Que Viva Mexico!

Mexico in 1910. The Mexican workers were cruelly oppressed by the Haciendados, the powerful landowners.

Conceived of in six parts:

Prologue 'Calavera' [Maya funeral before Spanish conquest] to be dedicated to David Alfaro Siqueiros 1 'Sandunga' [a betrothal and wedding in Tehuantepec] to be dedicated to Jean Charlot 2 'Maguey' [peons' hard life on the high plateau of Mexico; their failed revolt and punishment] 3 'Fiesta' (originally 'Spanish Milagro') [Spanish influence; cathedrals repl. temples; bullfight] to be dedicated to Francisco De Goya 4 'Soldadera' [about Pancha, a woman who bears her child in the midst of Zapata and Villa's 1910 revolution] to be dedicated to José Clemente Orozco 'Epilogue' [the Death Day festival] to be dedicated to José Guadelupe Posada

(above order was modified during production to Fiesta, Sandunga, Maguey, Soldadera)

Production history 24.11.1930 E signs contract with Sinclairs to produce film. 14.12.1930-24.1.1932 Production 24.1.1932 Upton Sinclair orders production to cease. Soldadera and a large part of Fiesta remain unfilmed.

Filmed on location in Yucatan (Merida, Puamala, Izamal, Chichen-Itza); Oaxaca (Tehuantepec); Guerrero (Acapulco); Hidalgo (Tetlapayac, Plateaux of Anahuac); Puebla; Mexico (Teotihuacan, Mexico City, Xoehimilco)

A number of films were made using the footage: see Related Titles.