Movie Review: The Gaucho (1927)

I was hoping to get the story of El Gaucho, Martin Fierro.  This is not that story.  This is more a Robin Hood type movie starring Douglas Fairbanks.  This movie is a silent movie and stars Douglas Fairbanks as El Gaucho.  He is the head of a band of thieves which roam the Andean Mountains in Western Argentina.  He has been plundering the area, and has a serious girlfriend.  This movie tells hits story, but also the story of a miraculous healing water which is blessed by The Virgin.  There is a woman who fell from a cliff, and woke up and saw an apparition of the virgin, and also was healed from the wounds of her fall in the blessed water.  There is a community which forms around this shrine called the City of Miracles.  This city has much gold as people who are cured miraculously donate gold.  With this they hope to take care of the poor. 

However an usurper, Ruiz, conquers the city, throws the poor in jail, and steals the gold.  The Gaucho is also intent on stealing the gold.  He does conquer the town, but he does not find the gold.  He pardons the poor, but the man with the black death he says should go shoot himself because he poisons everyone with is breath. The movie takes a twist when this man infects The Gaucho, and The Gaucho's hand starts turning black.  The saintly woman leads him to the shrine to heal him if he has faith.  However the girl friend sees them and becomes jealous.  She betrays them to Ruiz' men.  However in the meantime he is healed by the sacred water, as is the man with the black plague.  The girlfriend realizes what she has done, and brings The Gaucho's men to the rescue.  In this movie we see Fairbanks doing his swashbuckling moves through the trees as he makes his escape.  They use a cattle stampede to defeat Ruiz and his men.
A couple points of historical interest.  The Gauchos roamed The Pampas more than the Andes, and this is where most of the large cattle estates were.  However, Fairbanks and Lupe Velez dance a tango.