Nobleza Gaucha, premiered on August 11, 1915 under the direction of Humberto Cairo, script by José González Castillo, and directed by Ernesto Gunche and Eduardo Martínez de la Pera, starred famous actors of the criollo theater and circus such as Orfilia Rico, Celestino Petray, Julio Scarcella, María Padín and Arturo Mario. Francisco Canaro added music and the Sociedad General Cinematográfica supported it.
Filmed in 1914, with a budget of barely more than 20,000 pesos, it was released the following year, grossing close to one million pesos, something unusual and unrepeatable for the time.
Nobleza Gaucha marked progress in film language and was a pioneer in the introduction of specifically cinematographic codes, such as flashback, shot-countershot, parallel editing, close-ups, among other resources.
From 1910 onwards, films emerged that gave visibility to political and social problems and subaltern groups. Nobleza Gaucha was the first film in this series and emphasized the representation of immigrant and Creole subaltern groups.
Nobleza Gaucha is one of the few silent films that could be rescued, in 35 mm, and is still preserved.
The argument
The Argentine pampa is approached as a landscape and scenario of national history, through a set of texts from 19th century Argentine literature, among which Martín Fierro, by José Hernández, and Santos Vega, by Rafael Obligado, stand out.
The story revolves around Juan, a gaucho fired from his job, who saves a young woman whose horse had run amok and was galloping wildly. Juan catches up with the galloping horse and manages to stop it. Because of this circumstance, they meet, get to know each other and fall in love.
El Patrón, who had the young woman very much in mind, takes advantage of a popular party in the area to kidnap her and take her to the city of Buenos Aires. Juan, aware of this, turns to Don Genaro, an Italian friend who knows the city, to help him and accompany him to rescue her. They travel by train to Buenos Aires, locate the Patrón's residence and rescue the girl by returning to the farm. The Patrón denounces Juan as a rustler at the police station and the matter will culminate with an unexpected outcome that demonstrates and alludes to the title "La Nobleza Gaucha".
Production pearls
*The exterior scenes were filmed in the estancia La Armonía and the interior scenes on the scenery built on the terrace of a furniture store and in other authentic Buenos Aires sceneries.
*Its premiere was a failure, but almost all the film's explanatory captions were replaced with fragments of the poems Martín Fierro and Santos Vega, which earned it a second very successful premiere.
*It was simultaneously screened in 25 Buenos Aires movie theaters and was seen in Spain, Brazil and other Latin American countries.
*A yerba mate company took advantage of the film's success to name its product, which continues to this day.
*The action took place in the countryside and in the city, which allowed showing the city dwellers typical aspects of the countryside, such as dams, songs, "arrreos", ranches, barbecues, and becoming a social denunciation film about the exploitation of rural workers.
In 1937 a new version was made with the same title, but with sound and a much more structured story, directed by Sebastián Naón, with Olinda Bozán, Pedro Laxalt, Marcelo Ruggero and Agustín Irusta.
SOURCE: cultura.gob.ar