1940’S Silent Home Movie Trip to Phoenix Biltmore Hotel, Nogales and Picacho Peak, Arizona 33544 (1940)

Synopsis

Shot by an unknown tourist, this silent home movie contains scenes shot in rural Arizona, at the Phoenix Biltmore Resort, in Nogales and at Picacho Peak State Park. It was filmed during WWII which dates it from the early to mid-1940’s. It opens with a residential home in Arizona with family members pictured outside (:16). Sheep are seen in a large grassy field (:24) as farmers operate machinery in order to harvest their crops (1:03). The crops are loaded onto a conveyor belt by agricultural workers -- probably itinerant Mexican-Americans(1:26). The conveyer dumps them into a truck at the end of the line (1:30). Next, shots of decrepit, small wooden building with a cross on it, and a simple white church or chapel. This is possibly part of a movie set (1:56) or even a ghost town. A similar movie set in Southern Arizona remains, known as "Old Tucson", but this one appears different. Next, scenes at the Arizona Biltmore, located in Phoenix. The single floor hotel is viewed shortly after (3:02) along with the stately Wrigley Mansion nearby atop a hill (3:16). Historic Morley Avenue in Nogales follows including the border crossing (3:51). The camera pans around the area to captured some of the residential homes embedded in the hilly landscape (4:04). Note the light metal fence at (4:08) which was all that separated the two nations at the time. The Ramirez Money Exchange building appears at (4:18) as 2-6-0 steam locomotive Southern Pacific Lines #2105 passes by (4:33). The…

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Details

Running time

14 minutes

Collection

Ephemeral Films

Subjects on the Internet Archive

• Stock Footage