Prelinger Archives

1,249–1,296 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 In the Beginning 1935 · Film · Subtitles Contents. The evolution of life and the fundamentals of mammalian reproduction, presented through animation, photomicrography, and natural photography. The… Internet Archive Capitalism 1948 · Film · Subtitles Widgets give way to weenies as the "Western High School Radio Forum" discusses the meaning of capitalism in terms designed to make sense to teenagers.… Internet Archive New England: Yesterday and Today 1938 · Film · Subtitles GS Plymouth Rock and memorial building at Plymouth, Mass. CU Plymouth Rock with 1620 engraved on it Superimposed images over Rock: Pilgrims arriving by boat… Internet Archive Principles Of Electro-Magnetism, Parts 1 and 2 1927 · Film · Subtitles Silent film looks at the principles of electromagnetic force with diagrams and experiments. Internet Archive Photography 1946 · Short · 9 min · Subtitles Careers in photography and cinematography. Internet Archive Family Life 1949 · Film · Subtitles Illustrates that proper management of schedules, responsibilities, privileges and finances leads to a happier home. 20:43:20 Family Life 19078 20:43:33… Internet Archive Inside Story, The 1950 · Film · Subtitles Includes: 1950 Chevrolet assembly line footage (EXCELLENT); early 1950s family in car driving on country road, cute little girl in front seat. Americana: 1950… Internet Archive Pattern for Smartness 1948 · Short · 18 min · Subtitles Home-sewed clothes as high fashion. Internet Archive Precisely So (Part I) 1937 · Cartoon · 9 min · Subtitles Surreal film on measurement of tiny quantities. Internet Archive Doctor in Industry (Part II) 1946 · Short · 18 min · Subtitles Epic history of industrial medicine in the first half of the 20th century, showing how manufacturers and the medical profession came to terms with one another… Internet Archive Turnabout Man 1936 · Short · 7 min · Subtitles What happens when bad driving habits are mirrored in other parts of a driver's life. Internet Archive Bacteria: Friend and Foe 1953 · Film · Subtitles Some lab shots, some microcinematography, some reenactments of Pasteur peering into his microscope. Shows the importance of bacteria in our everyday life.… Internet Archive "Your Name Here" Story, The 1964 · Film · Subtitles The ultimate generic industrial, made as a spoof. A film built around script and visual clichﾎs: shots of highways, farms, unidentifiable manufacturing… Internet Archive Front Line, The 1965 · Short · 14 min · Subtitles How to be an effective supermarket checker. Internet Archive Miracle of the Can (Part II) 1956 · Short · 20 min · Subtitles Panoramic exploration of cans and canning in the United States, with excellent imagery of mass production and agribusiness. Internet Archive Knights on the Highway 1938 · Film · Subtitles "NIGHT DRIVING IS GETTING TO BE MORE OF A PLEASURE EVERY YEAR, BECAUSE PROGRESS IS BEING MADE IN THE UNDERSTANDING OF THE PRINCIPLES WHICH MAKE NIGHT DRIVING… Internet Archive Sleep for Health 1950 · Film · Subtitles PRESENTS IMPORTANCE OF REGULAR SLEEPING HABITS FROM VIEWPOINT OF CHILD. EMPHASIZES CHILD'S OWN RESPONSIBILITY IN FORMATION OF GOOD HABITS. CONSIDERS DREAMING… Internet Archive Frontiers of the Future (A Screen Editorial With Lowell Thomas) 1937 · Film · Subtitles Full of GREAT stock shots of 1930s manufacturing, research laboratories and industry Lowell Thomas sitting at desk in studio Art card: map of United States… Internet Archive Know the Cause 1954 · Short · 33 min · Subtitles This film emphasizes the critical role firefighters play in investigating the causes of fires, going beyond just extinguishment. It highlights that… Internet Archive Moon Travel Film · Subtitles The film explores the potential experience of traveling to the Moon, highlighting the scientific research being conducted to understand lunar conditions and… Internet Archive Progress Parade 1960 · Film · Subtitles Animated radio waves dissolving into main title: “Progress Parade” (good) Title: Fishing on Dry Land Pan around desert landscape to oil rig, pan up drilling… Internet Archive Mark of Wholesome Meat, A 1964 · Film · Subtitles Explains what it takes to earn the right to display the "stamp of approval" given by the U.S. Department of Agriculture on packages. Describes how under the… Internet Archive Coffee Break 1958 · Film · Subtitles Calvin Workshop film. A film about the issue of coffee breaks in the workplace. The film is focused on the cost of coffee breaks and the possibility of… Internet Archive [Stop-Motion Train Film] 1950 · Film · Subtitles Stop-motion animation showing a day and night in the life of a model town and especially the railroads that serve it. ca. early 1950s Internet Archive Wreckless 1935 · Short · 17 min · Subtitles A Jam Handy "comedy" short sponsored by Chevrolet that touts modern car design's impact