Fernanda Mistral Movies

In this satire, ploys and cons to stay on top of the financial heap are the specialty of Alfredo (Fernando Siro), a former aristocrat who has gambled his money away and moves in with his wealthy sister, bringing along his useless wife, son, and daughter. Soon Alfredo is gambling with his sister's money, and when various financial schemes bite the dust, he has no qualms about cheating anyone and everyone to avoid owning up to his failures. When a prize bull he imports for breeding dies at sea, Alfredo substitutes donkey semen and ignores the grief he brings to his customers, not to mention the cows. When he runs out of expensive wine for dinner he pours local, cheap wine into the good wine bottle. His tactics eventually get him into trouble, but nothing can really keep him from inventing the next good scam. This satire on the Argentine aristocracy is entertaining enough to be appreciated by most viewers, but culturally-specific references throughout are meant only for Argentina -- where it was banned. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, All Movie Guide

Like boxes within boxes, this uncensored Argentine film on the perils of censorship shows what happens when the censor's cutting shears hang poised above the filmmaker and his supporters and cast. The film itself is academic and the acting somewhat shallow -- and it is about how a film became more academic than emotional when a director constantly thwarted emotive, "dangerous" scenes between his protagonists. As a result of the censorship in the story, the personal and financial lives of those involved in the film are also affected. But the question remains as to whether real-life censorship threats affected Poder de la Censura in the same way as the film in its story was affected. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, All Movie Guide

Adolfo Aristarian, the stunning Argentinean director and master of the genre film, offers his take on the crime film with La Parte del Leon. Aristarian betrays his encyclopedic knowledge of the genre in the film's dedication, "To Warner Bros., 1930-1950." The film, like all great crime films, has a simple story told in a brilliant manner, with Aristarian pulling out all the stops. Bruno di Toro is a normal kind of guy, with a job, without a girl, and without a lot of money. One day he stumbles onto a cache of cash which, like anyone would, he pockets. With the money, he makes the scene flashing around town and setting up "business" meetings with corrupt government officials and greedy American businessmen. Before his plans can bear fruit, the "owners" of the money, a group of bank robbers, come after him, bringing heat. Bruno tries to run but his fate is already, inescapably, sealed. Like the Warner Bros. crime films of 1947 to 1953 which created social commentary by drawing parallels between crime and capitalism, this film does the same, but between Argentina's military regime and a social Darwinism of the streets. ~ Brian Whitener, All Movie Guide

The visit of a foreign film crew nearly wrecks the small Argentine village chosen as the site for the filming of "The Romance of a Gaucho" by an exploitation-film producer whose previous hit films were "The Romance of a Toreador" and "The Romance of a Sheik." Bedazzled by the stars, and visions of massive influxes of tourists, the townspeople begin sniping at one another. ~ Clarke Fountain, All Movie Guide

Maria (Saby Kamalich) is the illiterate peasant girl who travels to Buenos Aires in search of a better life. Roberto (Rodolfo Salerno) is the prosperous urbanite who impregnates her, balks at marriage, then drops her. Esteban (Braulio Castillo) teaches her to read and write, giving her an opportunity to take a job as a seamstress. Maria uses her skills to establish a profitable dress shop of her own as her son Tony (Agustin Martinez-Solares) grows up. When he is a young man, he falls in love with his cousin Ita (Maria Leal). The union is opposed by both families, and Ita goes into hiding in the provinces when she becomes pregnant. Her condition prompts the divided families to give their blessings to the wedding. Maria feels the empty nest syndrome when Tony leaves home, but she soon learns the patient and virtuous Esteban has loved her for all these years. This romantic drama is based on the Argentine soap opera that spread in popularity all over Latin America. ~ Dan Pavlides, All Movie Guide

In this somber drama, a woman (Violetta Antier) in her 30's leaves Italy for a better life in Argentina like others from her small village. She finds work as a translator converting Italian into Spanish for a legal firm. When her lover leaves her pregnant after she signs some papers that get her in trouble with the law, the woman writes to her grandmother from her jail cell to tell the family back home that everything is fine. ~ Dan Pavlides, All Movie Guide