Secrets of Latin America

BRAZIL (PEOPLE OF THE PLANTATIONS) (1940): Life on a Brazilian plantation, and the attendant harvesting of coffee and sugar cane, is shown in this ERPI Classroom film made as part of President Roosevelt's "Good Neighbor policy" towards Latin America.

BUENOS AIRES AND MONTEVIDEO (1942): The National Geographic Society presents a "South American Medley" of two very different cities: the "full grown metropolis" of Buenos Aires with its plazas and high buildings, and the beautiful beaches and homes of Montevideo at carnival time.

CENTRAL AMERICA (CARIBBEAN REGION II) (1944): The western part of the Caribbean region, between Mexico and the Northwest, is explored in this Encyclopedia Britannica film...from the forests, the plantations, and the marketplaces to the "largest cities, where dwell mostly people of Spanish extraction, and others of the white races."

PARAGUAY (1945): Renowned filmmaker Julien Bryan tells the story of Paraguay, nicknamed "the heart of South America"...a country with diverse Spanish, Jesuit, and Native American influences.

SOUTHERN CHILE: TIP OF A CONTINENT (1948): The life and agriculture of the southernmost part of South America is profiled in this color educational short from Hollywood Film Enterprises (a distributor of 8mm/16mm film reels for the home movie market.)

MEXICO: LAND OF COLOR AND CONTRAST (1960): An appreciation of the history of "our neighbor to the South", Mexico! The pyramids and temples built centuries ago by the Mayans, Toltecs and Aztecs are contrasted with the "modern, bustling metropolises" of the "new" Mexico, "a modern nation that's made great progress in industrialization and education."

• documentary