The world's archives

1,729–1,776 of 18,145 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 Elsie Presents: Borden's Cottage Cheese 1950 · Film · Subtitles dairy cows manufacturing, testing and packing of cottage cheese delivery trucks leave plant to store supermarket shopping cottage cheese cuisine Internet Archive Live and Learn 1951 · Film · Subtitles ILLUSTRATES THAT ACCIDENTS THAT HAPPEN AT HOME at PLAY CAN BE AVOIDED BY TAKING TIME TO THINK. GREAT SIMULATED ACCIDENTS, SOME SICK. FILMED IN Los Angeles,… Internet Archive America on Wheels 1950 · Short · 7 min · Subtitles Explores the effects of the advent of the motor car in America and some of the motorist's early problems, including frail, flat tires and frequent breakdowns.… Internet Archive How Quiet Helps at School 1953 · Film · Subtitles Shows how a class can study and work better if the room is quiet. Demonstrates ways to study without interrupting others. Indicates that noise does have a… Internet Archive Fun that Builds Good Health, The 1950 · Film · Subtitles Presents a variety of choices of recreation in terms of good times and good health. 00:12:59 Young boy running on football field 00:13:02 Boy drops pass,… Internet Archive What Mr. Bell Had in Mind 1954 · Film · Subtitles Don Ameche. Opening sequence on how people use the phone and why. Alexander Graham Bell contemplates. How to organize your phone business. Excellent montage… Internet Archive Trouble Maker, The 1959 · Short · 12 min · Subtitles Understanding and combatting the disturber among us. Internet Archive Whirlpool (1950) 1950 · Feature The wife of a psychoanalyst falls prey to a devious quack hypnotist when he discovers she is an habitual shoplifter. Then one of his previous patients now… Internet Archive Office Courtesy: Meeting the Public 1952 · Film · Subtitles Dramatizes techniques for office workers in meeting and working with persons outside the company, face to face and over the phone. Stresses courtesy. A… Internet Archive Bait 1950 · Feature Title: Bait Summary: Directed by: Frank Richardson Actors: Diana Napier, John Bentley, John Oxford Production Company: Advance Productions Release Date:… Internet Archive Writing Better Social Letters 1950 · Film · Subtitles EXPLAINS FORMS & PURPOSES OF SOCIAL LETTERS, PRINCIPLES OF LETTER WRITING. TEENAGE BOY AND SISTER SIT AT DINING ROOM TABLE WRITING THANK YOU LETTER TO… Internet Archive Today's Chicks 1950 · Film · Subtitles 1950s footage of baby chicks and chick hatcheries, both more mechanized hatcheries and those that are more manually maintained. Footage of chickens being… Internet Archive Long Corridor, The 1955 · Film · Subtitles A George Reuter Organization Production. Director: Gordon Weisenborn. Cameraman: Loren Tutell. Editor: Arthur F. Ellis. Art Director: Chas. M. Reiter.… Internet Archive The Adventures of Paddy The Pelican (Cartoon Series) 1950 · Cartoon All six episodes of the 1950's cartoon "Paddy the Pelican" which was one of the first cartoons made for television, as well as one that is often regarded as… Internet Archive Eat for Health 1954 · Film · Subtitles Using the five fingers of each hand as a check off device, the film identifies a food group with each finger. Using this system, Ralph learns to eat a… Internet Archive American Look 1958 · Film · Subtitles A "tribute to the American stylist," American Look shows families at leisure, children dressed in cowboy and cowgirl outfits watching television, a father… Internet Archive White Corridors 1951 · Feature Title: White Corridors Summary: Hospital drama set at the Yeoman's Hospital, in the English Midlands, during the early 1950s. Directed by: Pat Jackson Actors:… Internet Archive Waterfowl in the Spring 1953 · Film · Subtitles Presents close-ups of many North American ducks including the canvasback, the ruddy duck, green-winged and blue-winged teal, a drake mallard, and a pintail.… Internet Archive What's It to You? (Part I) 1955 · Short · 14 min · Subtitles Dramatic demonstration of the properties and uses of Mylar. Internet Archive Les Diaboliques (Diabolique) 1955 1955 · Feature Les Diaboliques is a 1955 French psychological horror thriller film co-written and directed by Henri-Georges Clouzot, starring Simone Signoret, Véra Clouzot,… Internet Archive Eskimos: Winter in Western Alaska 1950 · Film · Subtitles Typical activities of Alaskan Eskimo life throughout a long winter. Depicts the Eskimo's dependence upon fish as a food supply and illustrates methods of… Internet Archive The Candle Maker 1957 · Cartoon A Christmas Cartoon A candle maker gives his son the job of making Christmas candles for the church on Christmas Eve Internet Archive Finger of Guilt 1956 · Feature · 1 h 24 min Title: Finger of Guilt Summary: A married movie studio executive's life, starts to fall apart when he is intimately stalked by a beautiful woman he claims he… Internet Archive Partners in Progress 1954 · Film · Subtitles Many shots of laying telephone cable in different ways and stringing