| Peludópolis | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Directed by | Quirino Cristiani |
| Music by | José Vázquez Vigo |
Release date |
|
Running time | 80 minutes |
| Country | Argentina |
| Language | Spanish |
Peludópolis is a 1931 Argentine animated film directed by Quirino Cristiani. [1] It was released on 18 September 1931 in Buenos Aires. [2] The film was released with a Vitaphone sound-on-disc synchronization system soundtrack, making the film generally credited as the first animated feature film with sound. The film is now considered a lost film.
The story revolves around Argentine president, Hipolito Yrigoyen, nicknamed by his detractors "Peludo" (Armadillo), sailing as a pirate on his ship Peludópolis (Peludo city, which represented Argentina) to the island of Quesolandia, while constantly being harassed by hungry sharks (the dissident Radicals). Peludópolis had been stolen by Yrigoyen from her former owner, the "Pelado" ("The Bald", nickname of the dissident Radical leader and ex-president Marcelo T. de Alvear), and is eventually recovered by Argentine military forces.
A year into production for the film, president Yrigoyen was ousted by a military coup d'état, and production on the film halted.
Still wanting this film to see the light of day, Cristiani began de-emphasizing Yrigoyen and the sharks and started adding in the generals that overthrew Yrigoyen as the heroes. During this time, Cristiani added an everyman character named Juan Pueblo to act as the moral center of the film. After the delay and plot rearrangement, Peludópolis was finally released on 16 September 1931.
The single most notable feature of Peludópolis was the fact that it was the first animated film to be released with sound. Cristiani added this feature partway through production, before the plot had been rearranged, using the Vitaphone sound-on-disc system to record the sound that was to play alongside the film. While sound-on-film systems did exist at the time, Argentine theaters were simply unable to support the system. Peludópolis included multiple songs during the film, none of which are known to exist.
Instead of drawing on cels which would then be laid over a background, the drawings were made on cardboard, a technique Cristiani by then had perfected, and then cut out and laid over the background in the same way as with cels. [3] [4]
In both 1957 and 1961, fires broke out where the then-retired Cristiani stored his films, destroying most, if not all, of his work. Among the lost materials included the only prints of Peludópolis left in existence, as well as the soundtrack, making it a lost film. A making-of feature of the film, along with several stills and posters for the film, are still in existence.
Quirino Cristiani was an Italian-born Argentine animation director and cartoonist, responsible for the world's first two animated feature films as well as the first animated feature film with sound, even though the only copies of these two films were lost in a fire. He is also the first person to create animation solely using cardboard cutouts.
Vitaphone was a sound film system used for feature films and nearly 1,000 short subjects made by Warner Bros. and its sister studio First National from 1926 to 1931. Vitaphone is the last major analog sound-on-disc system and the only one that was widely used and commercially successful. The soundtrack is not printed on the film, but issued separately on phonograph records. The discs, recorded at 33+1⁄3 rpm and typically 16 inches (41 cm) in diameter, are played on a turntable physically coupled to the projector motor while the film is projected. Its frequency response is 4300 Hz. Many early talkies, such as The Jazz Singer (1927), used the Vitaphone system. The name "Vitaphone" derived from the Latin and Greek words, respectively, for "living" and "sound".
Juan Hipólito del Sagrado Corazón de Jesús Yrigoyen was an Argentine politician of the Radical Civic Union and two-time President of Argentina, who served his first term from 1916 to 1922 and his second term from 1928 to 1930. He was the first president elected democratically by means of the secret and mandatory male suffrage established by the Sáenz Peña Law of 1912. His activism was the prime impetus behind the passage of that law in Argentina.
Agustín Pedro Justo Rolón was an Argentine military officer, diplomat and politician, who served as the president of Argentina from 1932 to 1938 during the Infamous Decade. Justo took part in the coup of 1930, becoming president two years later thanks to widespread electoral fraud. His presidency was part of the period known as the Infamous Decade, which lasted from 1930 until 1943. He established the country's central bank and introduced a nationwide income tax.
Máximo Marcelo Torcuato de Alvear y Pacheco, was an Argentine lawyer and politician, who served as president of Argentina between from 1922 to 1928.
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Sin dejar rastros is a 1918 lost Argentine animated feature film. It was written and directed by Quirino Cristiani. The film used cutout animation.
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The Argentine presidential election of 1937 was held on 5 September 1937.
The Argentine legislative elections of 1924 were held on 2 March. Voters chose their legislators and numerous governors, and with a turnout of 44.2%.
Peludo or El Peludo may refer to:
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