the profit motive and dramatizes the part it has played in the economic development of our country. Stresses the need for continued industrial profits…