Although loosely based on a play by Leslie Bush-Fekete, "Pepe" is really a Hollywood showcase for Mexico's reigning comedy clown Cantinflas, who had been so good in "Around the World In Eighty Days" four years prior. However, Cantinflas doesn't have the chops to carry a lengthy movie all on his own, and nothing (not even an eye-popping art direction) can save the floundering results. Director and co-producer George Sidney appears to be trying to top "Eighty Days" in the star-cameos department; unfortunately, whereas that earlier film dropped in celebrity faces in the guise of different story characters, Sidney utilizes this group of celebrities as themselves in and around Hollywood. Sometimes this works (Jack Lemmon, Janet Leigh, Kim Novak) and sometimes it backfires (Judy Garland, who sings but doesn't even appear; Debbie Reynolds, who dances but only in long-shot; Bobby Darin, who sings but doesn't even get properly introduced). Edward G. Robinson, playing himself as a tough sonuvabitch one minute and an old softie the next, looks completely unsure of himself, and with good reason: this script is a mess. Cantinflas opens the picture with some fancy footwork in a Mexican bullring, but once he lands in Los Angeles (in search of the horse he brought up from a colt) he turns into a comical dummy. The team of screenwriters are not sure who they want Pepe to be: gallant hero, bighearted animal lover, or clueless flunky who keeps getting in the way (even interrupting a dramatic dance sequence because he actually thinks someone might get hurt!). The Las Vegas sequence is simply there to show off the Sands and Sinatra's Clan, but it gets the film nowhere. Shirley Jones tries her best with a ridiculous role of a waitress/dancer with a grudge against Hollywood, while Dan Dailey looks and acts sour as a director on the comeback trail. Worst of all is Cantinflas, who has Sidney to blame for what amounts to a disastrous starring performance. Acting stupid for a laugh doesn't create a character--and it doesn't create laughs for long--yet Cantinflas keeps milking the same, dumb one-note: the ignorant peasant who doesn't even know Americans say "Cheers" when they toast drinks. This is a picture so blind to the real world that even the fantasy bits are bummers. *1/2 from ****