AV Geeks 16mm Lunch 5-6-2025

[Music] [Music] H that ended a lot earlier than it should have. Um and uh people were saying it was very glitchy. Uh I apologize for that. That was supposed to run 11 minutes and um so yeah. Uh buenos das everybody. Uh this is the yesterday realizing it was Cinco de Mayo and having planned something totally different. Um uh today I decided to show you films about Mexico. Um and that one didn't start off so great. Uh but uh we do have other films for you. And uh this next film is People of Mexico from Encyclopedia Bratannica. um features our friend, a very good friend, uh the narrator. Enjoy. Stately monuments to the advanced nature of its ancient civilization. This is the towering pyramid of the sun, one of the world's largest pyramids. Quitzel Kawatel, the plumemed serpent, was the great Taltech teacher. Underwel Kowatal and his subordinates, these civilizations were far advanced in art, surgery, and astronomy. The 12-oot calendar stone of the Aztecs was as accurate as calendars of today. Across this ancient culture, the Spaniards, bearing the cross, but more effectively the cannon, forced their way in the 16th century, a conquest symbolized by this Spanish-type building erected on a ruined pyramid. Today the paved roads of the Spanish invaders remain and bridges centuries old but aqueducts for carrying the precious water. Today three types make up Mexico's population. This man is of pure Spanish ancestry. For 300 years the Spanish ruled Mexico. This man is a mystizo, a mixture of Spanish and native Indian blood. The third division of the population is of pure Indian stock. Of central importance in Mexico's story is the oiendanda or large land holding into which the country was divided after the Spanish conquest. The landlords lived on one side and on another side of the huge Aienda enclosure lived the Indian natives and mystos who worked the lands for a share of the crop. In the big house lived the owner and his family. Close by was the chapel where religious services were held. Daily the workers labored in the broad fields vast tracks which often included thousands of acres. However, in 1917 in the chamber of deputies, Mexico began to return some of the land to the farming people. Many of the huge holdings were divided. The Indian and the Mystiso, who had long toiled for others, now had their own land to till and to receive from it the full reward of their labors. The huge plantations of the Muay plant from which the popular native drink Pulk is made are reminiscent of the old Asienda system. Here we see one of a large number of workers approaching with his donkey to gather sap from the plants. In the center of the huge cactus-like arms of the muay plant, the sap oozes out into a basin. The long gourd with one end open and a hole in the other provides an implement by which the worker draws up the sap. When the supply has been taken from the plant, it is carried over and emptied into one of the casks strapped to the back of the donkey. Many workers even today are employed on these large land holdings. The pride in possession of their own lands, however, is reflected in the home life of the workers. This mysto housewife is drawing water for the evening meal. The typical adobe house construction is in evidence. A bedmat of coarsely woven grass stands by the door. While grandmother watches over baby, she does fine hand needle work. She uses the sewing machine only for coarser work on clothing. For example, the evening meal will be much like others. Cakes or tortillas from cornmeal, ground as needed, will form a principal part. The Mexican housewife may spend as much as 6 hours daily grinding meal from corn on the matate or grinding stone, the most important article of furniture in every rural household. Now, as the first wet corn meal is being ground to the proper consistency, the cooking fire is lighted. Baby's swinging cradle keeps him amused and off the earthn floor. Each handful of corn grains is first ground into coarse meal and finer on each regrinding. This household skill is a required part of the education of the Mexican girl. Even as the tortilla or flat corn cake is a leading part of the diet of the typical Mexican family. Aside from the grinding stone and stove, the living and dining room presents few articles of furniture. The men folks spend their days in the open air working, so plain fair and simple furniture fit well into their scheme of life. Tortillas and beans called free holies are nourishing and inexpensive. The thin tortilla can be folded easily about the free holes or a piece of it can be used as a spoon with which the beans may be scooped up. Baby can wait for his supper until his elders have finished. The typical day in the Mexican working man's home ends with a familiar strum of guitar and the melodious folk [Music] song. [Music] [Music] Fore you up. [Music] [Music] Gastenoch. [Music] Feast days or fiestas come regularly and often to the people of Mexico. Decoration of the village church indicates this celebration may be partly in honor of some local saint. The general feeling, however, is one of joyous abandon with dancing and festival gaity. This official is setting off a handmade skyrocket as a signal for the beginning of festivities. There apparently is no great hurry, however, for this man is leisurely finishing the decoration of his oxen. A donkey's headdress reflects the spirit of festivity, which again is seen in the faces of the riders. And now from all parts of the village, residents and