O Elefante de Carmelita

Mexican SPITFIRE'S ELEPHANT is the penultimate film in the series and again repeats all it's old gags of mistaken identities and spats in the Lindsay households. Lord Epping (Leon Errol) is on a ship on his way to the States when jewel smugglers Marion Martin and Lyle Talbot spot him as an easy prey to smuggle their jewel (hidden in a small elephant figure) into America. Trouble is the absent-minded Epping can't remember where he put the elephant once he is in the States. Meanwhile to explain the blonde Marion's constant presence to his wife he says she is a friend of Dennis Lindsay (played this time by Walter Reed) and he had Lindsay tag along but when Lindsay's wife Carmelita (Lupe Velez) sees her husband and the blonde dancing fireworks result. Of course Uncle Max (also played by Leon Errol) will have to impersonate Lord Epping at some point - and again - and again - with complications to arrive with each situation.

Lupe Velez's hair is dyed a strawberry blonde in this entry which is quite attractive and she is always delightful but she does not get much help from the script. Leon Errol for once spends way more time in this one as Lord Epping or Uncle Max impersonating Lord Epping than he does as Uncle Max. Newcomer Walter Reed is the third actor to play Carmelita's husband and the part here is quite small. The fact that the unfamiliar Reed looks quite a bit like an actor playing an customs inspector makes an unintentional Lord Epping/Uncle Max twist on the character for the viewer.

Lupe gets to sing and dance in this entry and has some beautiful fashions but clearly the series needed new writers (and definitely new plots).