War Films

War films in the public domain are dominated by two categories: government-produced documentaries and training films that were never copyrighted, and commercial features whose copyrights lapsed. The documentaries are a record of how the military wanted its operations seen, and the features are a record of how studios dramatized those operations for audiences. The collection is strongest in World War II material, with a long tail of films about earlier and later conflicts. A lot of the training films were made by Hollywood directors and animators working under government contract, which is why they often look better than you would expect.