Technology in the world's archives
1–48 of 4,359 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. Nothing is left out for being sexual: sexual content and nudity are for adults, placed by what the archive files a film as, never by a word of its title alone (The Naked City is a police film). A film filed as pornography is listed for adults without its picture and plays nowhere yet, as the law where it would play asks for a proof of age this site does not have. A sexual depiction of a child, drawn ones too, is listed nowhere.
| 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 content, pornography, nudity and nudism, striptease, sexual themes (such as the old "sex hygiene" films), gore, surgery, slaughter, beheadings, atrocity footage. |
Internet Archive
Cosmos: War of the Planets
A spaceship intercepts a mysterious message and then crashes on the planet the message is being sent from. There they uncover a force that threatens to take…
Internet Archive
Have I Told You Lately That I Love You?
Imaginative film showing how automatic gadgets in homes and workplaces alienate people from one another.
Internet Archive
Case of Spring Fever, A
Gilbert Willoughby is punished for voicing Luddite ideas (complaining about pesky springs) by "Coily," an obnoxious, animated spring who subjects him to the…
Internet Archive
Spot News
Dramatization of how photographs are transmitted by wire, an exciting new technology in the 1930s.
Internet Archive
Warriors of The Net
Warriors of The Net - An animation explaining the way IP packets flow on the Internet Trailer and full film (12:40) This movie is made available by Ericsson…
Internet Archive
Around the Corner
How the automobile differential allows a vehicle to turn a corner while keeping the wheels from skidding.
Internet Archive
All About Polymorphics
Simon Ramo's concept of "polymorphic" computing is laid out in stop-motion animation, accompanied by acoustic guitar. The film anticipates parallel,…
Internet Archive
The Middleton Family at the New York World's Fair
1939, sound, 55 min, Technicolor, 35mm. Transferred from a 35mm nitrate print. See: Andrew Wood, "The Middleton Family at the New York World's Fair,"…
Internet Archive
Town and the Telephone, The
Employee orientation film for telephone company workers explaining structure and corporate values of the Bell System. With excellent footage of communications…
Internet Archive
Down the Gasoline Trail
Cartoon showing what happens to a drop of gasoline from the time it flows into the gas tank to when it is exploded in the engine cylinder. This "fantastic…
Internet Archive
Ondas_Yaiza_(videoteca)
Aquí se guardarán vídeos de documentales con la finalidad de poder utilizar para realizar programas de radio a través de la utilización de fragmentos o la…
Internet Archive
The Middleton Family at the New York World's Fair
1939, sound, 55 min, Technicolor, 35mm. Transferred from a 35mm nitrate print. See: Andrew Wood, "The Middleton Family at the New York World's Fair,"…
Internet Archive
Story of Television, The
PLEASE NOTE: A more complete version with the full color sequence at the end is here. RCA's corporate history of pre-1956 developments in television.
Internet Archive
Something for Nothing
Cartoonist Rube Goldberg creates a little animation to explain how fuel is converted to power in the modern automobile engine.
Internet Archive
American Engineer (Part I)
A 1956s promotional and recruiting film about American engineering. It opens with radio-telescope "sounds of the sun and the stars" and issues a repeated…
Internet Archive
Precisely So (Part II)
Surreal film on measurement of tiny quantities, made as soft-sell promotional piece for Chevrolet automobiles. Excellent stop-motion march of slide rules,…
Internet Archive
American Engineer (Part IV)
Tribute to engineers and their role in improving American life through technology.
Internet Archive
Communication
Interested animated instructional film detailing electronic communications in the early part of the century. Interestingly enough, the popular vocational…
Internet Archive
Sailing Along
Plymouth Division, Chrystler Corporation presents Sailing Along, produced by Wilding Picture Productions, Inc.
Internet Archive
Free Air
Dramatic depiction of how gasoline and air mix to provide power in the automobile engine.
Internet Archive
New Seven-Function Remote Control for Color
Promotes an early version of the television remote control. We have the picture, but not the soundtrack of this film.