on safe driving. Internet Archive [Amateur film: Medicus collection: New York World's Fair, 1939-40] (Reel 3) (Part I) 1939 · Home movie · 17 min · Subtitles Detailed documentation of the "World of Tomorrow" in beautiful Kodachrome. Internet Archive Doubtful Dollars 1945 · Short · 15 min · Subtitles Woman passing fake $10 bill at general store. Many shots of people spending money. Many shots showing the production of currency at the U.S. Bureau of… Internet Archive [Home Movies: Vacation to El Paso, L.A. and S.F., 3-11 to 20-61, Part 2] 1961 · Home movie · Subtitles Shot list exists in can but not transcribed into database. Streetcars on streets of central Los Angeles Faux-Western town (Knott's Berry Farm?) Driving POV… Internet Archive Immigration 1946 · Film · Subtitles Map-Chart technique surveys chronologically and compactly the history of immigration up to the restrictive law of 1924. Economic, political and religious… Internet Archive Communism In Action: Part Two 1962 · Film · Subtitles Part 2 of a polemical political documentary detailing the birth and rise of Soviet-style Communism in the twentieth century. See item 201343 for Part 1.… Internet Archive Industrial Worker 1928 · Educational · Subtitles Silent film that looks at the educational path for a child who will eventually become an industrial worker. Internet Archive Labor and Childbirth 1950 · Film · Subtitles Diagrams show the main muscles involved in labor. Explains the three stages of labor, emphasizing when to go to the hospital, what to expect there, and the… Internet Archive San Francisco Earthquake footage Home movie · Subtitles Internet Archive [Home Movies: Wathen collection: Greenwich Village, New York Snowstorm, and Coney Island] 1944 · Home movie · Subtitles TITLE: "Greenwich Villiage [sic] Artists Street Exhibition" [Greenwich Village, New York City] This sequence approx. 50 feet. VS Washington Square Arch area,… Internet Archive [Amateur film: Medicus collection: New York World's Fair, 1939-40] (Reel 2) (Part II) 1939 · Home movie · 18 min · Subtitles Detailed documentation of the "World of Tomorrow" in beautiful Kodachrome. Internet Archive Go Natural 1970 · Film · Subtitles San Francisco and California scenes, including hippie types A few San Francisco shots, including Transamerica Pyramid (drive by from below) Internet Archive Discipline During Adolescence 1958 · Short · 16 min · Subtitles Tells story of an adolescent who returns home late at night and neglects his school work. Pictures alternate methods of discipline being tried by his parents… Internet Archive It Happened in Norristown (Part I) 1937 · Short · 16 min · Subtitles Advertising film presenting landmarks, businesses and people of a town outside Philadelphia during the Depression. Producer and director: Edwin Cooper. Internet Archive Vista Stock Shots: Entertainment 1962 · Film · Subtitles 16:23:16:26 VS three women wearing matching costumes doing choreographed theatrical cabaret style dance on stage; woman in ornate gold dress singing on stage;… Internet Archive Miracle on the Delaware 1953 · Film · Subtitles PA-0807 shotlist: 07:10:56:15 Philadelphia as seen across Delaware River. 07:11:07:23 Great shot from car on Delaware Bridge. 07:11:13:10 Pan up industrial… Internet Archive We Work Again 1937 · Film · Subtitles 05:11:27:00 We Work Again Amazing glimpse of African-American life during the Great Depression. This film acknowledges the fact that African-Americans were… Internet Archive Loaded Gun, The 1958 · Film · Subtitles Two boys in cowboy outfits find a loaded gun and struggle over possession of it. An adult takes it away from them and fires it into the air. Some great POV… Internet Archive Golden Gate City: San Francisco 1939 · Film · Subtitles The following shotlist is keyed to the PA-0659 transfer: 08:31:42:11 LS Golden Gate bridge, steamship passes under the bridge; aerial of the Golden Gate… Internet Archive Useful Prophecies: An Archival Compilation 2019 · Educational · 1 h 5 min · Subtitles Useful Prophecies, an archival compilation made for the opening night of Punto De Vista Festival (Pamplona/Iruñea), March 11, 2019. While the distance between… Internet Archive [Parade Celebrating Chinese Republic] 1912 · Short · 2 min · Subtitles San Francisco, California: Parade celebrating the formation of the Chinese Republic under Sun Yat-Sen. Internet Archive Taking the "X" out of X-Rays 1940 · Short · 9 min · Subtitles Demystifies X-rays and radiation. Internet Archive On the Air 1937 · Film · Subtitles "A CHEVROLET RADIO PROGRAM FEATURING RUBINOFF IS SENT OVER THE AIR, & AN EXPLANATION IS MADE OF HOW RADIO BROADCASTING WORKS." 00:00:45:00 On the Air 07842… Internet Archive Are You Ready for Marriage? 1950 · Film · Subtitles Are You Ready for Marriage? was produced to stem the epidemic of youthful, impetuous, and unsuccessful marriages following World War II. The Coronet catalog…