Actors

Mario Moreno "Cantinfas"

In the mid-1930s, Cantinflas met Russian producer Jacques Gelman and subsequently partnered with him to form their own film production venture. Gelman produced, directed, and distributed, while Cantinflas acted. Cantinflas made his film debut in 1936 with No te engañes corazón but the film received little attention. He established Posa Films in 1939, producing short films that allowed him to develop the Cantinflas character, but it was in 1940 that he finally became a movie star, after shooting Ahí está el detalle ("There's the rub", literally "There lies the detail"). The phrase that gave that movie its name became a Cantinflas catch phrase for the rest of his career. The film was a breakthrough in Latin America and was later recognized by Somos magazine as the 10th greatest film produced largely in Mexico.

In 1941 Moreno first played the role of a police officer on film in El gendarme desconocido ("The unknown police officer" a play of words on "The Unknown Soldier). By this time he had sufficiently distinguished the peladito character from the 1920s-era pelado, and his character flowed comfortably from the disenfranchised, marginalized, underclassman to the empowered public servant. The political nature of the rhetoric of cantinflismo facilitated this fluidity. He would reprise the role of Agent 777 and be honored by police forces throughout Latin America for his positive portrayal of law enforcement.

Ni sangre, ni arena ("Neither Blood, nor Sand" a play on words on the bullfighter/gladiator phrase "Blood and Sand"), the 1941 satirical film on bullfighting, broke box-office records for Mexican-made films throughout Spanish-speaking countries. In 1942, Moreno teamed up with Miguel M. Delgado and Jaime Salvador to produce a series of low-quality parodies, including an interpretation of Chaplin's The Circus.

The 1940s and 1950s were Cantinflas' heyday. In 1946, he rejected Mexican film companies and instead signed with Columbia Pictures. By this time, his popularity was such that he was able to lend his prestige to the cause of Mexican labor, representing the National Association of Actors in talks with President Manuel Ávila Camacho. The talks did not go well, however, and, in the resulting scandal, Moreno took his act back to the theatre.

On August 30, 1953, Cantinflas began performing his theatrical work Yo Colón ("I, Columbus") in the Teatro de los Insurgentes, the same theatre that had earlier been embroiled in a controversy over a Diego Rivera mural incorporating Cantinflas and the Virgin of Guadalupe. Critics, including the PAN and archbishop Luis María Martínez, called the mural blasphemous, and it was eventually painted without the image of the Virgin.

Yo Colón placed Cantinflas in the character of Christopher Columbus, who, while continually "discovering America", made comical historical and contemporary observations from fresh perspectives. The jokes changed nightly, and Moreno continued to employ his word games and double entendres to jab at politicians.

In 1956, Around the World in Eighty Days, Cantinflas' American debut earned him a Golden Globe for Best Actor in a musical or comedy. Variety magazine said in 1956 that his Chaplinesque quality made a big contribution to the success of the film. The film ultimately made an unadjusted $42 million dollars at the box office. While Niven was billed as the lead in English-speaking nations, Cantinflas was billed as the lead elsewhere. As a result of the film, Cantinflas became the world's most highly paid actor.

Moreno's second Hollywood feature, Pepe, attempted to replicate the success of his first. The film had cameo appearances by Frank Sinatra, Judy Garland, and other stars. His humor, deeply rooted in the Spanish language, did not translate well for the American audience and the movie was a notorious box office disappointment. He still earned a Golden Globe nomination for his part. Later in a 1992 American interview, Moreno cited the language barrier as the biggest impediment to his making it big in the United States.

After returning to Mexico, Cantinflas created his own company, Cantinflas Films and continued making movies until his last, El Barrendero, in 1982.

Like Charlie Chaplin, Cantinflas was a social satirist. He played el pelado, an impoverished Everyman, with hopes to succeed. With mutual admiration, Cantinflas was influenced by Chaplin's earlier films and ideology. El Circo (the circus) was a "shadow" of Chaplin's silent film, The Circus and Si yo fuera diputado ("If I Were a Congressman") had many similarities with the 1940 film, The Great Dictator.

Cantinflas' films, to this day, still generate revenue for Columbia Pictures. In 2000, Columbia reported in an estimated USD$4 million in foreign distribution from the films.