Obscure De Soto Film: First Frontier c.1987

 

I finally found an online copy of a film that I've been looking for years.  Known as the "Alabama Film" among reenactor types.  This was before my time in the hobby but I do recognize some of the background players.  The first 20 minutes or so are directly Soto / Mabilia related.  Looks like it had a moderately good budget for an Alabama Public TV production.  Some of the armor looks really good, other stuff not so much; the production is throwing blankets over the horse's saddles since they don't have period correct ones.  It's an interesting look at the past interpretation.

https://americanarchive.org/catalog/cpb-aacip-526-ms3jw87t5q

Program Description
First Frontier tells a story of 300 years of Southeastern history. From 1540 to 1835 the region was explored by the Spanish, colonized by the French, controlled by the English and eventually led into statehood by the Americans. At the same time, two cultures, the Native American and the Western European same into contact and often exploded into bloody conflict. "Produced with the cooperation of the Mississippi Band of Choctaw Indians, and the Poarch Band of Creek Indians; and under the guidance of scholars from throughout the region and the nation, First Frontier is more than an educational television program, it is a text. This text assembles, for the first time, the record of the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, two centuries which have been virtually missing from the chronicles of Southeastern history...

One of these days I have to post my De Soto Film festival list.