Internet Archive
Open Road A
Educational film about how steel is used to make highways, including problems that occur with time and use.
Internet Archive
Open Road B
Educational film about how steel is used to make highways, including problems that occur with time and use.
Internet Archive
On Guard! The Story of SAGE
Innovations in computer technology as weapons in the Cold War.
Internet Archive
American Engineer (Part III)
Tribute to engineers and their role in improving American life through technology.
Internet Archive
American Engineer (Part II)
Tribute to engineers and their role in improving American life through technology.
Internet Archive
Here's Looking
Visual perception in animals, humans, and from the driver's seat of a Chevrolet.
Internet Archive
Human Bridge, The
Traces the birth of the 1949 Ford from the drawing board to the roads of the world, showing different stages of automobile design and manufacturing. Run time…
Internet Archive
Jay Can Do It
Shows how an 11-year old boy and his brothers share each other's interests and activities. Shows projects such as building a tree house, baking cookies and…
Internet Archive
Plowshare (Part I)
Argues for peaceful uses of nuclear weapons in construction, civil engineering and extraction of natural resources. A document of the U.S. Atomic Energy…
Internet Archive
Dial D For Design (Pt 1)
Produced by Cinefonics, Inc (a division of Cook Research Laboratories) and based on Engineering and Systems Integration Studies by Cook Research Laboratories.…
Internet Archive
Anna
Winner of 'Best Technical Achievement' at the Machinima Film Festival 2003, Fountainhead's lyrical short film chronicles the life of a flower in a gothic…
Internet Archive
Plowshare (Part II)
Argues for peaceful uses of nuclear weapons in construction, civil engineering and extraction of natural resources. A document of the U.S. Atomic Energy…
Internet Archive
Warriors of the Net in Tamil
This is the tamil version of the video "Warriors of the Net" available in www.warriorsofthe.net
Internet Archive
Dial D For Design (Pt 2)
Produced by Cinefonics, Inc (a division of Cook Research Laboratories) and based on Engineering and Systems Integration Studies by Cook Research Laboratories.…
Internet Archive
Classic Commercial for Du Mont Laboratories Television Sets
A classic commercial for Du Mont Laboratories Television Sets. I took this from an episode of "School House" that somebody uploaded. Note: While the TV…
Internet Archive
A Few Good G-Men
Randall Glass, the maker of "Warthog Jump," re-creates in "A Few Good G-Men" an entire scene from the motion picture, "A Few Good Men." His project tests…
Internet Archive
American Maker
Relates how Americans build, from youth throughout life, by using their ingenuity not only in technological advancement but in everyday efforts by everyone.…
Internet Archive
Sounds Familiar
"The audience is invited to listen to the telephone voice of famous theatrical stars who sound familiar, and to guess their identity. Explains how the…
Internet Archive
Conquering Roads
Highway engineering and development in the pre-Interstate era.
Internet Archive
Magic in the Air (1941)
How TV works and the promise of its youth.
Internet Archive
Battle Beyond the Sun (1962)
Battle Beyond the Sun is a 1962 science fiction film that is an English-dubbed and re-edited version of the 1959 Soviet film Nebo Zovyot. The film explores…
Internet Archive
Tough Friends
How steel and steel alloys make the modern automobile safer and more durable.
Internet Archive
Precisely So (Part I)
Surreal film on measurement of tiny quantities.
Internet Archive
Useful Prophecies: An Archival Compilation
Useful Prophecies, an archival compilation made for the opening night of Punto De Vista Festival (Pamplona/Iruñea), March 11, 2019. While the distance between…
Internet Archive
June
Feisar (Brian Berndt) is a member of the Georgia Tech Machinima Group directed by Michael Nitsche . Set in part to ISAN's "My Last Journey (Weather Balloon),"…
Internet Archive
Over the Waves
How the Chevrolet suspension system smooths out a rough ride.
Internet Archive
Experiments in motion graphics
John H. Whitney explains the graphic art potential of the computer and the methods and philosophy involved in his computer film making. Search Educational…