Prelinger Archives

2,353–2,400 of 10,346 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 Screen Traveler: Damascus and Jerusalem 1936 · Film · Subtitles Visits Damascus, known as the oldest city in the world, and Palestine, the Holy City. Shows the Church of the Holy Sepulcher, Haram-esh-Sherif, Mount of… Internet Archive [Home Movies: Levy collection: Norway, Sweden, Soviet Union] 1931 · Home movie · Subtitles Title cards: "Bergen - Quaint streets of a busy fishing port" "Oslo - Stavekirke - Built without nails" "Old Norwegian Village" "Stockholm, Sweeden [sic]. The… Internet Archive [Mount Tamalpais Gravity Railroad] 1917 · Short · 1 min · Subtitles Railroad transporting tourists to top of Marin County's highest peak. Internet Archive The Dangerous Stranger 1977 · Film · Subtitles Social guidance film narrated from the perspective of a police officer, advising children not to trust strangers. Invokes spectre of random kidnapping from… Internet Archive [Home Movies: Medicus Collection: Travels in New Mexico and Southwest] 2026 · Home movie · Subtitles Michigan Avenue, Chicago, Illinois; Carlsbad Caverns, New Mexico, with many tourists in attendance; Billy the Kid House; El Torreon; Jim White, discoverer of… Internet Archive Scientific Method, The 1954 · Film · Subtitles EXPLAINS STEPS OF SCIENTIFIC METHOD, DEMONSTRATES WAY IT IS APPLIED BY SCIENTISTS & VALUE WHEN APPLIED TO PROBLEMS OF EVERYDAY LIFE. FEATURES DISCOVERY OF… Internet Archive Safest Place, The 1935 · Short · 6 min · Subtitles How the automobile is the safest place a person can be. Internet Archive Atoms for Peace Short · 17 min · Subtitles Makes the case for peaceful applications of "nuclear science" (atomic energy) in industry, medicine and botany. Produced with the cooperation of Encyclopedia… Internet Archive Turkey: A Nation in Transition 1962 · Film · Subtitles Summarizes Turkish history. Surveys modern Turkey from the days of Kemal Ataturk to the present. Describes the progress Turkey has made. Internet Archive Sixth Chair, The 1949 · Educational · 17 min · Subtitles Problems of underfunded and outdated schools. Internet Archive Southwestern States (Second Edition) 1953 · Film · Subtitles LIFE IN AREAS OF TEXAS, OKLAHOMA, NEW MEXICO & ARIZONA. TOPOGRAPHY, RAINFALL, IMPRINT OF SPANISH & INDIAN CULTURES, IRRIGATION, STOCK RAISING, MINING,… Internet Archive America Marching On 1937 · Short · 8 min · Subtitles Reviews America's march to higher standards of living, greater income for her people and more leisure to enjoy the good things of life. Narrated by Lowell… Internet Archive [Home Movies: Grand Canyon in the 1920s] 1920 · Home movie · Subtitles Summary: Train trip through the Tehachapis, lots of train window POVs and rear-of-train receding track and tunnel POVs. Train travels through arid mountains,… Internet Archive Sharing Work At Home 1949 · Short · 10 min · Subtitles A family cooperates to an unbelievable degree. Internet Archive Oxydol Goes Into High 1938 · Short · 22 min · Subtitles "Motion slidefilm" for Oxydol distributors & retailers, showing sales campaigns undertaken by manufacturer. Good lab testing shots. Housewife speaks about… Internet Archive Paramount Sound News 1931 · Newsreel · Subtitles Silent newsreel. President Hoover travels San Juan, Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands Internet Archive Learning About Leaves 1958 · Film · Subtitles Identifies pine needles, vegetable leaves, blades of grass & many deciduous leaves. Uses animation & time-lapse photography to show photosynthesis & life… Internet Archive Beech-Nut Baby Food Commercial 1960 · Commercial · Subtitles Beech-Nut Baby Food TV Commercial Internet Archive [Home Movies: San Francisco and Pacific Coast Highway, 1962] 1962 · Home movie · Subtitles Shot from plane landing in SFO; POV from automobile driving up US 101 from SF airport to downtown; Golden Gate Bridge; cable cars; drive down south along… Internet Archive Marvels of Motion (A) Film · Subtitles slow-motion thoroughbred horses in motion, walking, trotting and jumping Jockey falling off of horse on steeplechase -- shown backwards Dog with paw in mouth… Internet Archive Myxomycetes Or Slime Mold 1931 · Film · Subtitles "Deals with those very interesting but little-known group of border-line organisms which are sometimes plants and sometimes animals. The first reel shows… Internet Archive Wheels Across Africa (Part I) 1936 · Short · 13 min · Subtitles Armand Davis leads motor expedition in Africa, powered by Dodge cars. Internet Archive Triumph of America 1933 · Film · Subtitles 1933 Chevrolet assembly lines, trees being sawed for lumber production, etc. etc. All kinds of footage of products used to create the Chevrolet car.