Sorry Cantinflas

Career movie comedians are generally considered beneath the dignity of serious critics world wide - so it's twice the fun when you come across the accomplished work of film makers like Italian Adriano Celantano,  Egyptian Mohamed Henedi or Hong Kong's Chow Ching chi - lots on You Tube, mostly unsubtitled. 

Mexico's national legend, Cantinflas seemed a likely candidate and I was was delighted to get my hands on his El Mago directed by Miguel M. Delgado in 1949, in Columbia Classic's beautiful transfer with excellent English sub-titles.

Unfortunately you can drop this one in another basket with contemporary Abbott & Costello, Louis de Funés or Ismael Yassin comedies, technically competent but totally unfunny. It may be that Cantinflas' work became more bland and uninvolving in the 1950s, the process we can see with Bob Hope, Toto or Fernandel.

In mythical Eastern country Hariche, that bears a distinct resemblance to Maria Montez’ Bagdad, the ruler dies and his evil brother plots to take over the throne and dispose of the legitimate heir who for some reason is telling fortunes in Mexico.

Meanwhile Cantinflas is answering the ‘phone at the Su Suotro Yo agency which supplies lookalikes to replace people who want to take a break. Mago José Baviera (El ángel exterminador) is kitted out with a double (split screen) who manages his crystal ball readings while he goes on vacation, leaving file cards with his client predictions and  secrets that must not be revealed to them, on the back. We expect merry japes in vain.

A series of misunderstandings has Cantinflas take the double’s place and he’s transported by a turban wearing delegation headed by an agent secretly in the power of the Uncle. Set up in a luxury hotel (jokes about fish eggs being smaller than chickens’ eggs) he becomes the subject of interest to glamorous Leonora Amar (with Richard Greene in Captain Scarlet), the agent’s two blow pipe assassins and a local gangster who wants him to predict the outcome of robberies.  Lackluster developments ensue as the assassins kill off the wrong dignitaries and the gangsters kidnap our hero and Amar.

After a Katzman-esque brawl, Cantinflas hitches back to base in a coal truck and is flown to Hariche where they talk about elephants we never see. He is set up as the ruler and bankrupts the country lazing about in a harem to the strains of Rimsky Korsakov’s "Scheherazade." He imports new bikini recruits, introduced in the manner of bulls at a corrida. (that will go down well in the present climate) The punch line is the arrival of a fat girl!

El Mago - Cantinflas & friends.

Baviera shows up and sorts things out (we still don’t know why he was in Mexico) and our hero has one request. Cut to him back home spruiking a tent show with (is that?) Olga Chaviano from the harem leading her hoochy coochy  dancers.

A succession of dumb routines have no dramatic impact and don’t get laughs. Bits of would- be comic business - Cantinflas’ tortilla lunch getting cold as the boss instructs him, swatting a bug on the hotel bed where he’s putting pillows under the sheets so he can visit Amar in the next suite, suggest being added by the lead - to no effect.

It's of interest to anyone curious about the star’s career but Sharp B&W and mundane scoring go with unremarkable support performances. The competent camerawork is not well deployed. An off-center composition telegraphs the fact that the lookalike will arrive through the door that occupies screen left etc. 

Finally if you want to investigate the prolific Mexican trash movie output of the day you're better off with Santo the Man in the Mask of Silver and his wrestler chums.

Barrie Pattison 2021.