Pepe

It seems Hollywood just didn't know what to do with Cantinflas; after his appearance in AROUND THE WORLD IN 80 DAYS, it took four years for him to appear in his next Hollywood movie - which was this train wreck that I'm sure had many of its participants licking their wounds for years to come!

Upon seeing PEPE, it seems even its filmmakers weren't sure what to do with him, given the fact that a great deal of the movie is devoted to the ton of cameo appearances, appearances where Cantinflas is more or less made to simply blubber statements that you can barely make out, or just sit back stunned. In fact, even in the scenes where he appears with the regular characters, Cantinflas really doesn't have that much to do. Needless to say, he ends up being completely unfunny. There's nothing he does here that gives me a clue as to why he was so popular south of the border. (One other possible problem may be that reportedly his style of humor was geared towards the language and customs of his part of the world.)

The whole movie is agonizing to sit through for its 158 minutes - the scary thing is that the movie was originally LONGER - over THREE HOURS LONG! (I am curious as to what was cut out - anyone know?) The only moment that provides anything of real entertainment is the "beatnik ballet" segment. Though it runs too long, and is somewhat goofy, some of the choreography is pretty spectacular.