Alicia Armstrong de Vicuña

Few professional references and little biographical data exist for this film director. We know only that, supported by her husband who was a wealthy businessman, Alicia Armstrong de Vicuña founded Alistrong Film Company in order to direct El lecho nupcial/The Nuptial Bed (1926), an adaptation of Charles Meré’s melodrama that had been serialized in local newspapers, a widely popular practice at the time. A vigorous promotional campaign in the Diario El Mercurio de Santiago activated during the week preceding the premiere announced it as “a film of great technical accomplishment, worthy of international exhibition, and having a first class work in dramatic and art direction” (1926, n.p.). However, the Diario La Nación review found the film a disappointment: “The adaptation suffers from many defects, and there wasn’t a photogenic selection of the actors. Photography is poor; except for some scenes in the snow that have a lot of light and great relief, the rest is of an exasperating poverty and opacity. The make-up is pathetic. A movie made by inexpert hands…In summary, a good intention failed due to the shortcomings of its film direction” (n.p.). To our knowledge, Alicia Armstrong de Vicuña did not make another motion picture.