The world's archives

49–96 of 4,228 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 23 - Zatoichi At Large 1972 · Feature Zatoichi comes across a pregnant woman dying from sword wounds and helps deliver her baby. Her final request to him: take the boy to see his father. From… Internet Archive Late Autumn 1960 · Feature The great actress and Ozu regular Setsuko Hara plays a mother gently trying to persuade her daughter to marry in this glowing portrait of family love and… Internet Archive Sanshiro Sugata Part Two 1945 · Feature Kurosawa’s first film was such a success that the studio leaned on the director to make a sequel. The result is a hugely entertaining adventure, reuniting… Internet Archive The X From Outer Space 1967 · Feature When a crew of scientists returns from Mars with a sample of the space spores that contaminated their ship, they inadvertently bring about a nightmarish earth… Internet Archive Tokyo Twilight 1957 · Feature One of Ozu's most piercing portraits of family strife, Tokyo Twilight follows the parallel paths of two sisters contending with an absent mother, unwanted… Internet Archive Cyborg 009 (1979) Episodes 01-50 [Nora Inu ''G''] 1979 · Cartoon The complete 1979 Cyborg 009 series, as fansubbed by Nora Inu "G" back in the days of VHS fansubs. Thanks to Nanto of the Skaro Hunting Society for preserving… Internet Archive Equinox Flower 1958 · Feature Later in his career, Ozu started becoming increasingly sympathetic with the younger generation, a shift that was cemented in Equinox Flower, his gorgeously… Internet Archive A Story From Chikamatsu 1954 · Feature One of a string of late-career masterworks made by Kenji Mizoguchi in the first half of the 1950s, A Story from Chikamatsu (a.k.a. The Crucified Lovers ) is… Internet Archive Twenty Four Eyes 1954 · Feature Keisuke Kinoshita’s Twenty-Four Eyes ( Nijushi no hitomi ) is an elegant, emotional chronicle of a teacher’s unwavering commitment to her students, her… Internet Archive Street Of Shame 1956 · Feature For his final film, Mizoguchi brought a lifetime of experience to bear on the heartbreaking tale of a brothel full of women whose dreams are constantly being… Internet Archive Early Spring 1956 · Feature In his first film after the commercial and critical success of Tokyo Story, Ozu examines life in postwar Japan through the eyes of a young salaryman,… Internet Archive 24 - Zatoichi In Desperation 1972 · Feature Star Shintaro Katsu sits in the director’s chair for this psychedelic and unremittingly bleak entry in the Zatoichi series, which is unlike any other in its… Internet Archive Heaven And Earth 1990 · Feature In 16th century Japan, two samurai engage in massive battles across the countryside; one attempting to conquer and the other attempting to defend his land… Internet Archive Dark Tales Of Japan [2004] 2004 · Feature Dark Tales of Japan ( 日本のこわい夜 , Nihon no Kowai Yoru ) is a 2004 made-for-TV film anthology of five short horror stories, directed by five notable Japanese… Internet Archive Sword Of The Beast 1965 · Feature Legendary swordplay filmmaker Hideo Gosha's Sword of the Beast chronicles the flight of the low-level swordsman Gennosuke, who kills one of his ministers as… Internet Archive Tekkon Kinkreet (2006) 2006 · Feature The tale of a pair of orphans who attempt to prevent the Yakuza and their assorted violent and corrupt allies from taking over their city. Internet Archive Infection [2004] 2004 · Feature Infection ( 感染 , Kansen ) is a 2004 Japanese horror film directed by Masayuki Ochiai . The film is about a run-down hospital where a doctor's mistake… Internet Archive 25 - Zatoichi's Conspiracy 1973 · Feature Everything comes full circle when Zatoichi returns to his hometown. Unfortunately, he finds that a childhood friend has become a feared crime lord, keeping… Internet Archive Women Of The Night 1948 · Feature After World War II, Mizoguchi was inspired by Italian neorealism to make one of the most emotionally and visually raw films of his career. Filmed on location… Internet Archive The Flavor Of Green Tea Over Rice 1952 · Feature One of the ineffably lovely domestic sagas made by Yasujiro Ozu at the height of his mastery, The Flavor of Green Tea over Rice is a sublimely piercing… Internet Archive Three Ressurected Drunkards 1968 · Feature A trio of bumbling young men frolic at the beach. While they swim, their clothes are stolen and replaced with new outfits. Donning these, they are mistaken… Internet Archive The Story Of The Last Chrysanthemum 1939 · Feature This heartrending masterpiece by Kenji Mizoguchi about the give-and-take between life and art marked the first full realization of the hypnotic long takes and… Internet Archive Goke, Body Snatcher From Hell 1968 · Feature After an airplane is forced to crash-land in a remote area, its passengers find themselves face-to-face with an alien force that wants to possess them body… Internet Archive Pigs And Battleships 1962 · Feature A dazzling, unruly portrait of postwar Japan, Pigs and Battleships