La maldición de la mano de piedra

"Curse of the Stone Hand" bears a 1964 copyright, but this two-part anthology consists of footage derived from a pair of atmospheric Chilean titles made by Argentine directors nearly two decades earlier. The first half is taken from 1946's "La Dama de la Muerte" (The Lady of Death), from director Carlos Hugo Christensen, an adaptation of Robert Louis Stevenson's 1878 3-part anthology "The Suicide Club" (roughly half its original length), while the second half (at the 34-minute mark of this 57 minute feature) consists of 1945's "La Casa esta Vacia" (The House is Empty), from director Carlos Schlieper, reduced to about 30 percent of its footage. The final product was created by schlock director Jerry Warren, with himself and 'Hugo Christensen' listed as co-directors. Warren tied these stories together through some newly shot sequences depicting a stone hand, which supposedly signifies a curse. John Carradine was no stranger to Warren ("The Incredible Petrified World," "Invasion of the Animal People," "House of the Black Death," "Frankenstein Island"), but for his three brief scenes received second billing beneath actor 'Ernest Walch,' an Americanized pseudonym for Ernesto Vilches (from "La Dama de la Muerte"), who not only died in 1954 but was also listed ninth in the cast list, under the more simplified moniker 'Ernest Vilche.' Carradine, along with Katherine Victor and Bruno Ve Sota, only appears in the final reel, as 'The Old Drunk,' relating how he spied on a married woman cavorting with her husband's brother, totaling less than two minutes screen time (Victor gets one additional scene, confronting the husband, conveniently seen from the back). Warren's butchery makes for very dull viewing, even worse than "Invasion of the Animal People," another waste of Carradine's exceptional talents. "Curse of the Stone Hand" made its only appearance on Pittsburgh's Chiller Theater May 4 1968, preceding second feature "Frankenstein-1970."