visitors begin to throng toward the central public square. Fiesta costumes are evident everywhere among the marchers in their dresses, hats, and other ornaments. Visitors from neighboring towns have swelled the village population from hundreds into thousands. Of the many fiesta dances, the dance of the conquest is most reminiscent of Mexico's rich history. [Music] [Applause] [Music] The strongest men dress as native Indians. The children of the village dress as [Music] Spaniards. Thus, in gay fiesta time, in their folk dances, the people of Mexico relive the stirring events in their history. [Music] So, I knew that one was going to end early. Um, yeah. So, here's something I learned. I, like probably most Americans, assumed that Cinco de Mayo was uh Mexican Independence Day. No, that is September 16th. Uh, this is a celebration of a victory against a foreign army. And I would have thought, oh, the foreign army is Spain. Nope. France. So, this was uh to commemorate the fact that a small Mexican army was able to take on a much bigger French army. Congratulations. Uh, here's some more music. Enjoy. [Music] Men on the march. The world over. Men are on the march. And now in Mexico, too, proudly taking her place among the nations at war with the Axis. Looking on is President Manuel Avala Kamacho, who called on his countrymen to preserve the honor of the fatherland. Officers from the United States this day in Mexico City salute the Mexican flag with a right goodwill. Yes, the people of Mexico, 192 million strong, have joined the ranks of the United Nations. Fine roads, part of the great Pan-American system. Important as they are to commerce, to defense, the great thing is that these roads, well-paved, well policed, are taking thousands of average United States folks into the heart of a neighboring country. Now that good roads run way down south of the border, we Americans are more numerous, more truly representative of the United States. And down the road a bit is this. It's the town of Tasco, where modern Mexico keeps the look of oldtime [Music] Mexico. Tasco was founded by Borda, the Frenchman who two centuries ago made himself rich from Tasco silver. Borda is dead, but the silver is still going strong. Mexico all by herself gives the world onethird of all its silver. And one mine has been worked since before the days of Montazuma over 400 years ago. Many and many are the hands that have been busy working on silver in Tasco all through the years. [Music] They say the stars are brighter in Tasco than in most places. Anyway, Tasco Silver is bright and full of a sort of south of the border [Music] glamour. Care for statistics? No. Well, here they are anyway. Mexico has 13 big commercial air bases beside this one at Mexico City. There are 23 air routes, three of them coming down from the United States. You can fly here in one day from Los Angeles. About 3 million miles are flown each year by about 70,000 passengers. Not all of them as attractive as Mapy Cortez. From Puerto Rico, star of Mexican movies and highly popular singer. where MPY works her entertaining spell. Mexico City's swankiest hotel. Let's go in and listen to her. And now, Miy [Music] Cortez. [Music] foreign. Fore! Foreign! Foreign! [Music] I got to [Music] [Applause] get. Do you know him? If not, it's high time you did. Let's hope he's in. Yes, there he is. The number one man in Mexico's popular theater and also a film star of the first magnitude. What Chaplain is to us, Cantinfas is to Mexico. That thing around his shoulders, that voluminous gabarddine, that's his coat. What he calls his coat. Anyhow, Canteen Plus was a law student before the stage captured him. As a lawyer, you would have had to talk sense once in a while. As it is, he's well paid for never making any sense at all. His Mexican double talk, which he pours out in a mad, relentless dribble, is one of the funniest things in the world. And by the way, on his days off, he's an amateur bull fighter. His right name is Mario Moreno, but to all Mexicans, he's just canteen plus and the maddest rascal going. On another part of the studio lot, the trio is techco. [Music] Heat. Heat. Heat. Hey, heat. Hey, heat. General Moxamino Avalakamacho, the president's brother, member of the cabinet, powerful and exuberant figure in the national life and the most colorful of the charros. And who are the Charlesos? Why the Plaza de los Charos, which is the pride of many a Mexican city and town? The answer reaches back to the days of the Spanish conquest when horses were cherished and horsemanship was a cult and on to the later days of the great ranches when the owner prided himself on being as good a horseman as any of his hands. And then on down to today when the Charles are splendidly mounted, magnificently costumed members of a society in which the horse is still cherished as the central fact in a richly romantic tradition. So their tests of riding skill and this sport with the bulls which is called la kolada are more than mere stunts. They're a sort of [Music] ritual. And now a page from history. Pageantry which reconstructs the sacrificial rights of those ancient dwellers in Mexico, the Aztec. The youth who is to be sacrificed at high noon to the sun god, the handsomest of the war prisoners. The victim performs his ceremonial dance which is one of exaltation, for he is about to go to his death gladly. It was high honor to be chosen messenger of the sun. Priests, princes, and warriors share in the procession and ablations. This opulent pageant staged