Grandes Comedianantes (Full Frame)

Last Minute Sales & Specials

A series of documentaries showcasing the more prominent personalities from Mexico: song writers, painters, actors, writers, wrestlers and pop culture icons. "Mario Moreno Reyes (Cantinflas)" - (August 12, 1911 - April 20, 1993) was a comedian of the Mexican theatre and Film industry. His interpretation of Cantinflas, a character originating in the pelado, the impoverished campesino-cum slumdeweller that came to represent the national identity of Mexico, earned him popularity with the common people that he was able to parlay into a long, successful film career that included a foray into Hollywood. Charlie Chaplin once called him "the greatest comedian in the world," and he is often referred to as the "Charlie Chaplin of Mexico". While some of his films were dubbed into English for American audiences, and his work found some favor among the people of France, the wordplay of his Spanish-language humor did not translate particularly well into other languages. However, he was wildly successful in Spanish-speaking Latin America , where he still has many devoted fans. "German Valdes" - (September 19, 1915 - June 29, 1973), better known as "Tin-Tan", was a Mexican actor, singer and comedian. He often displayed the pachuco dress and employed pachuco slang in many of his movies, some with his brothers Manuel "El Loco" Valdez and Ramon Valdez. He made the language of the Mexican American Pachucos famous in Mexico. A "calo" based in Spanglish, it was a mixture of Spanish and English in speech based on that of Mexican immigrants. He usually acted with his "Carnal" (sidekick), Marcelo Chavez, who also accompanied Tin Tan with a guitar. He was a very important figure during his golden years of movie making, from 1949. His 1953 movie, "Calabacitas Tiernas," a comedy, was chosen as one of the best in Mexican cinema. He has the record of having kissed the most actresses in his career, some of them the beauties of their day. Some of his co-stars were Marga Lopez and Rosita Quintana.