Claude Gonzalez's GUIDE TO FREE MOVIES ONLINE (Part Two) - On YouTube

William Holden, Stalag 17

This is the second part of a list that was originally compiled by Claude Gonzalez after he took over the presentation of the final few weeks of David Stratton's long ongoing University of Sydney course on a the History of World Cinema. It is intended as a guide for those who will now have to self-navigate through the thickets of online cinephilia. As Claude remarked however, a good number of classics by established filmmakers are available online for free.  But not everything... 

The first tranche provided links to  Kanopy, Tubi, SBS OnDemand, ABC I-view and more. You can find it if you CLICK HERE 

Two sites that Claude advises could have been added to the first tranche are - https://rarefilmm.com/  Plus this one: https://www.ubu.com/film/index.html which is rich with obscure and experimental films. (Thanks Jenny Gray for the reminder.)

These are lists of resources and recommendations that Claude created for his own film students that could help with your search for elusive titles.  He hopes readers find the following useful, and that it brings you many hours of film viewing pleasure.  

Now read on as Claude explores the amazing world of YouTube

YouTube 

Since 2005 YouTube has been enabling people from all over the world to disseminate videos, with many of them feature films. Like other free online services, the quality, and the way to find the films varies, but within there are many listings that cater to film classics and that are of a high standard. 

 

Like the rest of the online services, I have mentioned it does not have everything, but it’s worth going to first when you’re trying to find a film or genre you want.  The majority of the videos available are free, but now and then YouTube will suggest that you can rent or buy it from them if it is not online.  Ads do appear, as this is part of their revenue, and they will pop on and off when you are watching some of the films on the site.

 

When searching for a film you’ll need to apply some lateral thinking and get used to how YouTube users group their films and playlist.  Each film page allows you to adjust the ratio, subtitles, and screen sizes.   To help you get started I have created a set of links that will help you find some films classics – most of the following tiles are good to high quality prints.

 

Old Films Revival Project 

https://www.youtube.com/@oldfilmsrevivalproject./videos

 

For example, here is Billy Wilder’s Stalag 17: 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uv7cU-gXSFA

 

 

Example - King Vidor’s Duel in the Sun: 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lbgSlea9Udg

 

 

Akira Kurosawa and friends

Films by Akira Kurosawa:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pgnJFweaJCY&list=PLrrKbHPKjy_PCXffzEsG8ezpwm2rNXyQm

 

Japanese cinema:

https://www.youtube.com/@n9999/videos

Ozu:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zA1D1QEcUXQ&list=PLrrKbHPKjy_NBqhVfCM_xUw9c_un6wWDH

 

 

Retrospective (hit the subscribe button)

https://www.youtube.com/@RetrospectiveMovies/featured

 

We Stream TV

https://www.youtube.com/@westreamtv1374/videos

 

Alfred Hitchcock (left)

Alfred Hitchcock – 56 Films:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tm_1HabLhok&list=PLYX7abEfoMM7bg9z5vEHjAQwoFKtZxEcQ

 

 

Robert Rossellini – 21 films:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oziPgZduO9Y&list=PLjp9cDM5tlPpQWcA9P5rN6qxTjjjl4jHG

 

An excellent copy of Rossellini’s Voyage to Italy:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eztMYLz2uSc

 

 

Hollywood Movies:

https://www.youtube.com/@HollywoodMovies01933/playlists

 

Flick Vault:

https://www.youtube.com/@FlickVault

 

Now Playing:

https://www.youtube.com/@007NobodyDoesItBetter/playlists

 

Mosfilm:

https://www.youtube.com/@Mosfilm_eng/videos

 

https://www.youtube.com/@Mosfilm_eng/playlists

 

 

Italian films

https://www.youtube.com/@FreeEnglishMovies/videos

 

French cinema:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h66gU9prCeM&list=PLdPEbhrWFwqZg0BDjzRDaoIEC6kqPbVwG

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xG_w3ae4B2o&list=PLjp9cDM5tlPpTe-wty03kLGo8rCSBUld2

 

Emeric Pressburger, Michael Powell

English Cinema:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oFpsxZLKDzE&list=PLaRKKZSy6QJJQNoeH8gTKt3JMCqKh-Auk

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RMJ8lVXXNP8&list=PLaRKKZSy6QJJQNoeH8gTKt3JMCqKh-Auk&index=2

 

 

Cult Cinema Classics:

https://www.youtube.com/@CultCinemaClassics/playlists

 

https://www.youtube.com/@CultCinemaClassics/videos

 

There you go that’s the Classics free list. 

In short use Kanopy, You Tube, SBS on Demand and Tubi first – they are all reliable and you’ll be able to watch many films that are part of the film canon plus some genre gems. If you cannot find what you're after there – then move onto the online libraries – the quality varies and they can become rabbit holes, but it sometimes has obscure film gold.  I hope theses links are helpful and bring you many hours of viewing pleasure. 

Kind Regard 

C.

 

Claude Gonzalez's GUIDE TO FREE MOVIES ONLINE (Part One) - Kanopy, Tubi, SBS OnDemand, ABC I-view and more

Jane Russell, Marilyn Monroe
Gentlemen Prefer Blondes

This list was originally compiled by Claude Gonzalez after he took over the final few weeks of David Stratton's long ongoing University of Sydney course on a the History of World Cinema. It is intended as a guide for those who will now have to self-navigate through the thickets of online cinephilia. As Claude remarked however, a good number of classics by established filmmakers are available online for free.  But not everything... 

