Our directory of feature films in the public domain (or otherwise free to watch online).
The Passion of Joan of Arc (1928)
Carl Theodor Dreyer
A silent historical drama depicting the trial of Joan of Arc, based closely on the actual transcripts of her interrogation. The film is renowned for its stark, minimalist style and intense use of close-ups, stripping away spectacle to focus almost entirely on human emotion. Maria Falconetti’s performance as Joan is widely considered one of the greatest ever captured on film, conveying fear, faith, and defiance with almost unbearable intimacy. The result is a deeply personal and psychologically raw experience that still feels strikingly modern nearly a century later.
The only woman directing in Hollywood in the thirties was Dorothy Arzner. By then, the industry had consolidated into the major studios, and women directors from the silent era were pushed out. Arzner was not just one of a few. She was the last woman standing at that time. Her 1929 film The Wild Party deals with college life and autonomy, women's independence, and power dynamics with men.
One of the first major studio films with an all-black cast explores poverty, religion, and survival in the rural South. The film was a rare Hollywood production to center black life during this era, blending musical elements with social themes. The director was white, and the film still reflects some of the limitations and stereotypes of that perspective. Still, it represents an important early step towards broader representation within the Hollywood studio system.
Soviet avant-garde experimental film. A silent documentary that captures daily life across urban Russia with no actors, sets, or scripted narrative. Celebrated for its innovative editing and cinematic techniques, it remains a groundbreaking experiment in film form and visual storytelling. Visually mind-blowing due to its wild editing and new techniques, it is still taught in film school.
Based on a real case of prison labor abuse, this film exposes brutality in the American penal system. It had actual real-world impact, as it contributed to prison reform discussions.
A direct response to the Great Depression, this film focuses on unemployed people forming a cooperative farming community. Its outlook is surprisingly optimistic, but still grounded in economic desperation.
A critique of industrialization, labor exploitation, and economic instability during the Great Depression, this mostly silent film blends comedy with genuinely bleak commentary about survival and dignity, using sound deliberately for satire.
A satirical political comedy in which Charlie Chaplin plays both a Jewish barber and a dictator modeled on Adolf Hitler, using humor to confront the rise of fascism in Europe. Marking Chaplin’s first true sound film after a career in silent cinema, it blends comedy with bold political commentary, ending with one of the most famous speeches in film history.
Produced by another black film pioneer working outside of the Hollywood studio system to portray black life authentically, this low-budget film became one of the most widely seen all-black-cast films of its time, depicting themes of sin and redemption in the rural South. A newly baptized woman is accidentally shot by her atheist husband and meets the devil in purgatory.
Dragonwyck (1946) is a gothic psychological drama about a young governess, a wealthy, aristocratic landowner, and the eerie, oppressive world of his opulent estate. The film was the first to portray disordered eating, both overeating and undereating, as a means of feeling a sense of control within a suffocating environment.
This Pulitzer Prize-winning play, first performed in 1947, tells the story of Blanche DuBois (Vivian Leigh), a fragile and fading Southern belle who moves in with her sister Stella and brutish brother-in-law Stanley Kowalski (Marlon Brando) in New Orleans. The story explores themes of illusion vs. reality, mental illness, class conflict, and sexual tension, ultimately leading to Blanche’s tragic psychological breakdown.
The last film of the great Lucille Ball sheds light on the plight of low-income elderly women, who make up an increasing percentage of America's homeless population. A young woman befriends a homeless older woman living on the streets of NYC. Lucy spent time with unhoused people to better understand their experiences and insisted on filming on location for authenticity, reportedly fainting several times in the summer heat.
Two years later, Jack Nicholson and Meryl Streep gave equally powerful performances in Ironweed, a story of homeless lovers trying to survive the streets together.
