Cantinflas on DVD

On May 11, Sony Home Entertainment will proudly release 11 Classic titles from the classic comedy legend Cantinflas.

The DVD box set/collection will include seven films for the first time on DVD “A Volar Joven,” “El Circo,” “El Gendarme Desconocido,” “El Mago,” “El Señor Fotografo,” “Los Tres Mosqueteros,” “Si Yo Fuera Diputado” and four of his greatest hits “El Bolero De Raquel,” “El Analfabeto,” “El Padrecito” and “Su Excelencia.”

Mario Moreno (AKA “Cantinflas”), who Charlie Chaplin once named “The Funniest Man in the World,” created a simple yet universal character which has made young and old laugh throughout the years. A small man with big ears, a distinctive mustache, pants that never stayed up, and a jaunty little cap cocked upon his eternally mussed hair, comic actor “Cantinflas” is beloved throughout the Spanish-speaking world and considered the Mexican “Charlie Chaplin.”

Like Chaplin, Cantinflas’ frenetic brand of slapstick was as balletic as it was athletic, leading others to compare him to “Buster Keaton” His ability to combine humor with pathos was also decidedly Chaplin-esque, while his portrayal of the cocky, optimistic, but naïve little guy evoked “Harold Lloyd.”

But despite such comparisons, Cantinflas’ overall style was unique. Unlike the great silent funnymen to which he is compared, Cantinflas worked during the sound era. He usually played a smart-alecky peasant or average fellow and was famous for weaseling out of trouble with the authorities by overwhelming them with intimidating and pompous machine-gun speed monologues that, while sounding gloriously informed, signified absolutely nothing.