Gerardo Grez

La Araucana is a Chilean film based on an epic poem in Spanish about the Spanish conquest of Chile, by Alonso de Ercilla; it is also known in English as The Araucaniad. It is considered the national epic of the Kingdom of Chile and one of the most important works of the Spanish Golden Age

The story, set at the end of the 19th century, revolves around the rivalry between two families of ancient peasant lineage, the Valladares and the evil Vilches who, out of greed and sentimental revenge, try to dispossess the true owners of their land. The Valladares defend theirs, ending the conflict with a melee between the two main rivals. There are duels, fires, chases, kidnappings, betrayals and deaths. There is also a romantic note, the costumbrista landscape, the laughable moment and the folk songs.

The hard-working owner of a circus, Euríspides Chamorro (Eugenio Retes), goes to Santiago in search of his son, a medical student, but finds to his surprise that he has dropped out of school and no one knows his whereabouts. To make matters worse, one of his employees snatches the circus from him, starting an adventure to recover everything and to convince his son to become a doctor.

The whaling captain, Antonio Grez, meets in a bar in the port of Valparaiso a very beautiful woman who lives haunted by the tragic premonition that fate will give her a violent death. Grez takes command of a whaler bound for Cape Horn and Antarctica. In Punta Arenas, the owner of the whaling company embarks on together with his fiancee, who is none other than the mysterious woman with whom Grez has fallen in love. The final route of the ship is the 'Land of Desolation', a place on which there is a curse and everyone knows that, for centuries, is has been fulfilled inexorably.

Based on Oscar Castro's novel rtp slot, the film is set in the El Encanto mine, in the interior of Rancagua, where prospectors and barreteros dig the bowels of the earth in search of hidden riches.

A peasant family composed of Don Juan de la Cruz Pizarro, his wife Doña Juliana and their six children who, like the branches of a tree, grow and detach from the trunk that gave them life ..

An Argentine writer agrees to travel with a detective, a married individual and a woman in a car, to cross the mountain range. A storm forces them to seek refuge in a cabin, inhabited by an old fan of esoteric arts. Along the way, we learn about Alberto's story and the reasons for his arrest. In an oversight the criminal and the woman escape the detective's vigil ...

This beautiful, atmospheric Chilean movie (made by an Argentinian director) was unfortunately "cannibalized" by Jerry Warren, who kept about a third of the original footage, together with another third of "La dama de la muerte" (another superb Chilean movie of the same period, made by Argentinian director Carlos Hugo Christensen), then added his own senseless "additional sequences" with John Carradine and Katherine Victor, the final result being the atrocious CURSE OF THE STONE HAND.