This 1941 black and white film is part of the Bell and Howell Filmosound Library series and focuses on the plight of the peons in Mexico in the late 1800s and early 1900s. It was produced in Mexico by Soviet film director Sergei M. Eisenstein and by “special arrangements with Upton Sinclair.” It opens with views of Mexico’s desert, two smiling caballeros, and castle fortresses (:22-1:00). A Creole cowboy with spurs sits sideways on a horse, two men wrapped in serapes take a siesta under a giant maguey (also known as agave, century plant, and American aloe), and a man in a straw hat extracts maguey juice from a gourd (1:01-1:22). The hacienda is guarded by armed men. The band of one’s hat is tight under his bottom lip and the other under his nose (1:23-1:40). Two Creole cowboys relax. One tightens his glove; his jacket is elaborately embroidered (1:41-1:56). The peons, men of mixed or Indian descent, were forced to assemble at dawn and wait to be assigned daily tasks as forced labor. They wear serapes, hold straw hats, and wear leather sandals. They sing as they exit through the guarded large doors, which close behind them (1:57-3:50). In the field, they extract the juice from the large maguey leaves, getting the juice flowing by mouth and then pouring it into a bucket. The juice can be fermented to produce pulque or mezcal tequila, which a guard is shown drinking (3:51-4:20). Two teenage peon girls are shown. A peon couple must ask the hacienda owner to be allowed to be married. Sometimes he says yes. To one, he says no and the young man is thrown down the steps by the guards (4:21-6:00). A peon runs through the maguey in an attempt to escape (6:01-6:20). Between 1922 and 1953, Mexican Diego Rivera painted large frescoes and murals depicting the poor treatment of peons (6:21-7:00). Earlier revolutions had been led by Miguel Hidalgo and when he was executed, Jose Morelos, shown in photos and a statue (7:01-7:45). A photo and statue of Benito Juarez is shown, followed by a large picture of President Porfirio Diaz (8:04-8:30). A man looks at the picture and another incites his fellow peons to rebel in the 1910 Mexico Revolution. Men with guns and bandolier belts full of ammunition draped around their necks climb the rocks. They fire at guards and storm the hacienda (8:38-10:00.) The peons are free. A violinist plays next to a large drummer in the courtyard where they once were forced labor (10:01-10:49).

This film was part of a much larger Eisenstein project called ¡Que Viva México! or Da zdravstvuyet Meksika! This was a film project begun in 1930 by the Russian avant-garde director Sergei Eisenstein (1898–1948). It would have been an episodic portrayal of Mexican culture and politics from pre-Conquest civilization to the Mexican revolution. Production was beset by difficulties and was eventually abandoned. Jay Leyda and Zina Voynow call it his “greatest film plan and his greatest personal tragedy”. Eisenstein left for Mexico in December 1930—after various projects proposed by Charles Chaplin and Paramount Pictures fell through, and Paramount released him from his contract. The Mexican film was produced by Upton Sinclair and a small group of financiers recruited by his wife Mary Craig Kimbrough Sinclair, under a legal corporation these investors formed, the Mexican Film Trust. Their contract with Eisenstein called for a short, apolitical feature film about or involving Mexico, in a scenario to be designed and filmed by Eisenstein and his two compatriots, Grigori Alexandrov and Eduard Tisse. Other provisos of the contract, which Eisenstein signed on 24 November 1930, included that the film would be completed (including all post-production work) by April 1931, and would show or imply nothing that could be construed as insulting to or critical of post-Revolution Mexico (a condition imposed by the Mexican government before it would allow the three Soviets entry into their country). Filmed material was also to be subject to censorship by the Mexican government, at first after it was filmed and printed, later in 1931 during shooting via an on-site censor.

Eisenstein shot somewhere between 30 to 50 hours of footage before the Mexican Film Trust stopped production, the Trust having run out of money and patience with Eisenstein’s unwillingness/inability to complete the film expeditiously.

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