Prelinger Archives

1,537–1,584 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 Cooking: Terms and What They Mean 1949 · Film · Subtitles EXPLAINS & DEMONSTRATES SOME OF THE MOST COMMON TERMS USED IN COOKING. DEMONSTRATES THE MEANING OF THE FOLLOWING TERMS: TO CREAM, STIR, FOLD, BOIL, BEAT,… Internet Archive [Amateur film: Medicus collection: New York World's Fair, 1939-40] (Reel 2) (Part III) 1939 · Home movie · 17 min · Subtitles Detailed documentation of the "World of Tomorrow" in beautiful Kodachrome. Internet Archive Mosquito, The 1947 · Film · Subtitles Shows the life cycles of the common (Culex) and the malaria (Anopheles) mosquito. Depicts methods of exterminating larvae and adult mosquitoes. Includes… Internet Archive Brighter Day in Your Kitchen, A 1949 · Film · Subtitles Focus on meal preparation with our own home economist talking to American women about food; some great kitchen and cooking shots. Internet Archive Precipitins 1930 · Educational · Subtitles Identification of human vs. animal blood, stains through chemical tests - scientists, labs, chemists, rabbits, experiments, blood, nurses, lab technicians,… Internet Archive Microscopic Life: The World of the Invisible 1958 · Film · Subtitles A study of the plant and animal life found in a jar of ordinary pond water. Illustrates and explains the difference between microscopic plants and animals;… Internet Archive Europe At Your Window 1950 · Film · Subtitles Reel contains two films: The first is a sponsored film about the travel adventures of a couple who take a trip from Sweden to Paris by bus; the second film is… Internet Archive From Trees to Tribunes (Part III) 1931 · Short · 12 min · Subtitles Everything that happens to produce an issue of the Chicago Tribune, from logging to newswriting and cartooning. Internet Archive Sentinel in the Sky 1955 · Film · Subtitles Peacetime airborne radar installations perform several most useful functions. They are an aid to navigation, they provide early warning against storms, they… Internet Archive New Note in Music, A (Harry Partch at Mills College) Short · 1 min · Subtitles Universal Newsreel story (undated) showing Harry Partch conducting a student performance of his music on his instruments at Mills College, Oakland,… Internet Archive Bicycle Today - Automobile Tomorrow 1969 · Short · 10 min · Subtitles Shows graphically how one should check his bike for mechanical soundness and how to keep it in good running condition. Pictures a boy and a girl demonstrating… Internet Archive Battery Electricity 1957 · Film · Subtitles Part of the Junior Science Film Series. Based on the books After Dinner Science and Science Magic by Kenneth M. Swezey. Explains how electricity works and… Internet Archive Butterick Clothes-Ups Of 1942 1942 · Film · Subtitles A silent look at clothing made from Butterick dress patterns Photographed by Neil P Horne. Internet Archive Reasons Why, The 1959 · Film · Subtitles Television manufacturing at RCA's New Jersey plant. Includes scenes of design, engineering and quality control. Great scenes of TVs with flickering test… Internet Archive We Learn About the Telephone I 1965 · Film · Subtitles Tells the history of communications, from smoke signals to telephones. Part live-action and animation. CU color Western Electric 500 handset ringing; little… Internet Archive Teenage Road-e-o 1957 · Film · Subtitles 03:39:17:09 Title credit high-angle shot of 1950s car weaving between barrels in car handling test. 03:39:39:17 VS Great moving camera shot through 1950s soda… Internet Archive Golden Gate City: San Francisco 1939 · Film · Subtitles \08:31:42:11 LS Golden Gate bridge, steamship passes under the bridge; aerial of the Golden Gate Bridge; great high-angle shot from atop the one of the… Internet Archive [Missouri Pacific Railroad film] 2026 · Film · Subtitles VS railroad operations with station platform, passengers in train, dining car and coach services, etc. ca. late 1930s-early 1940s Internet Archive [News Magazine of the Screen, December 1950] (Part II) 1950 · Newsreel · 5 min · Subtitles Newsreel stories reformatted for educational presentation, including the assassination attempt on President Harry S. Truman. Internet Archive Decorating Unlimited 1961 · Film · Subtitles "While today's home phone decor might include an understated mobile device dock and maybe an old cordless, back in the 1950s the new mode was candy-colored… Internet Archive Ingenuity in Action 1959 · Film · Subtitles This informative film made for hot rod fans explains the process involved in preparing and entering a car show, but at times comes across as an ethnographic… Internet Archive Day Called X, A (Part II) 1958 · Short · 15 min · Subtitles Dramatized atomic evacuation of Portland, Oregon. Internet Archive Great Swindle, The 1948 · Film · Subtitles Harassed by shortages, Tom Grey votes for the removal of price control after reading propaganda issued by the National Association of Manufacturers (NAM).