for the delegates of the Interamerican Travel Congress is as careful a reenactment of the ancient ceremonies as could be achieved. The Temple of the Sun is impressively reproduced, and all the details of the festival are as historically accurate as research could make them. This is undoubtedly how the ancient inhabitants of Mexico looked and acted on one of their holiest festive days. [Music] And now the messenger of the sun has had his moment of glory, has delivered the staff and shield which the son god will need in his neverending journey through the heavens and has had the supreme honor of offering up his life. The voladoris suspended from the high mast before the temple launch themselves into space. Youths and maidens dance and everyone is happy, including the handsome and so recently alive messenger of the sun. The festival comes to an end. Thus does Mexico of today keep alive the memory of her ancient past. [Music] So, uh, that film was made to educate as a dumb Americans about, uh, the culture of Mexico and to say that, hey, we're friends, we're neighbors, we're working together against the axis of and um, Yeah, we should be buds, which I think is a great sentiment, but there you go. It's what it's not doesn't matter what I think. All right. Uh here's another film. Uh Encyclopedia Bratannica. Of course, uh the title is clipped, but this is about Mexican children. Enjoy. On her back. Ah, it's Two people, two Mexican children. The boy is Mateo. His sister is Aurora. Their chickens are still scratching for breakfast. Breakfast for the piggies, too. And for big donkey and little donkey. The morning air is cool, so Mateo puts on this blanket called a yorangita even before his straw sombrero. Mateo's special pet, a chipmunk. Every morning before school, Aurora braids her hair and Mattel helps big brother take the cows and sheep and goats to eat grass. Mattel calls his pet goat his deer. [Applause] [Music] A final morning duty for Aurora. While Mateo helps, father binds a yolk on the oxen. They will work in the fields while Mateo is in school. The bed cover must go out in the warm sunshine and air. Now a few minutes fun with baby sister and the [Music] parrot. Mateo is going to get into the game. A free ride on the small [Music] [Music] donkey. At last, time for school and goodbye to little chipmunk. Goodbye to mother too. [Music] Down the narrow street up toward the old old church built long ago by the Spaniards and into the schoolyard which the boys are sweeping. At last, the schoolhouse and the children in class with their teacher. [Music] It is Aurora's turn. Galina that means hen. Ola is jar. Playtime for the girls. [Music] A different kind of dance for the boys. [Music] These boys are playing with boleros, trying to catch the spools with the sticks. After school, back toward home, past the old church quickly for mother is cooking tortillas, large flat corn cakes for their lunch. [Music] Mother says they will take lunch to father. And Mattel puts an odd wooden saddle on the donkey. Father is far out across the fields with his oxen. He has been plowing the field all morning long. What a nice spot for lunch. come to eat. Mateo's big brother hears him and leaves his flock. Matteo's father too hears. The oxen will stand still if this stick is in front of them. Aurora's tortilla looks like a pancake, but it makes a good scoop for her beans. cool water is good on a hot day. Father says now it is a holiday. The family is getting ready to go to a fiesta, a celebration in a nearby town. It is a long way across the fields to the village. First they come to the marketplace. What a gay sight. A man selling tamales. Hats sale. All kinds of jars. Toys. The kind Matteo likes. [Music] Now Aurora's [Music] turn. There will be a dance. The music is already starting. [Music] It is to be an Aztec dance and Matteo will be one of the dancers with costumes just like those used. [Music] Ah, brother Mateo dances well. Aurora thinks But now Aurora and Matteo must leave the fiesta. They have a long way to go home. [Music] So they leave the with the music of the fiesta still floating to them softly through the twilight. [Music] So, reading in the comments, you're telling me that Voice of God narrator James Bril uh did not pron uh pronounce some of the or pronounce pronounce uh some of the Mexican terms correctly. And he also did a poor job of translating uh Spanish. Um yeah, say that's not so, but no, I can believe it. He uh we love James Burl, but you know, he's not you know, he's not always with it. And maybe there was somebody there coaching him on how to pronounce things, but it's a pretty good chance that he was winging it. He like looked at the script, he said, "Okay, I got it." And then they put him in that closet where they record him, that echoey closet. All right. Uh here's another film. Uh you know, this is because Cinco deio was yesterday. So, we have five films um plus one that we're going to show about Mexico because we have them um and they are a neighbor. So, here's Mexico, the land, and the people. [Music] Welcome to my home. I'm Seor Rafael Rivera. Won't you come in? I have lived in this house and in these gardens for all of my life. My family came from Spain to live in Mexico about 300 years ago. We have been here a long time. Still, it is not an easy country to understand this Mexico. Let's go inside. My greatgrandfather, Don Francisco Gorivar, built this house. He owned land and mines. In Mexico, there are very few houses like this one because there were