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Thunder over Mexico, the 1933 Sergei M. Eisenstein U.S./Mexican historical documentary melodrama ("The most talked-of film of the year"; "Eisenstein's Masterpiece"; "The greatest living director makes a great living picture"; "The most beautiful picture ever made!"; "Hauntingly Beautiful - Poignantly Dramatic - Terrifying in its Realism"; produced by Upton Sinclair through the Mexican Film Trust) starring Martin Hernandez, Isabel Villasenor, Felix Balderas, and Julio Saldivar. Eisenstein had originally intended the movie (titled Que Viva Mexico) to be an episodic portrayal (consisting mainly of documentary footage but also including fictional chapters starring actors) of Mexican culture and politics from pre-Conquest civilization to the Mexican revolution. Filming started in 1931 and Eisenstein shot between 175,000 and 250,000 feet of film (30 to 50 hours). However, after the project went over budget and a completed film was nowhere in sight, production was shut down. Eisenstein had hoped to edit his footage in California but he was not allowed back into the United States and at the same time, he was ordered to return to the USSR by Soyuzkino (the state film production organization). All of this meant that Eisenstein was never able to finish his movie. In 1933, the Mexican Film Trust struck a deal with producer/distributor Sol Lesser and he edited the footage into a feature film (along with two short subjects) called Thunder Over Mexico. The footage was also edited by Marie Seton into a 1940 release called Time in the Sun. Finally in 1979, a new "reconstructed" Que Viva Mexico by Grigori Alexandrov (a Soviet director and associate of Eisenstein) was released that attempted to be truer to Eisenstein's original vision. We have separate Descriptions for each of the releases that use Eisenstein's original footage. However, some promotional material does not make it clear which release it is promoting! In those cases, we have entered the records under the original 1931 Que Viva Mexico title.
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Important Added Info: Note that we have provided an image of the front and back covers of this French pressbook, and of course, the winner of this auction will receive the entire single pressbook we are auctioning (plus any supplements or heralds described above)! Also note that this French pressbook is complete and uncut! Given that theater owners received pressbooks partly in order to create their newspaper advertising, and quite frequently cut them up for that purpose, it is rare to find a pressbook that IS complete and uncut!

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