This lens is a starting point for those interested in ephemeral films. "Ephemeral films" are fims that are not conventional feature-length Hollywood entertainment films. It includes educational films, industrial films, military & propaganda films, shorts, newsreels, TV commercials, drive-in snack bar promos, public service films, outtakes, bloopers, experimental films, films made before 1915, TV made before 1955, and films made for non-mainstream audiences, plus any other fim oddities I think deserve mention. Here you'll find sources to purchase DVDs and tapes of these films, and online sources for both downloadable films and streaming videos. You'll also find sources for information about these films.
Why Film Ephemera?
O.K., this is going to be short, because I'm a film ephemera buff and you probably are too or you wouldn't be reading this. And if you're a buff, you don't need to ask why. Despite that, though, there are some real reasons why stuff like old tv commercials, eductional and industrial films, wartime propaganda, and the ever-popular drive-in snack bar promos are interesting, listed below:1.They're campy. At least as campy as any of the famous feature-length Bad Films we've heard so much about, if not more. Actually, very often more, since ephemera makers didn't have to make any concessions to "Hollywood"-style movie-making, or even conventional concepts of "entertainment".
2. They're weird. Most are at least a little bit weird, some are really weird, and a few open up new frontiers in weirdness. And weird is fascinating. (If you don't "get" that last sentence, then maybe this isn't the lens for you.)
3. They're fascinating from a historical perspective. Film ephemera is a genuine cultural artifact--it's the actual stuff people watched 20, 30, 40 or more years ago. Moreover, most film ephemera is trying to sell or persuade in some way, giving the viewer a good idea of what issues the Establishment was worrying about and what kinds of cultural pressures ordinary people had to deal with in a particular time period. You can learn a lot about what it was like to be a dogfaced private during World War II by watching Kill or Be Killed and the Private Snafu cartoons, what it was like to be a kid during the 50s by watching Duck and Cover and A Date with Your Family, and what a trip to the drive-in was like by watching the Hey Folks! It's Intermission Time series. I personally think it's the closest thing we have to a time machine.
Mostly, though, it's film ephemera because I love it. This guide is a labor of love.
New Sources for Ephemeral Films
Recently-Discovered Ephemeral Film Sources
- The National Archives on Google Video
- The National Archives (American this time) have posted a bunch of government films on Google Video, in three categories: NASA History of Spaceflight, United Newsreels, and Department of Interior. These can be either watched in streaming video, downloaded as mp4's (choose "Download for Video iPod" to get those), or downloaded in the Google Video Player format. A search on "NARA" will bring up these films.
- AV Geeks on Google Video
- Skip Elsheimer has put a bunch of his films on Google Video, some of which can't be found on archive.org. A search on "avgeeks" will bring up these films.
- AV Geeks on You Tube
- Skip Elsheimer has also put some of his films on You Tube, which is a streaming video site. Again, some of these films are not available elsewhere online, so this is worth checking out. Do a search on "avgeeks" (be sure this is one word) to get these films.
- Other Ephemeral Films on You Tube
- The following search terms will bring up ephemeral films on YouTube: old time videos, scare videos, social engineering 101, vintage. I will add to this list as I find more.
- Vintage Ads
- This LiveJournal community has lots of old commercials posted on it, with more being posted all the time.
Sources for Ephemeral Films
- Prelinger Archive
- The mother lode of film ephemera! Rick Prelinger owns what is probably the biggest collection of ephemeral films anywhere, and on this site, over 1900 of them are available for downloading for free! Users of the site can also review the films.
- American Memory Collection
- This Library of Congress site is the mother lode of early film, containing hundreds of films sorted into 15 different categories, most of them from before 1920. All are available for free download.
- Bedazzled!
- This blog offers tons of short films and TV clips for free download. Most are Scopitones (short films made during the 60s for video jukeboxes), TV performances of pop stars, TV commercials, and bizarre movie trailers, though there are also all kinds of other oddities to be found on the site. More are being posted every day.
- Other archive.org Sites
- Archive.org has a number of other film sites that contain ephemeral films for free download, including AV Geeks (assorted films, mostly educational), Cinemocracy (WWII propaganda films), Drive-In Movie Ads, Feature Films (despite its name, this site has lots of shorts, cartoons, and other ephemera along with feature films), Film Chest Vintage Cartoons, German Cinema (experiemental films), Media Burn Archive (underground films), Open Source Movies (all kinds of stuff posted by anybody), SabuCat Movie Trailers, Shaping San Francsico (ephemeral films about SF), UCSF Tobacco Industry Video Collection (contains several collections of old TV cigarette commercials), and Universal Newsreels.
- WPA Film Library
- This stock footage company offers a collection of clips from ephemeral films for free download. Look under "Exhibits" for clips organized into themed categories, and "Featured Clip Archive" for miscellaneous clips.
- TVParty
- This site contains tons of streaming videos of clips from classic TV shows and commercials. They are interspersed into articles written on various TV-related topics. This is one of the best and most fun sites for getting information on classic American TV.
- Movieflix
- A free membership to this site gives you access to lots of ephemera on streaming video. In particular, check the following sections: Commercials, Classic TV, Documentaries, Movie Trailers, and WWII. The Black Culture section contains a number of all-black-cast outsider films, the Cartoons section has cartoons, the Film Festival and Indie sections have experimental films, and the Science section has some old NASA films.
- Stephen Spielberg Jewish Film Archive
- This site contains lots of ephemeral films made for and by Jews, available to watch on streaming video.