details, with escalating absurdity, the desperate power struggles between small-time… Internet Archive If Cats Disappeared From The World (2016) 2016 · Feature A 30-year-old postman learns that he doesn't have much time left to live due to a terminal illness. He is plagued by a constant headache, visits a doctor and… Internet Archive Cruel Gun Story 1964 · Feature Fresh out of the slammer, Togawa ( Branded to Kill ’s rough-and-ready Joe Shishido) has no chance to go straight because he is immediately coerced by a… Internet Archive Early Summer 1951 · Feature The Mamiya family is seeking a husband for their daughter, Noriko, but she has ideas of her own. Played by the extraordinary Setsuko Hara, Noriko impulsively… Internet Archive Take Aim At The Police Van 1960 · Feature At the beginning of Seijun Suzuki’s taut and twisty whodunit, a prison truck is attacked and a convict inside murdered. The penitentiary guard on duty,… Internet Archive Black River 1956 · Feature Perhaps Masaki Kobayashi’s most sordid film, Black River examines the rampant corruption on and around U.S. military bases in Japan following World War II.… Internet Archive Thirst For Love 1967 · Feature Koreyoshi Kurahara adapted a novel by Yukio Mishima for Thirst for Love ( Ai no kawaki ), a tense psychological drama about a young woman who is widowed after… Internet Archive Onibaba (1964) 1964 · Feature Onibaba, also titled The Hole, is a Japanese horror film directed by Kaneto Shindo that explores themes of love, betrayal, and the primal instincts of… Internet Archive The Inheritance 1962 · Feature On his deathbed, a wealthy businessman announces that his fortune is to be split equally among his three illegitimate children, whose whereabouts are unknown.… Internet Archive Wife 1953 · Feature A novel by Fumiko Hiyashi provided that basis for this unusual work by Mikio Naruse -- Wife (aka Tsuma) (1953) tells the story of a decade-old marriage in the… Internet Archive I Was Born But,... 1932 · Feature One of Ozu's most popular films, I Was Born, But . . . is a blithe portrait of the financial and psychological toils of one family, as told from the rascally… Internet Archive The Living Skeleton 1968 · Feature In this atmospheric tale of revenge from beyond the watery grave, a pirate-ransacked freighter’s violent past comes back to haunt a young woman living in a… Internet Archive Woman 1948 · Feature Toshiko (Mitsuko Mito) joins her criminal lover at a beach resort, where he tries to convince her to run away with him. With expressive technique and… Internet Archive Everything Goes Wrong 1960 · Feature This lesser known early Seijun Suzuki film was produced by Nikkatsu studios in an effort to relaunch the taiyozoku ("Sun Tribe") youth in revolt films that… Internet Archive Woman With Pierced Nipples, La Femme Aux Seins Perces 1983 · Feature The story of men and women, which starts with harmless, albeit eccentric games. She knows almost nothing about him, but as more and more she learns, the more… Internet Archive Snakes and Earrings (2008) 2008 · Feature Lui is nineteen years old, beautiful, bored and unmotivated. When she meets Ama in a bar, she finds herself mesmerized by his forked tongue and moves in with… Internet Archive Intimidation 1960 · Feature Koreyoshi Kurahara’s ingeniously plotted, pocket-size noir concerns the intertwined fates of a desperate bank manager, blackmailed for book-cooking, and his… Internet Archive Dragnet Girl 1933 · Feature This formally accomplished and psychologically complex gangster tale pivots on the growing attraction between Joji, a hardened career criminal, and Kazuko,… Internet Archive A Hen In The Wind 1948 · Feature When a soldier returns home at the end of World War II, he refuses to forgive his wife for prostituting herself one night in order to pay off medical bills… Internet Archive Rusty Knife 1958 · Feature Rusty Knife was the first smash for director Toshio Masuda, who would go on to become one of Japanese cinema’s major hit makers. In the film, Yujiro Ishihara… Internet Archive Late Autumn 1960 · Feature The great actress and Ozu regular Setsuko Hara plays a mother gently trying to persuade her daughter to marry in this glowing portrait of family love and… Internet Archive Sisters Of The Gion 1936 · Feature Sisters of the Gion follows the parallel paths of the independent, unsentimental Omocha (Isuzu Yamada) and her sister, the more tradition-minded Umekichi… Internet Archive Osaka Elegy 1936 · Feature A critical and popular triumph, Osaka Elegy established Mizoguchi as one of Japan’s major filmmakers. The director's often-used leading actress Isuzu Yamada… Internet Archive The Warped Ones 1960 · Feature A juvenile delinquent gets out of the pen and immediately embarks on a rampage of untethered anger, most of it directed at the girlfriend of the journalist… Internet Archive Beautiful Days 1955 · Feature BEAUTIFUL DAYS (1955, aka Uruwashiki Saigetsu) was one of a series of mainstream dramas and romances made by Kobayashi after his flirtation with independent…