Ahí está el detalle

Mario Moreno created his trademark character in the thirties. However Cantinflas appeared as a leading role for the first time in 1940 with "Ahi está el Detalle". Near 3/4 Century later, "Ahi está el Detalle" stands proudly as the most representative Cantinflas movie. Yes, most of the ingenious monologues are very difficult to translate, because they are tricky word combinations (for example: try to translate a David Letterman's joke to another language, or more extremely, to another region inside the US, it's absolutely New Yorker!!!!!). However, "Ahí está el Detalle" is a true monument of Comedy, and Cantinflas proudly stands beside Charlot in the Olympus of the great humorists.

In Spanish-speaker culture, "Cantinflear" is a approved word (The Real Academic of Spanish language). That means so much in a language. Cantinflas is the best comedian in our culture. He was Passepartout in "Around the World in Eighty Days", but the better performance were in the trial of the movie "Ahí está el detalle", all the people finished speaking like him (cantinfleando). I believe that the confusion in this movie is so good due to Bobby was a dog but the trial was a man murderer. Cantinflas is the Best comedian in America Spanish-speaker.

There is no doubt that this is one of his best movies,. Done in his pre Delgado years, this one was directed by well known Juan Bustillo Oros, who also worked on what turned out to be a great intelligent script. There should be a warning before the movie starts, because this movie might be hazardous to your health, you may end up with stomach cramps and even watery eyes (or pants) for laughing too hard. I just acquired a great DVD copy (finally), restored from a 35mm. master. And for the benefit of non Spanish speaking people, it has English subtitles, and it's a great translation done by Televisa (perhaps with a couple of unimportant flaws, considering this is Cantinflas). So, thank you Televisa for caring, I can't wait for more restored DVDs of those Mexican gems from the 40's and early 50's.

Here in Mexico, Cantinflas is praised as one of the best mexican comediants of all time. And with good reason! This is one of his first films and, in my humble opinion, his best. Maybe it turned out to be so good because in the time this movie was released he wasn't a big star yet.

I recommend this movie to everyone who speaks spanish. People from other countries may not get it because this is SO mexican, that even non-mexican spanish-speakers may have a hard time getting all the jokes.

I'm not a big fan of comedies, but Cantínflas is absolutely wonderful and this is one of his best films. I laughed out loud all through the film, and loved it so much I bought the dvd. Most of the humor is verbal, like in the best of the Marx brothers films, so I'm not sure how it comes across with subtitles to a non-Spanish speaking public. I suspect some of the puns and witty responses don't hold up well to translation. If you know Spanish, you will marvel at Mario Moreno's verbal skills. If you don't know Spanish, you can still enjoy his silly behavior, his funny facial expressions, and the general exasperation of other characters who try to follow his logic. The pace is fast, the gags are constant, and you will really understand why Mexican audiences flocked to see Cantínflas films for so many years when you see this movie. He's a cultural icon, and you can't really understand Mexican films without knowing something about this man. He makes fun of authorities, he turns the system on its head and comes out on top against all odds. It's worth watching to see how he does it.