This black & white educational film is about the Native Americans working at a Southwest Mission. This was an Arthur Barr Production from 1965.

Opening titles: a Native American turns a book that has the credits on it – MISSION LIFE, Alta, CA 1776 (:10-:46). A Native American rings a bell. A Monk writes. Sheep graze in Alta, CA. Fertile grass and plants. Hands touch squash. A Native American eats fruit from the branch. A Monk blesses a Native American at a Mission. A Monk writes. The Natives plant and garden in the soil. Rake some dirt. Manure is carried over to the ground. Natives stomp their feet in the adobe pit. Close on the feet stomping (:47-3:49). Natives pour mud into another larger container and carry it away. Bricks are then molded from the adobe, one by one. It is placed into a mold and then smoothed. A brick is made. Process of making the brick is shown in detail. A Native American focuses on molding. The hot sun beats down onto the bricks and they will be turned over one by one when it is time. Bricks are turned and edges wiped to be smooth. Bricks are placed into zig zag pattern to keep them from falling over (3:50-6:12). Bricks, now dried, are piled up slowly by the Natives. Each brick weighs about thirty pounds. The Native American molder places the bricks where they are to go and creates a wall. He spreads adobe mortar to fill the joints between bricks.Adobe is handed in a pail, poured, and spread. The wall is being built. A Monk writes at a table. Candles are hanging in a circle wheel, put together by a candlemaker. Liquid is poured onto the candles as the process continues (6:13-9:09). Rawhide is being prepared by the Native Americans. A hide is soaked into lime water, a hand picks at hair on it. The hide is lifted, it’s heavy, and it is to be cleaned by water. A soften hide is on a board being scraped. Rawhide needs to be stripped for the roof. Corn is grounded. A tortilla pan is being heated and fanned by a worker. Two women make corn tortillas. Close on the hands patting the dough, ready to be baked on the plate. More tortillas are made (9:10-12:31). Tortillas are placed onto the iron plate to be cooked. A Monk writes at his desk. He stops and listens to the ringing bell, he rises and walks away. A Native American rings a bell as the sun sets behind him (12:32-13:15). End credits (13:16-13:44). NOTE: Afterwards there is another piece of a movie slapped onto this: A man rings a bell in what looks to be the Time of Christ, based on the narration which is referring to Jesus Christ and the Bible. A man leads another and a mule into town. Men talk and pass the ringing bell man again. A man approaches the ringing bell man and throws him a bag of coins, some coins are handed back to him. And an end credit from a Shell film appears to have been tacked on – neither of these have anything to do with MISSION LIFE before it. (13:45-15:14).

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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