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This 1951 movie created by amateur filmmaker Dr. Harold Lincoln Thompson captures the eruption of the Paricutín Volcano. It is a cinder cone volcano located in the Mexican state of Michoacán. The film mostly shows the volcano from different angles and zoomed in to different degrees. It also shows some of the effects of the volcano, such as abandoned ash covered villages and lava pools. The camera footage is of extraordinarily high quality and features night shots of the lava coming out of the crater. Dr. Harold L Thompson was a Los Angeles surgeon who liked to shoot home movies and present them. Around this same time he made an amateur film entitled “Invitation to Hawaii“ which was widely seen around the USA. He was also president of the Los Angeles Physicians' Art Society. 0:09 “The Paricutín Volcano for Dr. Harold L. Thompson”, 0:15 text slides about the volcano interjected with footage of mountain scenery, 1:18 a column of smoke from the erupting volcano as seen from different locations, 2:41 the village of San Juan near the volcano, 3:11 a closer shot of the column of smoke, 4:24 the column of smoke as seen from two miles distance, 6:44 the column of smoke as seen from San Juan, 7:12 the destroyed and ash covered village of Paricutin at the foot of the volcano, 8:07 the column of smoke, 9:05 a man walking towards a smoking lava deposit, 9:51 the column of smoke rising from the volcano shown progressively closer, 11:41 the column of smoke rising over a lake, 13:05 the column of smoke as seen from San Juan, 13:27 ash covered landscape, 13:48 a small eruption joining the column of smoke, 14:28 the camera zooms in on the column of smoke, 15:48 close ups of the volcano spewing out more ash, 18:33 trees growing in an ashy landscape, 19:00 an abandoned farmhouse, 19:17 the column of smoke as seen from a forest, 19:53 a U.S. Air Force Sikorsky R-6 with several people around it, 20:14 Pilots climb into the cockpit and takeoff, 21:06 the helicopter inflight, 21:18 the helicopter lands, 21:37 a church tower seen from the distance, 21:54 the column of smoke rising above the volcano with the church tower in front of it, 22:46 a woman riding a horse, 23:01 the church tower seen from a distance, 23:13 the column of smoke rising over the volcano, 24:32 clouds of smoke rising from areas with lava, 25:04 the US Air Force Sikorsky R-6 in flight, 25:39 the lava glowing at night from far away and up close, 29:17 lava flying out of the top of the volcano The Paricutin volcano surged suddenly from the cornfield of local farmer Dionisio Pulido in 1943, attracting both popular and scientific attention. Paricutín presented the first occasion for modern science to document the full life cycle of an eruption of this type. During the volcano's nine years of activity, scientists sketched and mapped it and took thousands of samples and photographs. The volcano is located in the Mexican state of Michoacán, near the city of Uruapan and about 322 kilometers (200 mi) west of Mexico City. Paricutín presented the first occasion for modern science to document the full life cycle of an eruption of this type. During the volcano's nine years of activity, scientists sketched and mapped it and took thousands of samples and photographs. By 1952, the eruption had left a 424-meter-high (1,391 ft) cone and significantly damaged an area of more than 233 square kilometers (90 sq mi) with the ejection of stone, volcanic ash and lava. Three people were killed, two towns were completely evacuated and buried by lava, and three others were heavily affected. Hundreds of people had to permanently relocate, and two new towns were created to accommodate their migration. Although the larger region still remains highly active volcanically, Parícutin is now dormant and has become a tourist attraction, with people climbing the volcano and visiting the hardened lava-covered ruins of the San Juan Parangaricutiro Church. Motion picture films don't last forever; many have already been lost or destroyed. For almost two decades, we've worked to collect, scan and preserve the world as it was captured on 35mm, 16mm and 8mm movies -- including home movies, industrial films, and other non-fiction. If you have endangered films you'd like to have scanned, or wish to donate celluloid to Periscope Film so that we can share them with the world, we'd love to hear from you. Contact us via the weblink below. This film is part of the Periscope Film LLC archive, one of the largest historic military, transportation, and aviation stock footage collections in the USA. Entirely film backed, this material is available for licensing in 24p HD and 2k. For more information visit
