Su excelencia (1967)
6/10
Cantinflas show including an overlong speech in which speaks a real accusation against the egoistic nations
13 November 2019
Lopez , treated friendly by all as Lopitos (Cantinflas) , is an Ambassador assistant in the Los Cocos Republic . Through a sudden series of happenings , three military coups (carried out by General León Balarraza: Tito Junco , and , Almirante Neptuno Aguado : Víctor Alcocer , among others) , and a revolution take place , all of them are successful in the same day, with as much changes in governments, and ambassadors, and it results in Lopitos becomes himself his Excellency , the Ambassador. Shortly after , an international assembly is planned to decide who will govern the world . It occurs all nations have either lined up behind the "Green" banner, led by the money oriented Dolaronia, or the "Red" ideology, whose figurehead is the prime minister of socialist Pepeslavia . The latter assigns his underling to bribe the recently appointed Ambassador Lopitos -who has the deciding vote- by romancing him with a bombshell Camarada spy (Maura Monti) , but Lopitos has already a girlfriend , his secretary Lolita (Sonia Infante) .

This is a Mexican production dealing with Mexico's greatest and most beloved comedy film star of all time, Cantinflas . The film is basically a deep critique to communism and capitalist democracy , as a powerful international struggle is taking place, with two main factions : Red and Green , with the votes divided fifty-fifty between the Red and Green sides ; then , Los Cocos , that has a main role to decide the future , being deceived , blackmailed and betrayed by other countries . At the end takes place an overlong speech , in Charles Chaplin's Great Dictator style, this accusating speech will be the last at the large conference , after long tirades from adepts of both factions , and it is a speech to end all previous speeches . Shooting in the Churubusco studios , as usual , in passable production design and acceptable scenarios . Here there are sour rewiews to imperialism , dark diplomacy , bribery , and personal corruption . Cantinflas gives a peculiar and sympathetic acting , as always , as a humble but loyal citizen of Los Cocos Republic , working as an assistant at the chancellery, helping to process visas when suddenly becomes an Ambassador , then an important decision falls heavily on the shoulders , being bombarded by both sides to gain his decisive vote.

Cantinflas had poor origins, in his beginnings worrking on the small stage and later on , acting in Mexican cinema to the bright lights of Hollywood , being hired by a powerful US producer , Mike Todd . In his youth, he earned money as a prizefighter and worked as an acrobat in circus tent shows. As he acted in cabarets , theatres and varietee shows . He was married to Valentina Ivanova from 1936 until her death . He appeared in more than 55 films, including as Passepartoute in his biggest hit : Around the world in 80 days (1956) . At the peak of his career in the late 1950s , Cantinflas was earning more than $1.5 million a year and was referred to in press releases as the world's highest-paid comedian. He once described as "the world's greatest comedian" by none other than Charles Chaplin . Despite the fact that Cantinflas died a millionaire several times over, and was one of the biggest stars ever in Spanish language films, he never forgot where he came from. Much of his money was given over to charitable work, including high-quality, low-income housing for Mexico City's poor . When he died , he was hailed as a national hero, and a protracted period of official mourning followed. There's no real consensus on how Mario Moreno Reyes adopted his more familiar professional name . One story goes that he did not want to shame his family, who thought of show business as a less than respectable profession, and so created his name . Another is that, at one of his first nightclub engagements, a heckler taunted him with, "¡En la cantina inflas!" ("You get drunk in the bar room!") . Other stories say the name came from phrases like "¡Cuanto inflas!", (you really get drunk!) "¿Cantas o le inflas?" (you sing or get drunk?), or "ya calláte cantinflas" (shut up, cheap singer) For some reason, this amused him, and he shortened the taunt into the professional name of Cantinflas . In 1936 Cantinflas made his first "film," a two-reel advertisement for a trucking company. A year later, he appeared in his first movie for the nascent Mexican film industry, "Asi Es Mi Tierra" ("That's My Country"). He scored his first international success in 1940 with what also was his first full-length feature, "Ahi Esta el Detalle" ("There Is the Detail"). In his second major film, "Ni Sangre, Ni Arena" ("Neither Blood Nor Sand"), Cantinflas plays dual roles - an arrogant matador and a humble, devoted fan. The comedy begins when, through a classic mix-up of identities, the lowly fan is mistaken for the vain bull fighter. Cantinflas was to perfect the bull-fight into one of his most famous routines, performed again and again in arenas in Mexico, Europe and the United States . Cantinflas starred a lot of hits , such as ¨Ahí esta el detalle¨, ¨Ni sangre ni arena¨, ¨El gendarme desconocido¨, ¨Un dia con el diablo¨, ¨The magician¨, ¨El Supersabio¨, ¨El Bolero de Raquel¨ and , of course , ¨Around the world in 80 days¨ . In 2014 was made a biopic directed by Sebastian del Amo with Oscar Jaenada as Cantinflas and Michael Imperioli as Michael Todd , concerning his hard beginings , his relationship to his understanding wife Valentina Ivanova and anythings else .

This movie ¨Su excelencia¨ has enough budget , including decent production design , appropriate scenarios , and functional sets . As well as a colorful cinematography by the prestigious cameraman Gabriel Figueroa . It contains an evocative and atmospheric musical score by Sergio Guerrero . The motion picture was professionally directed by Miguel Maria Delgado who directed to Cantinflas in several films , being his fetish actor .
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