The world's archives

433–480 of 1,846 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 Capture of Boer Battery by British 1900 · Feature Internet Archive Cliff House from Ocean Beach 1900 · Film 3 seconds of the Cliff House from Ocean Beach, people milling about on the beach in the foreground. Internet Archive Conquering The Skies ( 1901) Directed By Ferdinand Zecca 1901 · Feature Conquering the Skies (1901) Directed by Ferdinand Zecca 'À la Conquête de l'Air' Director: Ferdinand Zecca Internet Archive Nero. Or the Fall of Rome. 1909 · Feature Internet Archive Salvaging A Steamroller (1900) 1900 · Feature Salvaging a Steamroller (1900) In the early days of films, most regional film showings happened at the fairground. The Travelling Cinematograph of Bioscope… Internet Archive The Cook’s Revenge (1900) Directed By Georges Méliès 1900 · Feature The Cook’s Revenge (1900) 'La vengeance du gâte-sauce' Director: Georges Méliès The Cook's Revenge (French: La Vengeance du gâte-sauce) is a 1900 French… Internet Archive A Fantasy 1908 · Feature Internet Archive The Countryman And The Cinematograph (1901) Directed By Robert W. Paul 1901 · Feature The Countryman and the Cinematograph (1901) Director: Robert W. Paul The Countryman and the Cinematograph (also known as The Countryman's First Sight of the… Internet Archive The Birth, the Life and the Death of Christ 1907 · Feature Internet Archive Cyrano de Bergerac 1900 · Feature Internet Archive Le tango 1905 · Feature Internet Archive La femme collante 1906 · Feature Internet Archive Danse Slave (1900) Directed By Marguerite Vrignault 1900 · Feature Danse Slave (1900) Director: Marguerite Vrignault Jeanne Chasles and Achille Viscusi dances. Internet Archive Danse serpentine 1900 · Feature Internet Archive L'Arlésienne 1908 · Feature Internet Archive Anna, qu'est-ce que t'attends? 1906 · Feature Internet Archive Les quatre cents farces du diable aka The Merry Frolics of Satan 1906 · Feature Internet Archive The Kiss 1900 · Feature Internet Archive Whaling Afloat and Ashore 1908 · Feature Internet Archive Avenue de l'opra 1900 · Feature Internet Archive What Happened in the Tunnel 1903 · Feature Internet Archive Kitty Mahone (1900) Directed by Walter Gibbons 1900 · Feature Kitty Mahone (1900) Director: Walter Gibbons Walter Gibbons was one of Britain’s most forward-thinking film entrepreneurs, and deeply entranced by the music… Internet Archive Le royaume des fes AKA The Kingdom of the Fairies 1903 · Feature Internet Archive L'assassinat du duc de Guise AKA The Assassination of the Duke de Guise 1908 · Feature Internet Archive The Sick Kitten 1903 · Feature Internet Archive Barbe-bleue AKA Blue Beard 1901 · Feature Internet Archive Uncle Josh’s Nightmare (1900) Directed By Edwin S. Porter 1900 · Feature Uncle Josh’s Nightmare (1900) Director: Edwin S. Porter Poor Uncle Josh is trying to get to sleep, but being constantly bedevilled by a fellow in red long… Internet Archive Haunted Kitchen 1907 · Feature Internet Archive The Country Doctor 1909 · Feature Internet Archive The Night Before Christmas 1905 · Feature Internet Archive The Gay Shoe Clerk 1903 · Feature Internet Archive Uncle Josh's Nightmare 1900 · Feature Internet Archive Scrooge, or Marley's Ghost 1901 · Feature Internet Archive Champs de Mars 1900 · Feature Internet Archive Madame a des envies AKA Madam's Fancies 1907 · Feature Internet Archive Le dpart d'Arlequin et de Pierrette 1900 · Feature Internet Archive Princess Nicotine; or, The Smoke Fairy 1909 · Feature Internet Archive Faust et Mphistophls 1903 · Feature Internet Archive Five O'Clock Tea 1905 · Feature Internet Archive The Strong Arm of the Law 1906 · Feature Internet Archive Ali Baba Et Les Quarante Voleurs AKA Ali Baba and the Forty Thieves 1907 · Feature Internet Archive Chez le photographe 1900 · Feature Internet Archive Le village de Namo - Panorama pris d'une chaise porteurs 1900 · Feature Internet Archive An Extraordinary Cab Accident 1903 · Feature Internet Archive As Seen Through the Telescope 1903 · Feature Internet Archive The Merchant of Venice 1908 · Feature Internet Archive La mtamorphose du papillon AKA A Butterfly's Metamorphosis 1904 · Feature Internet Archive King Lear 1909 · Feature