… Internet Archive Pursuit Of Profit 1965 · Short · 23 min · Subtitles Presents a survey of independent businesses to show how free enterprise operates and contributes to the strength and stability of the country. Internet Archive Playing Together 1950 · Film · Subtitles Good behavior during a child's leisure time. Internet Archive Parturition in a Rhesus Monkey 1920 · Film · Subtitles 12:29:28:21 CU rhesus macaque pregnant female monkey in cage. 12:30:37:04 Female monkey licking cleaning newborn monkey while baby is still attached by… Internet Archive Competition & Dominance: Hierarchies in Rats 1940 · Film · Subtitles Three rats are given an insufficient ration of food in order to demonstrate their behaviors in an environment of food scarcity. The film makes an apparent… Internet Archive Trees 1920 · Film · Subtitles Some shots to be logged Forests World War I combat title: "Civilization stands on the firm foundation of wood" Man and woman reading in front of fireplace, 2… Internet Archive Care of the Skin 1949 · Film · Subtitles DEMONSTRATES GOOD HABITS OF CLEANLINESS. SHOWS THE PROPER WAY TO WASH HANDS & FACE, TO CLEAN NAILS & TO BATHE. ANIMATED DRAWINGS DESCRIBE THE STRUCTURE OF THE… Internet Archive Play in the Snow 1945 · Film · Subtitles SHOWS CHILDREN ENJOYING WINTER SPORTS, MAKING A SNOWMAN, PLAYING FOX & GEESE, SLEDDING & SKIING. Scenes of snowy suburban neighborhood. Two boys and girl… Internet Archive Ready on the Home Front 1940 · Film · Subtitles Stock shots to be logged historical (antiquated) war footage hand taking musket off wall Explosion in front of suburban houses (good) VS bombing and wreckage… Internet Archive Kodak Instamatic Commercial Commercial · 1 min · Subtitles Internet Archive New York World's Fair (Part 6) Film Amateur film of the New York World's Fair (1939-40). Reel 6. From intertite at head: "This reel is not of exhibits or buildings but of some of the… Internet Archive [Funeral Procession for Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., from Ebenezer Baptist Church to Morehouse College, Atlanta, April 9, 1968] 1968 · Film Super 8 home movie showing mourners and marchers in Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.'s funeral procession, April 9, 1968. Many civil rights activists and national… Internet Archive Crystals Go To War 1943 · Film · Subtitles Film about the manufacture of radio crystals during World War II. Includes footage of quartz crystals and women workers at Reeves Sound Laboratories cutting… Internet Archive Builders Of The Broad Highway 2 Film · Subtitles Frith Films presents, Builders Of The Broad Highway, Part 2. Produced and Photographed by Emily Benton Firth, Commentator Don McNamara. Internet Archive American Pioneer 1952 · Film · Subtitles Explains the types of people, modes of transportation and various physical dangers in the period of American expansion westward. Shows the building of a… Internet Archive Spider Engineers 1956 · Film · Subtitles The spider is shown to be an engineer of great skill and versatility. There are an estimated 100,000 species of spiders. In this study four typical species… Internet Archive Fashion's Favorite (Part I) 1940 · Film · Subtitles Opens with a shot of an hourglass which leads into a montage of various household appliances and then moves into a discussion of how DuPont "makes life more… Internet Archive Chevrolet Leader News (Vol. 4, No. 3) 1938 · Film · Subtitles 4-WAY RED LIGHTS BLOT OUT DEATH FOR MEMPHIS SCHOOLCHILDREN. FARMER TRADES HORSE FOR MODERN CAR. OIL WELL BLASTERS DROP BOMBS INTO GROUND, GET GUSHER.… Internet Archive English Children: Life in the City 1949 · Film · Subtitles Presents typical events in the daily life of an English urban family. Children are shown at school, at play, at home and on a holiday at a seaside town. Internet Archive Labor of Thy Hands 1950 · Short · 14 min · Subtitles Produced for American audiences. Describes how Israel is a democracy just like the United States. Internet Archive American Girl, An 2026 · Film · Subtitles Internet Archive [Eisenhower Campaign Spots, 1956 Presidential Campaign] 1956 · Short · 1 min · Subtitles Collection of political commercials. Internet Archive Radiation Safety in Nuclear Energy Explorations 1962 · Film · Subtitles DEPICTS ACTIVITIES OF DIVISION OF RADIOLOGICAL HEALTH OF PUBLIC HEALTH SERVICE SHOWING HEALTH PROGRAMS DESIGNED FOR PROTECTION AGAINST RADIATION. Shot in the… Internet Archive How to Avoid Accidents 1949 · Film · Subtitles Internet Archive Pipeline to the Clouds 1951 · Short · 25 min · Subtitles Presents the story of water-supply in the American community. Explains both the sources of water, including the hydrological cycle and the techniques of water… Internet Archive Engagement Party 1956 · Film · Subtitles The film revolves around a surprise engagement party for a couple, exploring themes of love, commitment, and the pressures of societal expectations. The main…