not many greatgrandfathers like Ton Francisco. I think I'm getting old now. I like to sit here with my pictures and my books. That one is by a friend of mine, one of the most famous artists of Mexico. It gives me much pleasure to look at. I like to sit here in this room and read our history and have around me the things of the past. For in Mexico, the past is so much a part of the present. [Music] To understand Mexico even a little, you must know something about the beginning, about the history, about the people who live here now on this land, which is like no other in the world. How do I tell you about this country of a million faces? This Mexico of so many mountains, of sunbaked deserts and cool forests, of sweltering swamps and breezy rocky sea coasts. [Music] We say in Spanish to here there is a little of everything which nature has to offer. On the map this is how Mexico is bounded by the United States, the Pacific Ocean, the Gulf of Mexico and by Guatemala and British Honduras. a country about one quarter the size of the United States. Two mountain ranges, the Sierra Ramad Oriental and the Sierra Ramad Oxidental form the walls of the high central plateau which covers about onethird of the country. Most of the people live on the central plateau and most of the cities are here. The high mountains meet in the center near Mexico City and then drop down to the ismas of Tuantepek. The peninsula of Yucatan is low and flat as is also the peninsula of Baja California which is mostly desert. The mountains make transportation and communication very difficult and many parts of the republic are cut off from the rest of the country. In the north, the land is mostly desert, parched, and water hungry. For this reason, not many people live here. The lack of rainfall in most of Mexico makes farming very difficult or impossible. Even on the central plateau, which is the chief agricultural region, there is barely enough rain along the narrow tropical lowlands by the sea. There is an overabundance of rain. It's very warm here throughout the year. The temperature becomes cooler as the land rises. At Mexico City, which is nearly 8,000 ft above sea level, the average temperature in the winter is about 54° and in the summer a cool 62. There are many rivers which flow down from the mountains, but almost none are good for transportation. Many have water in them only during the rainy season, which is usually in the summer. Now I must tell you about the people and the great problems made for them by this land they live on. Long before Columbus discovered America and Cortez conquered Mexico for Spain, a rich Indian civilization was here. They made figures like these. They were craftsmen and artists and great builders, building enormous pyramids to their gods, marvels of engineering knowledge and skill. The ruins of their cities are still here. Splendid cities that thrived before Europe even knew that there was a new world. We think that about 20 million Indians were living in Mexico when the Spanish conquerors came in the year 1521. Today maybe 2 million, Aztecs, Sapotex, Chamulas and other tribes live in their mountain villages. They still speak their own languages and many do not even know Spanish, the language of Mexico. The Indian and the Spanish conquerors married and soon a new race began to grow, the mystiso. Most of the 35 million people of Mexico now are of this mixed Spanish and Indian blood called just Mexicans. Many towns stand today almost exactly as they were during the nearly 400 years of Spanish rule. Towns like San Miguel [Music] Yende Tasco Wanauato with their Spanish [Music] architecture. But Spain brought much more than architecture to Mexico. She brought the feudal Spain of the 16th century, the Spain of a few lords and many surfs. She brought the Catholic religion, the religion of Mexico today. She forced the Indians to destroy their old gods in favor of a new one, the god of Christianity, whom they accepted very [Music] quickly. From the earth of Mexico, immense amounts of silver and gold flowed back to Spain. Besides mineral wealth, the valuable hides and cheap labor of the people enriched not but families like mine as [Music] well. For nearly 400 years, Mexico lay still under the Spanish yoke. She did not grow. She did not change. under a feudal system of life long outmoded in other countries. The Spanish did not wish to change and the Indian did not know how [Music] to. Now more than 150 years since Mexico gained her independence from Spain, the country is still poor. Over 60% of the people work on the land raising cattle, plowing the earth in the same primitive way they have plowed it for hundreds of years. But the land is not really good land for farming. There is not enough rain or there is too much. There are too many mountains and deserts which will produce nothing and life is very hard. On the 30% of the land which is even a little good for agriculture, the people harvest wheat. The Magay plant produces a liquid used to make different drinks. Along the tropical sea coast there are coconuts and the people fish. Sugar cane is the people of the village. We call this the AO or AO system. A great pormland is operated under this system. Corn is the most important food for the people of Mexico. It covers more acreage than all of the other crops combined. Wherever the land will grow anything, there is corn, which in Mexico is called mice. Like most compaces or farmers, grows corn on his by his house, he works on the eho or village land. seen which are the most Mexicans. The corn is first soaked in water. Then it is ground between stones until it is like dough all over Mexico. You can hear the patting patting sound of tortillas being made and smell them toasting over the fire. For the compino and his family, there are no luxuries, barely the necessities. There is only hard work and the struggle to have enough food to keep alive. But there is another Mexico of fine homes and luxury and people who have more than enough. Once there were only the very rich and the very poor. But now the people of the cities who work in shops, offices, and factories make up the rapidly growing middle class which a country must have if it is to develop. Mexico City is totally unlike the rest of the country. 