El Gran Calavera (Mexico, 1949) 91 min B&W DIR: Luis Buñuel. SCR: Janet Alcoriza, Luis Alcoriza; adapted from the play by Adolfo Torrado. PROD: Óscar Dancigers, Fernando Soler. DOP: Ezequiel Carrasco. MUSIC: Manuel Esperón. CAST: Fernando Soler, Rosario Granados, Andrés Soler, Rubén Rojo, Gustavo Rojo, Maruja Grifell. (Ultramar Films)
Translated as The Great Madcap, this syrupy farce features veteran Mexican actor Fernando Soler as Don Ramiro, first seen sleeping off a drunk in the jail. We expect this to be a Runyon-esque farce, until we realize that this man is actually a millionaire! Apparently, Don Ramiro has been using alcohol as an excuse to drown his sorrows over the death of his wife. But his dependence on it also causes serious damages to his business and reputation. This madcap affair then turns into a mild Preston Sturges valentine, as the family fools him into believing that he is broke, so they move to a poor section of town, in a ploy to help Ramiro get his head together. But the film takes an interesting twist when Ramiro in turn tricks his family into believing that he really is broke! Therefore, his filthy rich relatives, including his son Eduardo (Gustavo Rojo) and sister-in-law Milagros (Maruja Grifell), have to learn what it is like to be working-poor. For instance, his brother Ladislao (Andrés Soler, real-life younger brother of Fernando),learns the fine art of carpentry. Also, Ramiro’s daughter (Rosario Granados) falls in love with pauper-ish young man Pablo (Rubén Rojo).
However, in true Sturges fashion, once Ramiro’s secret gets out, people scorn him for it. Despite the lightheartedness of the piece, this effort could very well be a black comedy, once you consider that the patriarch is willingly putting his family through degradation. Just like the maxim of the surrealists, one must go through ordeal to find absolute truth and beauty. However, the dark promise of the film doesn’t quite work once you consider that the “poor district”, as represented in this movie, is obviously stage-bound. It almost looks as representative as those urban districts in Chaplin’s films. With the exception of El Gran Calavera is like many other of Buñuel’s 1950s potboilers, whose obvious stagebound look belies the harsh realisms of their milieux.
This film was made available to North American audiences on VHS by Water Bearer Films. As of 2022, it has yet to be reissued on DVD or Blu-ray to this continent.