telephone line and splicing; lines of switchboard operators; Shots: paddlewheelers; old… Internet Archive 'The Guiding Light' - April 9, 1953 1953 · Commercial · 15 min · Subtitles Episode of the soap opera "The Guiding Light" from April 9, 1953. Also features original commercials. Internet Archive "You Asked For It" 1950 · TV · 24 min · Subtitles Popular television show from the 1950s, where viewers would write in requesting to see various interesting things. With this episode we see a knifethrower, an… Internet Archive [Chunky Television Commercials with Arnold Stang] 1950 · Commercial · Subtitles The film features a series of humorous and energetic television commercials for Chunky chocolate bars, starring Arnold Stang. The commercials highlight the… Internet Archive Classic Fifties Commercial: General Electric Dish Washer (1952) 1952 · Commercial · 1 min A Classic Fifties commercial for a General Electric Dish Washer from circa 1952. It's amazing that General Electric is still going after all these years.… Internet Archive 90 Day Wondering (1956) 1956 · Feature 90 Day Wondering is a jointly produced Warner Brothers/United States Army animated short, directed by Chuck Jones. It is an instructional short aimed at… Internet Archive New Neighbor 1953 · Short · 24 min · Subtitles Building a steel mill from scratch and a city for its workers (Levittown, Pa.). Internet Archive Getting Ready Morally 1951 · Film · Subtitles Shows how the service experience helps a youth to develop self-reliance and to assume the responsibility for making his own decisions. Internet Archive The Promoter 1952 · Feature Title: The Promoter Summary: A charming and ambitious young man finds many ways to raise himself through the ranks in business and social standing, some… Internet Archive Rumor, The 1950 · Film · Subtitles The film concerns a rumor that arises regarding a sand and gravel works planning to locate in a small town, and the community concerns that arise. Many good… Internet Archive Basin Street Revue 1956 · Feature · 40 min Musical variety filmed at the Apollo Theatre in Harlem, New York City. Internet Archive [Union Square, San Francisco Fashion Show] 1950 · Newsreel · Subtitles 1950s fashion show is staged on a runway set up in the middle of Union Square Park, San Francisco. Newsreel story. Internet Archive Safe As You Think 1950 · Film · Subtitles MAN ABOUT TO TAKE ONE CHANCE TOO MANY IS INTERCEPTED BY EMISSARY FROM HEAVEN WHO TEACHES HIM "SAFETY CONSCIOUSNESS" AND PLEADS HIS CASE BEFORE HOLY SAFETY… Internet Archive Eskimos: Winter in Western Alaska 1950 · Short · 8 min · Subtitles Typical activities of Alaskan Eskimo life throughout a long winter. Internet Archive Colonel March - Silver Curtain 1956 · TV · Subtitles Public domain US television show feature Boris Karloff as a dective interested in the paranormal. Internet Archive Partners in Progress 1954 · Educational · 18 min · Subtitles The Atlanta Board of Education presents Partners in Progress, produced by Charles O. Beeland Productions, Atlanta. 0738 PA9045 Partners in Progress 16 Koda… Internet Archive Up in the World 1956 · Feature A friendly window cleaner works at an English country estate where he saves the owner's son from kidnappers. Internet Archive Civil War, The 1954 · Film · Subtitles Pictures important military events of the war, stressing social, economic and geographical factors. Animated drawings and color photography used. Internet Archive Signs of Life 1950 · Film · Subtitles driving POVs road signs the usual California roadside stuff 00:48:09:05- 00:48:29:01 traffic going by on Nimitz Freeway, near sign for Hegenberger Road/77th… Internet Archive Our Community 1952 · Film · Subtitles Illustrates important community functions and services. Depicts police and fire protection, health safeguards, and park and recreational facilities. Points… Internet Archive Red Sox in Action 1950 · Film · Subtitles Features highlights of a Boston Red Sox game, likely from the 1950s. The narrator provides commentary on the game, highlighting the skills of various players,… Internet Archive America's Distribution of Wealth 1955 · Film · Subtitles Animated charts are used to show graphically the widespread ownership of America's basic wealth and the equitable distribution of the national income. Internet Archive Fortune Is a Woman (1957) Jack Hawkins, Arlene Dahl, Christopher Lee 1957 · Feature Fortune Is a Woman is a 1957 black and white British-American FILM NOlR crime film directed by Sidney Gilliat and starring Jack Hawkins and Arlene Dahl, with… Internet Archive Burnt Evidence 1954 · Feature Title: Burnt Evidence Summary: An unfaithful wife is going to leave her husband, a failing carpenter, but he finds out about her lover and a murder takes… Internet Archive A 3rd Classic Commercial for Coca-Cola (1953) 1953 · Commercial · 1 min Yep, it's another of those wonderful old time LIVE commercials for Coca-Cola, this one is from 1953 and aired on NBC-TV. The complete telecast can also be…