Lista de cintas educativas referentes a México o a lo mexicano que se reseñaron en la revista The Educational Screen, publicación de corte educativo, durante 1922. Según se desprende del editorial aparecido en el primer número, la finalidad de la publicación que editaba 10 números anualmente (durante julio y agosto no se imprimía) consistía en que:
This magazine intends to get at the truth about visual education – in all its phases and in its broadest aspects – and serve it up in a form palatable to thinking Americans.
La mayoría fueron filmadas por Burton Holmes (1870-1958), creador de los travelogues. Las historias de viajes, las proyecciones de imágenes fijas y las películas ya existían antes de que Holmes las combinara para crear sus documentales y usarlos en sus presentaciones de viajes.
A continuación los documentales sobre México que fueron comentados en The Educational Screen:
The Educational Screen, Vol. 1, No. 1, enero de 1922, p. 23:
Mexican Oil Fields. Burton Holmes (Famous Players-Lasky) – A trip with this most indefatigable of guides to see the oil regions, to watch oil “struck,” tanked, piped, and shipped, in the latest and greatest oil fields in the world.
The Educational Screen, Vol. 1, No. 2, febrero de 1922, p. 23:
A Cruise to Vera Cruz. Burton Holmes (Famous Players-Lasky) – Leaving New York, the voyage takes you through long days on topic seas, with glimpses of Havana harbor en route, to the medieval fortress which guards the Gulf gate to the Mexican republic – the “City of the True Cross.”
Torid Tampico. Burton Holmes (Famous Players-Lasky) – “The Dawson City of tropical Klondike,” where a wealth of oil gushes forth in seemingly inexhaustible floods. A strange bit of modern atmosphere in the heart of old-time Mexico.
The Educational Screen, Vol. 1, No. 6, junio de 1922, pp. 190-191:
Mexico – Historical and Architectural (Education Film Corporation) – Relics, dating from the prehistoric age in which an unknown people built vast pyramids in the Mexican valleys, are to be seen along with the monuments of the Aztecs which are today the only remnants of the architecture of that extinct race. Modern architecture is represented by the church edifices of Mexico City.
An Indian Villages in Mexico (Education Film Corporation) – This reel shows a town as primitive as were the Indian settlement common in the days of the Spanish conquests 400 years ago – the nearest approximation today to the conditions of that bygone time.
Along the Rio Grande. Burton Holmes (N.N.T.) – Acquainting us with the picturesque sights of this historic region. Here we may see the descendants of the aboriginal Americans, living their primitive life full of gay color, among the remains of ancient Spanish occupancy. We also visit Albuquerque, the metropolis of New Mexico, at the time when the Mexican population is celebrating the famous fiesta, “Los Matachines.”
The Educational Screen, Vol. 1, No. 7, septiembre de 1922, p. 233:
The Heart of Mexico (Education Film Corporation) – Quite naturally found in and around its capital, Mexico City, situated high on the plateau and distinguished by the grandeur of its surroundings. Holiday crowds are always to be found in a pleasure-loving Spanish country, and a typical small boy circus proves that children – Spanish or otherwise – are the same the world over.
CINE SILENTE MEXICANO / MEXICAN SILENT CINEMA 