Where to watch free movies online? Here’s a list that will get you started. I’ve listed 10 sites that feature a wide range of films. Classics, international, film noir, documentaries, indies they’re all here. Most of these films should be available in every geographic region. However, there will be some exceptions. This is just a start, and I’m really hoping that you can add your favorites to the list and help it grow.
Internet Archive – Feature Films: This archive of feature films contains some important classics from the 1920s, 30s, 40s and 50s. (You’ll find here films by Elia Kazan, John Huston, Fritz Lang, Howard Hawks and others.)
Australian Screen Archive: The Australian National Film and Sound Archive provides free and worldwide access to over 1,000 film and television titles – a treasure chest of down-under video 100 years in the making. Thanks Peter for that tip.
BestOnlineDocumentaries: As one reader previously told us, “This site is a bit out of date and some of the links are broken, but it’s still a great compilation of online documentaries.” For more documentaries, you should also see Snagfilms mentioned below.
Classic Cinema Online: This site nicely pulls together hundreds of classic films, ranging from Action to Westerns and even old cinema shorts and news reels.
Crackle.com: If you’re looking for mainstream movies, here you go. This is Sony’s online movie play. You get free films here.
Creative Commons: The folks who gave us the Creative Commons license host a wiki where you can find a good number of freely available films. Handy and worth keeping an eye on. I’d also suggest keeping tabs on CC’s Video blog.
Europa Film Treasures: Thanks to Europa Film Treasures, you can spend hours looking back through an archive of European film. Theses films range from “comedy to science fiction, from westerns to animation, from erotic to ethnological movies.”
Film Annex: This site has one of the largest selections of online films for you to watch or download. See films from independent filmmakers and directors from all over the world, and download or stream to your PC, laptop or iPhone.
Free Documentaries Online: The name says it all.
Free Documentaries.Org: Specializes in showing provocative documentaries for free…
Legal Torrents: Pretty much what the name says. Legaltorrents.com hosts high quality open-licensed (Creative Commons) digital media and art. This link takes you to their movie section.
