The pictures that started it all
Drama shows classic films, serials and cartoons from the first decades of cinema, every one in the public domain in the United States. Keaton and Lloyd, Murnau and Hitchcock, the first talkies and the first cartoons with sound. Free to watch, with no account.
- Free to watch
- No account needed
- Silent films and early talkies
- Public domain in the U.S.
Now showing
96 films from 1902 to 1931, free to watch. Pick one and it plays right here.
Silent Comedies14 films
Early Talkies24 films
Abraham Lincoln
All Quiet on the Western Front
Animal Crackers
Anna Christie
The Bat Whispers
The Big House
Blackmail
The Broadway Melody
The Cocoanuts
Disraeli
The Divorcee
Feet First
Hallelujah
Hell's Angels
King of Jazz
Lights of New York
The Love Parade
Morocco
Murder!
Soup to Nuts
The Taming of the Shrew
Tom Sawyer
The Unholy Three
Whoopee!
Silent Epics & Adventure12 films
Horror & Mystery9 films
Silent Dramas10 films
Westerns8 films
Cartoons12 films
Silent Shorts5 films
Documentaries2 films
Why these films are free to show
- Released in 1930 or earlier. In the United States, films of this era are protected for 95 years from publication. A film released in 1930 entered the public domain on January 1, 2026. A few early 1931 releases, such as Cimarron, were registered for copyright in 1930 and are free already.
- The original versions. We show films as they were first released. Later reissues and remakes carry copyrights of their own, so they are not here.
- Free to watch. No account, no subscription and nothing to install: a film starts in your browser on a computer, phone or tablet.
- Films of their time. Some pictures show the attitudes and stereotypes of their day. Those carry a note under the player.
The house lights are going down
Pick a picture and it starts right away. Every film in the library is free to watch, as often as you like.
Choose a film