Corazón salvaje

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Corazón salvaje (English for "Wild Heart") was a novel written by prolific Mexican writer Caridad Bravo Adams and published in 1957 after it was adapted to the screen the previous year.

The story takes place in Martinique in 1903 and describes the life in the Caribbean Sea of a boy that grows to be a pirate (while his half-brother goes to study in France) and the two sisters who fall in love with him.

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[edit] Plot summary

This novel, originally by Caridad Bravo Adams sets the scene in the Caribbean, specifically in the French colonies; the Mexican adaptation is set in the Atlantic coast of Mexico. Francisco Alcazar is a wealthy and important man, who owns sugar-cane fields, married to a severe and uncompassionate woman (Sofia) with whom he has a son (Andrés Alcazar y Valle, perpetually pampered by his mother). Francisco has had an affair with a married woman who was physically abused by her husband, before marrying Sofia. The woman becomes pregnant and dies when the chid is 3 years old. The boy, an illegitimate child, is in fact, his true firstborn. When this woman became pregnant, his husband refused to let go of her, didn't let Francisco recognize the child as his own, and he didn't recognize him either. Thus the boy, named Juan, became known as Juan del Diablo (of the devil), because he had no last name. Juan's mother eventually died of the shame and bad treatment she received from her husband, and the boy was raised with no love or instruction, in poverty and neglect. In his early teens, his mother's husband dies, and then Francisco, hiding the fact that he's his son, invites him to live to the hacienda with his family, on the pretext of being a play-mate for his son Andrés. Sofia finds out the truth, and tries to send Juan away, to which Francisco objects. Finally Francisco has an accident while riding his horse, before he could legally recognize Juan as his son, as he has planned to. Francisco has left a letter with his intentions, though, addressed to his friend (and lawyer), licenciado Noel Mancera. Sofia seizes the letter and hides it. In his deathbed, Francisco sends for his son Andrés, and while not telling the truth, asks him to care for Juan, as a brother would. After his death, Sofía sends Juan away without saying anything to Andrés (whom later much misses Juan).

Beginning Juan grows up among the sailors and pirates of the port-city, earning a shocking reputation for dirty business (contraband of licquor), winning his fights, and for being kind and just to his men, whom retributed him with unbound loyalty. He is also a ladies-man, but his heart is still untaken. He now knows who his father was, because licenciado Mancera told him (who is his closest friend and who gave him some education). Mancera has offered him his last-name, but he refuses because he doesn't need one in his business. Mónica and Aimeé are two lovely young countesses, daughters of the deceased Count of Altamira, a cousin of Mrs Sofia. They used to be very respectable in high society, but the De Altamira family is in bankruptcy, and their only asset is their name and beauty, and the long promise of betrothal between the eldest (Mónica) and Andrés. Unfortunately, Mónica, who is reserved and extremely prudent, does not write to Andres. He, meanwhile, has forgotten of their betrothal, and, while in Mexico City, meets Mónica's sister, Aimee. Aimee is beautiful, but flirty and selfish. She shows interest in Andrés, who--to be sure--has wealth, influence, and power. Andrés falls completely in love with Aimee, a fact he tells his mother when she comes to visit him. Sofía returns home to tell her cousin, Catalina, of her son's feelings. When Catalina learns of the rejection of her daughter, she is dismayed, knowing that this may mean the ruin of her family. When she learns Andres loves Aimee, she is horrified at the thought of Monica's heartbreak, but acquiesces to the match. When Monica finds out about Andres' feelings, she is instantly heartbroken. This is the marriage she's always dreamed of, and she genuinely came to love Andres. She falls ill with a fever, but, after she recovers, she decides to enter the local convent and take up the life of a nun. Telling everyone that she is glad Andres broke their engagement, she pretends she always wanted to be a nun anyway. Meanwhile, Aimee returns to her hometown with her mother. One day, while walking along the beach, she spies a man taking a bath in a beach house. He is Juan del Diablo, though Aimee doesn't know him, his past, or his family connections. She watches him from a distance, but Juan sees her. Over the next few days, Aimee returns several times to spy on Juan. He decides to confront her and catches her while she's hiding and waiting for him. Soon, they are having an affair, and they fall in love with each other. Juan leaves in order to make some fortune as Aimee promises to wait for and marry him. Then Andres arrives at town and Aimee, who cannot reject such a profitable marriage, ignores her promise to Juan and marries Andres. When Juan returns, he finds Aimee married to his half-brother and decides to kidnap her so that she carries out her promise. Andres, who knows nothing about his kinship to Juan and the affair between him and his wife, decides to employ him as the steward of Campo Real, his country estate. Meanwhile, Monica leaves the convent and joins all them. Concerned by the miserable lives of the workers, defending Andres even after having abandoned her, she is then called "Saint Monica" by Juan, while she and her mother discover the affair that he had with Aimee. As Monica is no longer going to be a nun, Andres wants to repair his offence by making a match between her and his friend Alberto de la Serna, while he learns that Juan is actually his brother and that he had an unseemly affair to a young lady who is in the house. Of course, Andres thinks that this lady is Monica, because he cannot imagine the truth: that the lady is actually Aimee. Because of this misunderstanding, Monica is lead to be married immediately. She accepts to get married to protect Andres and her sister of the scandal, but she refuses to marry Alberto. She has been told by Don Noel Mancera, the lawyer, that Juan is noble and generous, as she has learned by his behaviour to her and the workers, so she proposes her mother to marry Juan instead of Alberto to separate him from Aimee forever. Against any prediction, Juan accepts marrying Monica.


