Prelinger Archives
3,937–3,984 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 Ones | Films for young children by name: nursery rhymes, lullabies, preschool. |
|---|---|
| Kids | Cartoons and animation, children's and family films, and educational films, unless they deal with war, propaganda, crime, horror or drugs, or carry racial caricature. |
| Tweens | Documentaries, science, nature and space, classic comedies, newsreels, commercials and lectures. |
| Teens | Everything else, including anything we cannot tell about; war, crime, horror and westerns go no lower. |
| Adult | Sexual themes (such as the old "sex hygiene" films), gore, surgery, slaughter, atrocity footage. |
Internet Archive
Civil Defense Public Information
Civil Defense informational film with animated and live action sequences that detail steps the public can take toward preparedness for nuclear fallout.…
Internet Archive
Clouds
Internet Archive
957th Day, The
Shows the Pacific Fifth Fleet engaged in combat action on the 957th day of WWII
Internet Archive
[Home Movies: San Francisco]
Mission Dolores San Francisco City Hall seen from straight on, Fulton Street California street with cable car Chinatown Powell and Market streets, cable car…
Internet Archive
Fighting Men: Keep It Clean
Dramatized combat training film on the importance of keeping the rifle clean.
Internet Archive
City of Magic
about New York City Skeletal Entry
Internet Archive
[National Recovery Administration (NRA) Promo]
NRA Promo with Jimmy Durante
Internet Archive
Home Movie: Anderson-Nelson Collection: 001213
University of California, Berkeley college football games, San Francisco landscapes, the SS Vancouver after a mystery explosion, delivery of a new RCA…
Internet Archive
Home Movie: 97473: St. Louis Area Family, Reel 5
Viewing notes state: backyard fun girl with baseball Christmas / dolls / 8mm projector CU family portraits beer cozies factory man gets hit in face with ball…
Internet Archive
See Yourself Tonight
Person-on-the-street interviews (January 11, 1949) presented by the San Francisco Television Center in which passersby are asked about snow in Los Angeles…
Internet Archive
Photographic Studies in Hypnosis
Internet Archive
Montevideo Family
Depicts the daily life of a middle-class family in Montevideo, Uruguay.
Internet Archive
Walking to School
0646 PA8752 Walking to School
Internet Archive
[Gould can 5208: California Cotton Mills]
California Cotton Mills in Oakland, California / exterior and interior shots of loading bales / cotton machinery in operation spinning thread and weaving /…
Internet Archive
[Gould can 5123.8]
Mrs. Phoebe Apperson Hearst entertains Southern newspaper editors at her hacienda in Pleasanton, California.
Internet Archive
Invisible Diplomats
Internet Archive
Everybody Knows
Sponsored by Chamber of Commerce of the United States. Featuring Robert Rockwell. Story and screen play by Norman Weissman. Produced and directed by Richard…
Internet Archive
Evolution
this is a poor dupe of the Fleischer film (although the poor quality is itself interesting) animated treatment of the evolution of the solar system Reel 2:…
Internet Archive
Discussion Problems in Group Living: The Bully
Narrative portraying a boy who bullies younger kids. A group of children band together to outsmart the bully's plan to disrupt a school picnic at a…
Internet Archive
[Gould can 5202.1]
SAN FRANCISCO, California the day World War I was declared / huge flag on Marketstreet / crowds / parade
Internet Archive
[Home Movies: Ransohoff Collection: "Miscellaneous Scenes Along the Overland Route, 1927"]
Title: Miscellaneous Scenes Along the Overland Route, 1927 Scenes shot from moving train VS tracks receding into distance, shot from back platform of…
Internet Archive
[Livestock Auction]
Bull being brushed in pen INT Cattle auction, auctioneers and bidders Shot from various angles Shots to be logged
Internet Archive
Birth of a City
0659 PA8670 Birth of a City
Internet Archive
Alexis Lichine Wine Commercial
Commercial for Alexis Lichine Wine.
Internet Archive
Things People Want, The
How to get people to buy stuff. Sales training film.
Internet Archive
Amateur Film: Navy Initiation at Sea
0697 PA8660 Amateur Film: Navy Initiation at Sea
Internet Archive
The Dangerous Years
Content warning: the film equates homosexuality with drug addiction and delinquency at 6:30. Film discusses the issue of juvenile delinquency in the United…
Internet Archive
Future Clear
About Plexiglas
Internet Archive
Home Movie: 97076: Florida Vacation, 1958
Florida vacation, 1958
Internet Archive
Home movie: 170003_apparent_alt: 1940s Northern California landscapes Pitt River to NASA Ames
Home movie: 170003_apparent_alt: 1940s Northern California landscapes Pitt River to NASA Ames
Internet Archive
Spain in Revolt (Part III)
0540 PA8461 Spain in Revolt 033.05
Internet Archive
Modes of the Moment
MODES OF THE MOMENT, an early "footery fashions" film sponsored by the Walk-Over Company. Includes titles.
Internet Archive
[Gould can 5161.9]
Ottawa, Ontario, Canada: Canadian 207th Battalion receives colors. 09:47:23:14 “Ottawa, Canada Crack 207th Battalion Receives Colors; Sir Sam Hughes presents…
Internet Archive
Sacred Elephants of India
Internet Archive
Cancer
DESCRIBES THE NATURE OF CANCER & ITS DETECTION & TREATMENT.
Internet Archive
The New Frontiers
Subtitle: An Epic of Electrified America Westinghouse Electric Company's celebration of its 50th anniversary, showcasing the wonders and ease of life using…
Internet Archive
409 Bathroom Cleaner Commercial
Commercial for 409 Bathroom Cleaner
Internet Archive
Police Attack — People Fight Back
Activist documentary by the Atlanta Anti-Repression Coalition on Black resistance to police violence. Includes footage of police beating striking meat-packing…
Internet Archive
[Home Movies: Laubscher Collection: Nebraska, South Dakota and Wyoming]
Some good shots to be logged. "The Old Pine Tree" enclosed by fence Nebraska State Capitol Views of city from Capitol observation floor VS automobile burning…
Internet Archive
Stillman Fires Collection: FDNY Chief Kenlons Ride
From Stillman Fires Collection.
Internet Archive
[Home Movies: Pendleton Roundup, 1941, I]
Photography by Chas. Masters; Titles by Louis Moss. Continues from the film with the same title, I.
Internet Archive
Good Luck Margarine Commercial
Good Luck Margarine Commercial
Internet Archive
Oakland: Tomorrow's City Today
A/B roll. Director of Photography: Harold A. Zell. Scenario by Lee Rashall. Narrated by John Grover. Executive Producer: Gerald L. Karski.
Internet Archive
[Gould can 5230.2]
KINOGRAMS NEWSREEL: Westwood, California: Special railroad train developed to fight forest fires / train on way to fire / attacking the fire with special high…
Internet Archive
John Schmidt Collection: Reel 06
California landscapes, including time lapses of clouds, skinny dipping in creeks, rolling hills and Oak trees, the Pulgas Water Temple, and more. leader…
Internet Archive
[Star Trek Convention]
Internet Archive
[Gould can 5123.6]
California School for the Deaf (at Berkeley, Calif.) installs new, unique fire escape. Board of Education and Fire Department representatives review it; they…
Internet Archive
In the Dough
history of yeast and breadmaking