Despite his youthful appearance on the posters, in this version Aladdin is enacted by 47-year-old, rubber-faced comedian, Clavillazo ("Pinhead" would be a fair translation), who has both eyes on the girls as well as a nodding acquaintance with the lamp.
After an extremely slow start in which the magician pontificates at length (mostly in dreary close-up) in a small and not overly inspiring set, this version fails to pick up much speed on the introduction of a rather mature Aladdin and his equally garrulous, complaining mother. It's not until the Throttler's awesomely belt-buckled genie (obviously modeled on Rex Ingram in Korda's Thief of Bagdad) ingeniously makes his appearance (Aladdin's back is itchy and he uses the lamp to scratch himself) that the clever variations on the familiar old tale start to exercise their spell. And once the girls, led by that ravishing blonde and former Miss Mexico, Ana Bertha Lepe, come out and come on in their dazzlingly seductive costumes, the movie really captures its audience's undivided attention. Ramos' gorgeous cinematography, along with the film's splendid sets, entrancing costumes, eye-catching dancing, melodious music and impeccable special effects, lifts the movie into a stratosphere of delight. The scriptwriters capitalize on this happy mood by fomenting a conflict between a now rich-as-Midas Aladdin and the sultan's grand vizier. All previous wonders are then equalled and excelled by a side-splitting duel, deftly built up, first in a literal battle of words and then with swords, between our hero and the jealous potentate. This rates as one of the funniest sequences I've ever seen in a lifetime's viewing of over 20,000 movies. Any lingering doubts I had as to Clavillazo's comic abilities vanished. True, he does tend to over-act a trifle, but I'll forgive him. And as for Senoritas Lepe and Lorna and their companions, and for the lush, money-no-object way this most attractively sumptuous Aladino is often mounted: Wow! Available on DVD through Laguna Films. Quality rating: ten out of ten.
