Reel Life

Millions of hours of archival footage which you can look through, a vast range of subjects and a research request function; this is indeed the BBC. The BBC Motion Gallery includes content not only from that venerable British institution, but the Japanese and Australian Broadcasting Corporations, and CBS.

There's also a large amount of HD content and more potentially fascinating chunks of visual entertainment than the normal human mind can encompass. For history buffs who just have to see what really happened (or at least, what the camera says happened), this site is invaluable. A search widget is provided for Mac users, but the Search function is clean and simple.

You can also license original clips for your own use. Licensing information is friendly and complete. Licensing is also very flexible.

I've always had moments of serious affection for the BBC. Occasionally, it comes to life again, and the love is renewed. For a public institution that has been run mainly as a non-profit service, it has delivered much joy for free.