- TVArk
- This is a site dedicated to the history of British TV. It contains lots of clips from all sorts of British TV shows, as well as commercials, PSAs, bumpers, and logos.
- National Archives: Public Information Films
- This section of the British National Archives site contains a bunch of public service films and PSAs made by the British government, available to watch on streming video. Also check the "Downloads" section for a few of the films that are available for free download.
- Something Weird Video
- This is one of the best places for buying ephemeral films on DVD. Something Weird has a whole bunch of DVD and tape collections of ephemera. Click on the "Scare Films" link to find them. SWV is also great about including ephemeral films as extras on its feature film DVDs. (Note: They also sell adult films, so the site may not be entirely family-friendly.)
- Skip Elsheimer's A/V Geeks Site
- Another great place to buy ephemeral films on DVD and tape. Click on "Stuff to Buy" to check out Skip's wonderful collections of films. The site also has lots of information about ephemeral films, as well as a few films on streaming video.
- The Authentic History Center
- This non-profit site offers a number of collections of ephemeral films on VCD for a small donation. These collections are generally a very good value for the price.
Living Better Cinematically
My Blog of Ephemeral Film Reviews
Read my latest reviews of ephemeral films from my blog Living Better Cinematically.
Fetching RSS feed... please stand byWhat I Love to See in Ephemeral Films
These are the elements that I most love to see in ephemeral films. If a film contains any of these, it's likely to get a higher rating from me.
- Gender Role Goofiness, Especially for Females-- These are films that try to indoctrinate girls and women to assume "proper" feminine roles, or promote appallingly sexist attitudes. Example: American Women: Partners in Research
- Goofus and Gallant Plot--These are films that offer a good example and a bad example. Or they may offer only a good or only a bad example, but it's more fun when there's both. Example: Dating Do's and Don'ts
- Home Economics--I have a special, unexplainable affection for mid-century housewifey stuff. Example: Brighter Day in Your Kitchen
- Mental Hygiene--Any film with mental health or psychhology content, whether serious or silly. Serious Example: Angry Boy. Silly Example: The Hut-Sut Song
- Mr. Products--a Mr. Product is an advertising character that is either a walking, talking personification of the product, or has a body that is made from the product, wholly or in part. Example: Mr. Aluminum in Aluminum on the March
- Robots--The goofier and clunkier the better. Example: Leave It to Roll-Oh.
- Supernatural Visitors--If some sort of fantasy or science fiction character comes to Earth just to help the main character of a film solve his or her personal problems, the film will likely get an easy five stars from me. Example: Soapy the Germ Fighter
Books About Ephemeral Films
Mental Hygiene: Better Living Through Classroom Films 1945-1970
Amazon Price: $16.47 (as of 07/13/2009) 
Used Price: $8.49
Usually ships in 24 hours
Change Your Underwear Twice a Week: Lessons from the Golden Age of Classroom Filmstrips
Amazon Price: $14.21 (as of 07/13/2009)
Used Price: $0.42
Usually ships in 24 hours
Recommended DVDs from Amazon
Educational Archives: Limited Edition Lunchbox (4 DVD Box Set)
Amazon Price: $62.99 (as of 07/13/2009)
Educational Archives - School Locker (4 DVD Box Set)
Amazon Price: $53.99 (as of 07/13/2009)
The Golden Age of Cartoons: Cultoons! Ads and Oddities
Amazon Price: (as of 07/13/2009)
Walt Disney Treasures - On the Front Lines
Amazon Price: $29.49 (as of 07/13/2009)
Hell's Highway - The True Story of Highway Safety Films
Amazon Price: $26.99 (as of 07/13/2009)
Watch a 5-Star Ephemeral Film on You Tube
The Village Barber
Flip the Frog is a barber in this delightful cartoon. There's not much plot, really, just singing, dancing, and gags. This cartoon is chock-full of anthropomorphic inanimate objects, including a barber chair with human arms that perform such tasks as removing the customer's hat and pulling the protective sheet over him, a stove that eats coal, and a razor strop that spanks Flip when he's not looking. Flip's one customer is a dog that's totally covered with thick, black hair, making him a barber's dream. Flip, the dog, a cat, and a duck end up forming a bizarre barbershop quartet. What more can I say? This cartoon is really great.
Ratings: Camp/Humor Value: ****. Weirdness: ****. Historical Interest: *****. Overall Rating: *****.
Ratings: Camp/Humor Value: ****. Weirdness: ****. Historical Interest: *****. Overall Rating: *****.
Watch a Winter Film!
Bataille de Boules de Neige
Hey everybody!! SNOWBALL FIGHT!!! Hey, let's get that guy on the bicycle!! Let's pummel 'im!!! Stop it, you hooligans!!! Arrrgghh!!! (sound of a guy falling off a bike). He eventually beats a hasty, snow-covered retreat. One of the more fun Lumiere films. An 1896 Lumiere film.
Ratings: Camp/Humor Value: ***. Weirdness: ***. Historical Interest: ***. Overall Rating: ***.
Ratings: Camp/Humor Value: ***. Weirdness: ***. Historical Interest: ***. Overall Rating: ***.
Bataille de Boules de Neige (Louis Lumière, 1896)
Bataille de Boules de Neige (Louis Lumière, 1896)
Runtime: 0:51
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by chanfu
Christine Hennig has been collecting and reviewing ephemeral films on video and online sources since 1998.
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