Eduardo Palomo .... Juan del Diablo / Don Francisco - main hero / his father Edith González .... Mónica - main heroine Ana Colchero .... Aimeé - sister of Mónica, villain Ariel López Padilla .... Andrés - husband of Aimeé and half-brother of Juan, Villain Enrique Lizalde .... Noel - friend and mentor of Juan Claudia Islas .... Sofía - mother of Andres, Villain Arsenio Campos .... Alberto - friend of Andres, villain Luz María Aguilar .... Catalina - mother of Mónica and Aimeé Ernesto Yáñez .... Bautista - foreman of Campo Real, villain Yolanda Ventura .... Azucena - protegee of Juan Javier Ruán .... Guadalupe Cajiga - owner of brothel, villain César Évora .... Marcelo - new judge at San Pedro Isaura Espinoza .... Amanda - sister-in-law of Marcelo Verónica Merchant .... Mariana - daughter of Amanda Olivia Cairo .... Juanita - maid Emilio Cortés .... Zerafin - boy, friend of Juan Ana Laura Espinosa .... Lupe - maid Gerardo Hemmer .... Joaquín - hired to spy on Juan Jaime Lozano .... Segundo - assistent of Juan Adalberto Parra .... Capitan Espíndola - chief of prison, villain Alejandro Rábago .... Pedro - friend of Juan Gonzalo Sánchez .... Facundo Gomez "El Tuerto" - one-eyed, owner of tavern Mónika Sánchez .... Rosa - waitress in tavern Jorge Valdés García .... assistant of Bautista Indra Zuno .... Meche - friend of Azucena, maid of Mónica Antonia Marcin .... Dolores - friend of Mónica Julio Monterde .... Fray Domingo - priest Queta Lavat .... Madre Superiora Arturo Paulet .... Lic. Mondragón Christian Ruiz .... Andrés (as a child) Julián Velázquez Joana Brito .... Ana - cook at Campo Real Maribel Palmer .... Teresa - friend of Monica Queta Carrasco .... Dona Prudencia - owner of the boarding house where Monica goes Araceli Cordero María Dolores Oliva .... Tehua - herbalist Julián de Tavira .... Juan (as a child) Alicia del Lago Felio Eliel Chayo Grandos Carl Hillos Nelly Horsman Juan Antonio Llanes .... Judge Esperon Conchita Márquez .... Sor Juliana Géraldine Bazán Daniel Martinez .... Lieutenant

[edit] Adaptations

There have been five Mexican productions based on the book, two films and four telenovelas, one of which was made in Puerto Rico. The latest production was the 1993 telenovela starred by Edith González as Countess Mónica de Altamira de Alcazar y Valle and the late Eduardo Palomo as "Juan del Diablo" and Ana Colchero as Countess Aimée de Altamira de Alcazar y Valle . The story, however, adapted by María Zarattini, takes place in the port of Veracruz and the French surnames were changed to Spanish surnames (Molnar to de Altamira and D'Autremont to Alcázar y Valle).

Singer Angélica María played the role of Mónica in the 1968 film and the 1977 telenovela, which was filmed in cooperation with the Mexican Navy.

[edit] Screen adaptations

[edit] Mexico

Production Mónica Molnar/de Altamira de Alcázar y Valle Juan del Diablo Aimeé Molnar/de Altamira de Alcázar y Valle Renato D'Autremont/Andrés Alcázar y Valle
1993 telenovela Edith González Eduardo Palomo Ana Colchero Ariel López Padilla
1977 telenovela Angélica María Martin Cortés Susana Dosamantes Fernando Allende
1968 film Angélica María Julio Alemán Teresa Velázquez
1966 telenovela Julissa Enrique Lizalde Jacqueline Andere Enrique Álvarez Félix
1956 film Martha Roth Carlos Navarro Christiane Martel Rafael Bertand

[edit] Puerto Rico

Production Mónica Molnar Juan del Diablo Aimeé Molnar Renato D'Autremont
Juan del Diablo (1960) Gladys Rodriguez Braulio Castillo – José Yedra


[edit] External links