El Gendarme Desconocido (1941)

El Gendarme Desconocido (1941) aka The Unknown Gendarme

Cantinflas reprising his ‘peladito’ character nicknamed Chato (Snub Nose); this time with the young, orphaned daughter (Gloria Marín) of a deceased police officer, whose widow (Consuelo Guerrero de Luna) owns and manages a restaurant.

Why this young lady would be attracted to this raggedy vagrant is inexplicable; but her faith in him is somewhat vindicated when he helps foil a trio of troublemaking patrons who end up being connected to a robbery and claims all the credit for himself.

To save face in front of his superiors, the chief of police passes him as an undercover agent but must then hire and train him to follow thru.

Chato is now Agent 777 (a recurring agent number in Cantinflas’ movies.)

His disregard for authority is not quite up too Marx Brothers’ levels, and scenes of an incompetent in the police force are as predictable as one might expect: We’ve seen better from Abbot and Costello to Benny Hill. But it’s almost surreal how he manages not to fit into his clothes or even a standard uniform; and of course, it’s not long before he’s kicked out of the force.

When the sale of a valuable jewel is announced he must be hired back to impersonate The King of Diamonds to throw suspected criminals off the scent.

He hardly makes for a believable millionaire (again, clothes seem unable to fit him, no matter what,) but everyone simply accepts him as an eccentric one.

Cantinflas is much more believable playing vagrants set on seducing low-class maids, but we still get the same verbal and physical comedy (including a dance) we would expect.

Where the film might be of interest to Crime cineastes is in a comedic recreation to the bomb sequence from Alfred Hitchcock’s Saboteur. There’s never actual suspense developed, as the sequence is played with comedy intent and cartoonish explosion aftereffects.

With Mapy Cortés and Daniel "Chino" Herrera.