… Internet Archive Nicky Rides Again 1938 · Film · Subtitles Animated cartoon. Indians attack stockade, and just as all seems lost, Nicky Nome comes to the air of the hero with a new Chevrolet. Contains racist… Internet Archive Animals in Modern Life 1937 · Film · Subtitles Contributions of animals to the life of modern man. Begins with views of prehistoric man, as the commentator describes his need for defense against larger… Internet Archive I Don't Want to Walk Without You (Juvenile Jubilee) (Soundies) 1940 · Film · Subtitles Kay Lorraine & Merle Pitt's Music College Graduation Dance with comic black waiter. 00:00:00:00 - 00:45:21:29 B/W Sound 1940s "I Don't Want to Walk Without… Internet Archive Passenger Car Screen Ads 1952 · Film · Subtitles Star Bright 00:23:00:09 Quick pan down from clear blue sky to red 1953 Chevrolet convertible parked on road in front of row of green trees. 00:23:07:27 VS of… Internet Archive All My Babies: A Midwife's Own Story 1951 · Film · Subtitles George Stoney's film about a rural midwife in the American South. Story of a midwife in rural Albany, Georgia. 15:02:52:16 MS large heavyset African American… Internet Archive News Magazine of the Screen, The (Vol. 7, Issue 3) 1956 · Film · Subtitles 0:37:00 - VS Typhoon hits Kyushu, Japan; wrecked houses / flood damage / fires rage at night / school children in classroom, widespread destruction from… Internet Archive Overs and Outs 1964 · Film · Subtitles 17:01:10:00 med shot of man putting reel on projector (17:01:14:00) 17:01:31:00 MCU of man threading leader onto projector (17:01:51:00) 17:02:45:00 med shot… Internet Archive New Tools for Learning 1951 · Film · Subtitles "So much must be learned by so many in so little time. This is the question we must address to every aspect of the problem. School buildings; equipment;… Internet Archive [Home Movies: Southwestern U.S.] 2026 · Home movie · Subtitles Includes: Mount Wilson sign; road to Mount Wilson; "The Huntington" hotel or resort scenes, somewhere in Los Angeles or the West; desert cacti and plants;… Internet Archive Distant Drummer: Flowers of Darkness 1972 · Film · Subtitles Traces the history of opium to the present day usage of heroin. Examines the methods and procedures of organized crime in transporting the drug to the United… Internet Archive Freedom and Power 1952 · Film · Subtitles Depicts the development and importance of electric power from Benjamin Franklin's experiment with a kite to the contributions of Thomas Edison. First… Internet Archive [San Francisco Earthquake Aftermath, 1906] 1906 · Film · Subtitles VS aftermath of 1906 San Francisco earthquake. Footage from moving vehicle driving down street; tents pitched along street, horse drawn carriages, demolished… Internet Archive Jean and Her Dolls 1952 · Film · Subtitles Jean confides to a friend that her doll is catching the measles. Jean's brother overhears the remark and paints red spots on her doll's face. In return for… Internet Archive Electronic Computers Improve Management Control 1957 · Film · Subtitles Shows how a solution to a specific management control problem may be provided by electronic data processing methods. Describes a variety of new business… Internet Archive Operator Toll Dialing: Dialing 1949 · Short · 6 min · Subtitles Instructional film for telephone operators. Internet Archive City Water Supply 1941 · Film · Subtitles ANIMATED DRAWINGS DESCRIBE THE RELATION BETWEEN RAINFALL & LIFE; THE SOURCES OF CITY WATER SUPPLY; WELLS, RIVERS, LAKES & WATERSHEDS; WATERBORNE DISEASES &… Internet Archive World of Tomorrow, The (Part II) Short · 17 min · Subtitles 0682 PA8532 World of Tomorrow, The from 025.07; Engel collection; 16 B&W MOS neg pix Internet Archive Zip Code with the Swingin' 6 1967 · Film · Subtitles Introduces the U.S. ZIP code system by means of a folk-rock band. Shots of masses of mailbags and parcels being pushed through chutes (good) Internet Archive Open Door: The Story of Foreman Jim Baxter and His Family, The (Part II) 1945 · Short · 21 min · Subtitles A General Motors foreman learns not just to be a better manager, but where his place is in the system of production. Internet Archive Science and Agriculture (The Soybean) 1939 · Film · Subtitles Contents. The cultivation and use of the soybean as an illustration of the relation of science to agriculture and the interrelation of science, agriculture,… Internet Archive Corvair in Action, The 1960 · Film · Subtitles 06:22:47:00 VS different color 1960 Chevrolet Corvairs driving through scenic landscape, each Corvair with 1960 license plates. 06:23:58:05 Great low-angle… Internet Archive Magic in the Air (1955) 1955 · Short · 8 min · Subtitles Introduces television and explains the workings of early television technology. Internet Archive News Magazine of the Screen, The (Vol. 2, Issue 6) 1952 · Film · Subtitles 0:56:00 - THE WORLD IN THE CAMERA Volunteer political workers walk through entrance marked Eisenhower headquarters / Senator Henry Cabot Lodge, Jr. enters… Internet Archive More Power to You 1930 · Film · Subtitles Old DC-3 ? airplane flying 3-stack ocean liner 2 shots of passenger trains in motion aerial flyover huge oilfield with many wells (great) oil wells VS… Internet Archive How to Buy Meat (Part I) 1970 · Short · 17 min · Subtitles Presents a U. S. Department of Agriculture's consumer meat specialist who gives valuable tips on buying and preparing meat by using the USDA grades of quality.