I love a good community effort, and give all the “ups” one can give to Metafilter user malevolent, who took the time to crawl through lists of public-domain movies and design a Netflix clone to present them all.
The site, dubbed “Voleflix,” is a must-have addition to your browser bookmarks bar if you love the classics. That includes the 1932 classic The Most Dangerous Game, as well as The Little Shop of Horrors (1960s, non-musical version), the ever-delightful Manos: The Hands of Fate, and Steamboat Willie, which is about as close as you’re going to get to a Disney park for the next many months.
This site might look a bit like Netflix, but it’s definitely not Netflix. You do get a “queue” of sorts, in that you can add movies you want to watch to a list, but there’s no “account” to speak of. In other words, don’t go crazy building out a list of favourites, because it’s possible that your browser will clear this list at some point and ruin the hours you spend creating your personal Criterion Collection. Add a movie at a time, maybe two, but that’s it.
Also, since these films are rather old, don’t expect to get a crystal-clear picture on your souped-up 4K display. And the audio for these old titles can be a little tough at times, so you’ll want to make sure you’re cranking your dial up—especially your centre speaker, if you’re rocking a 5.1 surround setup on whatever it is you’re viewing Voleflix. You might even want to adjust your brightness and contrast a bit to see the films better, though make sure you first write down the original numbers for any settings you mess with, and switch back to them when you’re done.
Otherwise, enjoy a trip down classic movie lane. Bonus points if you record your own MST3K side commentary—if it’s funny—and send it along to your friends to listen as they watch. (Otherwise, I’m not sure how else one would get through Manos…)
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