This black and white film about the Mayan monuments in Yucatan was produced by Fanchon Royer, one of the few female Hollywood producers in the 1930s. This is one of her “Way of Life Films” productions, which was formed in 1940. She moved to Mexico in 1945 and so this film dates shortly after that. Out of the bird’s eye view of the vast jungle rises the ancient city of Chichen Itza in Yucatan, Mexico (:26-:44), a city that once housed 200,000 people and was more than 12 miles in length. The stone buildings remain, such as the observatory that produced the Mayan calendar (:56-1:45), it’s carved entry shown (2:16). The “nunnery” once housed the maidens dedicated to serving the Mayan gods (2:35-2:55). The Kukulkan “Feathered Serpent” Pyramid was dedicated to a god by that name (2:59). The Temple of the Warriors has had some restoration work done by the Carnegie Institution (3:10-3:27). The Standard Bearer statue (3:29) overlooks the altar (3:40), where additional stone carvings remain (3:44; 4:09). Much of this area remains unexcavated. Stylized snouts on buildings represent the rain god Chaahk (4:22). The Pok-A-Tok ball court (4:39) was for a deadly sport for the losing team that required passing a solid rubber ball through a two-foot stone hoop, using only the thighs or hips. A view of the Observatory in the distance is shown (5:03). In the jungle around the ruins, the skies are full of locusts, who still attack the corn fields of modern day farmers (5:09-6:06). We next travel to the Mayan ruins at Uxmal (6:09-6:26), who once warred with the occupants of Chichen Itza. Caretakers use machetes to keep the jungle growth at bay (6:33-7:00). To see how descendants at the time of filming live, a small plane takes the broadcast crew to Playa del Carmen, one of the today’s top diving destinations in the Gulf of Mexico, but then, a small fishing village reached only by plane or boat (8:09-9:00). (Ferry service to the area began in 1970 but development wouldn’t begin until the 1980s.) Oyster are gathered, broken apart, and wheelbarrowed to be sold (9:04-9:42). Mayan facial features are shown (9:55-10:25). A simple sailboat ends the film (10:33).

In the 1930’s Fanchon Royer was famous for being one of the few female producers in Hollywood, but she got her start in the industry during the silent era as a journalist, publicist, and producer. She was born Fanchon Pauline Royer on January 21, 1902 in Des Moines, Iowa. After the silent era, Royer went on to produce over thirty films with her own company, Fanchon Royer Productions. Her films were made quickly and cheaply, in four to six days at a cost of no more than $20K. She formed a new production company in 1940, Way of Life Films, to make educational and industrial films. After converting to Catholicism in 1943, she began producing religious films. In 1945 she moved to Mexico, where she produced, wrote, and directed two films, Bell Ringer of Antigua and A Fighter for True Peace. In addition, she wrote a book, The Mexico We Found, about her adventures filming throughout Mexico and Guatemala, as well as her family’s adventures living there. In 1957 her father died and Royer used her inheritance to buy a fruit farm in Teziutlan, Puebla, Mexico, where she retired. She died there on December 13, 1981.

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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, 2k and 4k. For more information visit http://www.PeriscopeFilm.com