What Claude presents here (Part one)  is a list of resources and recommendations that he created for his own film students that could help with your search for elusive titles.  He hopes readers find the following useful, and that it brings you many hours of film viewing pleasure

 

CG’s Classics Film List.

 

Streaming Services

 

Many of you will have to a streaming device (Apple TV, Chromecast, or Roku), or a Smart TV which will enable you to use streaming apps such as Netflix, Stan, Amazon Prime Video, etc. to view your films on. Unfortunately, these streamers do not offer cinema classics, and all require a monthly payment.  Yet there are four streaming services that you can install apps onto your device, and that will give you access to a good number of classics for free.  

 

1.Kanopy

 

https://www.kanopy.com/en

(joining page)

 

https://www.kanopy.com/en/category/9513

(film list page)

 

This is a free streaming service that was established in the U.S. in 2008 by Public Libraries, and that has since linked up with libraries all over the world, including Australia.  It is free to anyone who is a member of a local library and who has a library card.  To use it you will need to download the app onto your device (the same way you have apps for your streaming services now), and then enter your library card number.  It works the same way as borrowing a book, with your membership allowing you to view 10 films per month from their film collection of classics (foreign films, silent cinema, documentaries) and educational programs.  Kanopy rents its films and pays a fee to the filmmaker on a pay per view basis. It’s a great resource and it has many films (excellent quality prints) that are not available anywhere else.  I highly recommend it as a good starting point.

 

2.Tubi

https://tubitv.com/home

 

Tubi is a film rich streaming service, which is free but it’s a little bit more esoteric in its film programming.  The streamer is an American company that has access to the film libraries of MGM, Lionsgate, and Paramount. To join you will need to download the app onto your device, and then once you register, (with an email address and new password), you will have access to a large library of films – some classics, some Euro trash and even some TV shows.  Use the browser on the top of the page, and with a bit of patience you’ll be rewarded.  Here’s a link to the classics section, which as you’ll see has some great films listed.

https://tubitv.com/category/classics

 

Two Australian Streamers 

 

Both Kanopy and Tubi are Ad free and make their revenue via their pay per view royalties and established film catalogues. There are also two local film streamers - SBS On Demand and ABC iView - that are free and have access to good film libraries. You may know them as TV Channels, but if you look closer within their online line up you will find a Movie page. Each of these Movie pages contains a film library that is free to use via their app:

 

3.SBS On Demand - has many foreign films, classics and new releases that can be found via their search engine, or via subcategories on the movie page (IE: Korean Cinema, Japanese Cinema, French Cinema, etc).  It’s a very good service, well-resourced and with monthly updates. The only minus to this streamer is that it pays for its content via the use of Ads, which will break into the film now and then, sometimes at the worst possible moment, but it’s a good resource with lots of titles none the less.

 

https://www.sbs.com.au/ondemand/movies

 

4.ABC iView – a is a very good service with a movie page too, but more limited in its programming, mostly English language films and recent releases; the titles date from 1990s to the mid 2020s; it’s good but it has a narrow choice of films.

 

https://iview.abc.net.au/category/film

 

Online Libraries

 

Following are two online libraries that cater to students.  Each has a vast collection of free films; the only drawback is that sometimes the quality varies depending on the print and the source it is linked to. But the films are available to everyone, and you will find many titles that are hard to get and that are part of the film canon. Its audio books are good too, with many of them downloadable for use on your other devices.

 

 

1.Open Culture

https://www.openculture.com/

(home page)

 

This is a web site that aims to centralise content (audio, text, films, academic papers, textbooks, and lectures) for students around the world.  It works by curating and then placing links it has found from other web sites (The Film Board of Canada, etc), and then placing them in categories that are useful for online study.  It is funded by the use of pop-up ads on its page; they do not break into the film, but they sit on the page (smaller and less obstructive than normal); you can get rid of them by making the screen full size. 

 

https://www.openculture.com/freemoviesonline

(film page)

 

Example - Canadian films:

https://www.openculture.com/2020/03/watch-3000-films-free-from-the-national-film-board-of-canada-2.html

 

 

2.The Internet Archive

https://archive.org/

(home page)

 

This is a very large American digital archive established in the 1990s that provides its user’s free access. The platform and the general public upload videos, and then they are shared and curated on the site. Here is a link to their Film page.  

 

https://archive.org/details/feature_films

 

Note – it’s a good site but a bit overwhelming – so I recommend that you use the search bar up the top of the page to streamline your hunting of films.

 

*If you have a smart TV or streaming device like Apple TV, this platform will allow you to link and watch it via your TV monitor at home - use the icon with the upward pointing arrow to link to your device.  The icon with the two-sided arrow will enable you to make the film full screen on the device you are currently using (laptop or phone).

 

*Overall, the quality is good, not always great (acceptable) but if it’s a film you have never seen or that is hard to find then this site is a good place to look for it.

 

For example, here is a link to its film noir page.  Within you find an alphabetical list that contains noir films, audio recordings and textbooks on the subject.

 

https://archive.org/search?query=subject%3A%22Film+Noir%22

(film noir page)

 

Here is a link to Laura (Otto Preminger,1944), a film we studied during our Thriller session.  It’s not available online but it is here, and the quality is ok:

https://archive.org/details/laura_202003

 

Then on the other hand there are prints that are excellent in quality.  Here is a link to Gentlemen Prefer Blondes (Howard Hawks, 1953), which is very good:

 

https://archive.org/details/gentlemen-prefer-blondes-1953_202211

 

So, as you’ll see it will take patience, a good sense of what you want to find and a punt on the quality of the print.  

To be continued with Part Two - A Guide to YouTube, coming soon