Lumiton (Argentina)

Background: Lumiton was the first Argentinian film company, founded in 1931. During the 1940's, the Argentinian Cinema Golden Age, this company became the most important. Closed in 1952 due to political and economic problems.

(1931-1952)

Nicknames: "The Original Gongman", "Rank (General Film) Wasn't The 1st Gongman", "Gongman from Hell", "Scratchy Gongman", "Argentina Gongman".

Logo: In a darkly-lit room in black and white, we see a shirtless man with a mallet, moving slowly to hit a gong. When the man hits the gong, "Lumiton Presenta" in a signature font with a very wide glamour L, with presenta in a modern font under the logo, appears in white.

Variant: While technically not an official variant, some prints of the films they distributed (primarily VHS prints) feature distorted versions of the logo, possibly a result of film deterioration.

FX/SFX: It's all live action, without the addition of the text.

Cheesy Factor: Let's just say the whole logo it's just tacky, but it's fitting for it's era.

Music/Sounds: Sounds of a trumpet, and the gong.

Availability: In some Argentinian movies of the 1930's and 1940's like La muchachada de a bordo, Los muchachos de antes no usaban gomina, Ven... mi corazón te llama, La rubia del camino, El fabricante de estrellas, El cañonero de Gilés, Casamiento en Buenos Aires, Luna de miel en Río, Divorcio en Montevideo, Historia de crímenes, Mi amor eres túor Los verdes paraísoswhich can be seen on YouTube.

Scare Factor: Depends of the quality:
 * Medium to high for the original logo. The atmosphere is considerably dark (even given the footage is in black and white), and the sounds of the gong and trumpet may unnerve many viewers. Not to mention it has a live action shirtless man (a la Caution Video), whose very slow movement to hit the gong can produce a very eerie effect to some viewers.
 * Distorted versions of the logo (such as the first linked video above) can range from high to nightmare. The extremely scratchy and warped depiction of the logo (in both its visuals and sounds) can disturb many people, especially as the logo is initially still like a picture before it actually plays.