''Peludópolis'' is a 1931

Argentine Argentines (mistakenly translated Argentineans in the past; in Spanish (masculine) or (feminine)) are people identified with the country of Argentina. This connection may be residential, legal, historical or cultural. For most Argentines, s ...

animated film directed by

Quirino Cristiani Quirino Cristiani (July 2, 1896 – August 2, 1984) 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 th ...

. It was released on 18 September 1931 in

Buenos Aires Buenos Aires ( or ; ), officially the Autonomous City of Buenos Aires ( es, link=no, Ciudad Autónoma de Buenos Aires), is the capital and primate city of Argentina. The city is located on the western shore of the Río de la Plata, on South ...

. The film was released with a

Vitaphone 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 was the last major analog sound-on-disc system and the only one th ...

sound-on-disc Sound-on-disc is a class of sound film processes using a phonograph or other disc to record or play back sound in sync with a motion picture. Early sound-on-disc systems used a mechanical interlock with the movie projector, while more recent system ...

synchronization system soundtrack, making the film generally credited as the first animated feature film with sound. The film is now considered a lost film.

Plot

The story revolves around Argentine president, Hipolito Yrigoyen, nicknamed by his detractors "Peludo" (

Armadillo Armadillos (meaning "little armored ones" in Spanish) are New World placental mammals in the order Cingulata. The Chlamyphoridae and Dasypodidae are the only surviving families in the order, which is part of the superorder Xenarthra, along wi ...

), 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 Máximo Marcelo Torcuato de Alvear Pacheco (4 October 1868 – 23 March 1942), was an Argentine lawyer and politician, who served as president of Argentina between from 1922 to 1928. His period of government coincided precisely with the en ...

), and is eventually recovered by Argentine military forces.

Production

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

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

cel A cel, short for celluloid, is a transparent sheet on which objects are drawn or painted for traditional, hand-drawn animation. Actual celluloid (consisting of cellulose nitrate and camphor) was used during the first half of the 20th century, bu ...

s which would then be laid over a background, the drawings were made on

cardboard Cardboard is a generic term for heavy paper-based products. The construction can range from a thick paper known as paperboard to corrugated fiberboard which is made of multiple plies of material. Natural cardboards can range from grey to light b ...

, a technique Cristiani by then had perfected, and then cut out and laid over the background in the same way as with cels.Quirino Cristiani: "Making Peludopolis" (1930)
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Preservation

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.

References

External links

* * 1931 animated films 1931 films Animated feature films Argentine animated films Argentine satirical films Political satire films Films directed by Quirino Cristiani Lost animated films 1930s Spanish-language films Animation based on real people Cultural depictions of politicians Cultural depictions of Argentine men Argentine black-and-white films 1931 lost films Lost Argentine films 1930s Argentine films {{1930s-animation-film-stub

Plot

Production

Preservation

See also

References

External links