You Saw What About Who?

The oddest things make me want to see a movie. 

I had seen the posters all over LA heralding the arrival of this film about the legendary Mexican screen actor and comic.   Why was I drawn to it?   Perhaps because a great deal of the movie would detail the making of one of the most mystifying winners of the Best Picture Oscar, "Around the World in 80 Days."   Or maybe it was because I remember getting dragged by my mom to some three-hour snooze fest called "Pepe" which starred this Cantinflas?   I knew there was some major movie history around this guy who was a phenomenon in Mexico during the 30s and 40s.

So I went to be educated, I suppose.   And then, after I came home, I dove into the internet to see if what I saw was true.   

I still don't know.  Indeed, films should entertain and teach.  But, with "Cantinflas," the fact checking was actually longer than the movie itself.  

Okay, Cantinflas was really Mario Moreno who bounced around Mexico performing in some dingy music halls.  People loved him, although I couldn't figure out why since he wasn't very funny.  Of course, the gags might have been lost in the subtitle translation. 

The movie shuttles between Mario's early career and Hollywood in 1956 where producer Mike Todd is trying desperately to get back for his Around the World epic.  Todd is played well by the Sopranos' Michael Imperioli and these scenes have subtitles in Spanish.  So, if you're bilingual, you could read the whole film.  The only problem is that Hollywood looks just like Mexico.   And the depictions of real stars such as Elizabeth Taylor and Marlon Brando don't look anything like the real thing.

Meanwhile, Charlie Chaplin, or somebody that didn't remotely look like Chaplin, pops up and it is intimated that he is the one who brought the project to Cantinflas for his starring role.   Did this really happen?  Who knows?   I could find no record of this on-line.   And, given that Chaplin was already gone from America by 1955, it might have been unlikely.  

Mario's early career has the usual ups and downs you have seen in countless other biopics.  Lonely wife at home while he's at the studio.  Inability to have children.  Fighting with producers to get his creative point across.   Organizing Mexican actors into a union.  Doing my homework, some of this was verified.   Some of it wasn't.   And I suddenly realized that this was now a high school  class project.  

Did I learn something with "Cantinflas?"   Yes.   Did I enjoy it?  Not really.   So, yes, this was 10th Grade English with Mr. Bickford all over again.  Yet, at the film's conclusion, there were cheers from the audience I saw it with.  Most were Hispanic.   Several of the older ones had tears in their eyes as they left.

So I learned one more thing about this Cantinflas dude.  To some people, he was everything.

LEN'S RATING:  Two stars.

Dinner last night:  The pre-game buffet at the Dodger Stadium Club.