Wings to Guatemala is a Pan Am travelogue directed by Jean Oser, and written by Robert Hertzberg. Produced in the 1950s, it features stunning images of Lake Atitlan, Guatemala City, the Tikal temple prior to the removal of foliage, and footage of the people and industries of this Central American nation.

Tikal is the ruins of an ancient city found in a rainforest in Guatemala. Ambrosio Tut, a gum-sapper, reported the ruins to a La Gaceta, a Guatemalan newspaper, which named the site Tikal. The Berlin Academy of Sciences’ Magazine then republished the report in 1853. Archeologists and treasure hunters then began visiting the forest. Today tourism to the site may help protect the rainforest.[3] It is one of the largest archaeological sites and urban centers of the pre-Columbian Maya civilization. It is located in the archaeological region of the Petén Basin in what is now northern Guatemala. Situated in the department of El Petén, the site is part of Guatemala’s Tikal National Park and in 1979 it was declared a UNESCO World Heritage Site.

Director Jean Oser was born in 1908 in Strasbourg, Bas-Rhin, France as Hans Oser. He was an editor and director, known for The 3 Penny Opera (1931), Comradeship (1931) and Winston Churchill: The Valiant Years (1960). He died on February 20, 2002 in Regina, Saskatchewan, Canada.

We encourage viewers to add comments and, especially, to provide additional information about our videos by adding a comment! See something interesting? Tell people what it is and what they can see by writing something for example like: “01:00:12:00 — President Roosevelt is seen meeting with Winston Churchill at the Quebec Conference.”

This film is part of the Periscope Film LLC archive, one of the largest historic military, transportation, and aviation stock footage collections in the USA. Entirely film backed, this material is available for licensing in 24p HD and 2k. For more information visit http://www.PeriscopeFilm.com