Find Free, Legal Movies to Watch on Your Computer
By Mark Frauenfelder April 02, 2008
No doubt you're aware of the many Web sites that offer the latest Hollywood movies that you can download to your computer and watch for free. It's convenient and fun. The trouble is, it's against the law, and the Motion Picture Association of America is on the lookout for people who illegally download copyrighted movies without paying for them. Even though your odds of getting caught are slim, it's just not worth the risk, because the fines are substantial.
That said, if you're in the mood to watch something on your computer or mobile device but don't feel like paying anything, browse through the 112,332 digital video offerings at the Internet Archive (archive.org/details/movies), all of which are available for free and are perfectly legal to download.
You’ll find all types of movies and videos here, such as fascinating early Edison newsreels (check out the ones showing the aftermath of the 1906 San Francisco earthquake), and over 1,000 cartoons (including classics from the 1930s and 1940s). The real gold mine here is the feature film collection (www.archive.org/details/feature_films) of 1,250 movies that have fallen into the public domain. My kids and I have watched many of these movies, including a campy but exciting 1950s version of Hercules, Charlie Chaplin's The Tramp, and the Our Gang Follies of 1938. Even a stinker like Zontar the Thing From Venus (1966) has its cheesy charm, and it sure beats getting served with a costly copyright infringement lawsuit for downloading a copyrighted movie.