150 years ago, it was the largest city in the whole western hemisphere. Today, with a population of close to 4 million people, it's one of the world's great capitals and centers of commerce. A city of well tended parks of fine theaters and art. A city with the oldest university in North America, housed in some of the world's most modern buildings. For over three centuries, the University of Mexico has been a center of culture and learning. Cities like Guadalara and others are growing as people move from the country. 20 years ago, only a small percentage of the people lived in urban centers. Now, almost half are part of the city's rising middle class. Mexico knows it must industrialize quickly if it is to provide a better life for more of the people. New factories are being built all the time as the country produces more and more of the things a modern society needs. From the port city of Veraracruz on the Gulf of Mexico, we ship out sugar and cotton to other countries. And we get back the machinery with which to build our industry and make at home the manufactured goods which now must be imported. There are great natural resources here. Mexico is one of the richest mineral countries in the world and mining is the most highly developed and wellorganized national industry. Mexico leads the world in the production of silver and is ninth in the production of gold. There are great reserves of base metals, lead, zinc, and copper as well as iron. There is plenty of oil to pump from the ground. Water also can be taken from underground to irrigate the dry lands and make them bloom with rice and fruit. Gradually, agricultural methods are changing. Under irrigation, lands once parched and barren can be made to yield abundantly. With the growing use of modern farm machinery and methods, it is possible now to produce much more food with far less labor. There are more schools in the villages where before there were none, and the problem of teaching all of the people of a nation to read and write is slowly being solved. Roads are being cut through the mountains to communities once isolated from the world for want of a way to reach them. Modern buses carry people who not long ago had only buros to [Music] ride. With the construction of the railways in the 1880s, the industrialization of Mexico began, slowly gaining momentum until today, Mexico is growing industrially at a more rapid rate than any other country of the Americas. Through the airport at Mexico City, thousands of tourists come to enjoy this most beautiful country with its days filled with warmth and sunshine. Akapulco on the Pacific coast has become one of the most famous resorts in the world. Tourism is one of the chief industries and very important because Mexico needs the money from abroad which the visitors bring [Music] in. There are many Mexicos. At one extreme there is this Aapulco with its beauty and luxury. At the other there is the Mexico in which life has changed little in hundreds of years. The Mexico of sparse existence for over half the people. This Mexico is our problem. But as you have seen, we are working to solve it. I hope that in my small way, I've helped you understand Mexico. Won't you come back? [Music] Well, at least it wasn't James Brill. Uh, all right. One last film. Somebody wanted a cartoon, so here's a cartoon. Enjoy. [Music] I don't know. [Music] Post the telephone. It's the great cover. What will you speak? In disgrace. What? So soon? Change it all. [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] Heat. Heat. [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] Do you hear me? The time goes out of order now. Change it. Change it. [Music] [Applause] [Music] Heat. Heat. [Applause] [Music] Yeah. Heat. [Music] [Music] No more sambar. Change the music, you idiot. [Applause] [Music] [Applause] Heat. Heat. [Applause] Heat. [Music] [Applause] [Music] Heat. [Music] [Applause] Heat. [Music] [Applause] Heat. [Applause] [Music] [Applause] Heat. Heat. [Music] [Applause] Heat. [Applause] [Music] Heat. [Music] [Applause] [Music] Heat. Heat. [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] What are you trying to do to me? Don't you know the order has been changed? Change the music. Change it. Change it. Change [Music] [Applause] [Music] it. That was some fine animated propaganda made for Mexican eyes. uh to counter any potential communist uh sympathies. I mean, I wasn't that obvious. Musically, it was it was beautiful. It was really amazing. I like that. Um the message, I don't know. I don't know. It was funny seeing a chicken and a a donkey um doing the flamingco. That was funny. Communism. I don't know. 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We very much appreciate you watching and we'll see you tomorrow. Take care everybody. Bye.