Directing
Film about the Morochucos community in Ayacucho. This film included a brief dramatic plot starring actress Nita Zapata VĂ©lez and photographed by Eulogio Nishiyama from Cusco.
This adventure chronicles the exploits of an author/explorer on a trip to Peru to hunt for the missing uncle of his pretty young companion. Her archaeologist uncle disappeared while searching for a lost Incan city that he found upon an ancient map. Together the writer and the girl launch an expedition to search for this legendary city. They are guided by another Yankee archaeologist. It is he who swiped the map from the woman's uncle. With their help, he hopes to find the city so he and his gang of thieves can loot it. Along the way they encounter many dangers including, snakes, crocodiles, jaguars, and quicksand. The writer and the niece get their first and warn the Incas living their. The Indians neatly dispatch the evil archaeologist and his band.
Filming took place between January and March of 1952 in Cusco and the cloud forest under the direction of American Ken Krippene and the photographic supervision of German Hans Helzig. The film was never released due to technical deficiencies that made its exhibition impossible. The filming of this movie gave rise to a story that fascinated Lima's journalists in the 1950s: the romance between John Wayne—who had come to the country in search of locations for a personal project—and the star of Lila Tihi's Emeralds, Peruvian Pilar Pallete, which culminated in marriage.
