| Piantadino | |
| Director: | Francisco Múgica |
| Starring: | Pepe Iglesias Norma Giménez Juan José Porta |
| Music: | Juan Ehlert |
| Runtime: | 65 minutes |
| Country: | Argentina |
| Language: | Spanish |
Piantadino is a 1950 Argentine Spanish language comedy film directed by Francisco Múgica.[1] [2] [3] The film is based on the cartoon character of the same name created by Adolfo Mazzone.
While working for an insurance company, Piantadino, a shy man, is selected by sly characters to insure some things that they will later make disappear. Though Piantadino lacks courage, he nonetheless uncovers the fraudulent activity, making a positive impression on his fiancée's father.
Piantadino was a classic comic strip character created by one of Argentina's most notable comics artists and humorists, Adolfo Mazzone.[4] Piantadino was Mazzone's best known character. The name Piantadino is a diminutive of "Piantado", which means mentally disturbed person, half-mad or, a person who escapes, whether that be physically or just from a situation.[5]
First appearing in the newspaper El Mundo in 1941, Piantadino, the daily comic strip, followed the adventures of a convict who behaved in jail as if he were on a pension. With the characters Afanancio and Barili, the three formed a sympathetic trio of scoundrels. The character subsequently appeared in Guillermo Divito's magazine Rico Tipo.[6] Piantadino was adapted for cinema in 1950.[7] In the 1970s and 1980s, the comic strip was re-published as a comic magazine.[8]
Piantadino was made into a film by Emelco-Cinematográfica Interamericana.The script was written by Carlos A. Petit and Rodolfo Sciamarella, and the film was directed by Francisco Mugica.[9] It was filmed in black-and-white.The elusive convict was played by Pepe Iglesias, known for his title role in El Zorro pierde el pelo. Other stars were Norma Giménez, Juan José Porta and Rodolfo Onetto.[9] Carlos Fioriti played Afanancio and Rafael Diserio played Batilio.The film premiered at the Ocean cinema on March 24, 1950.