Moonshine

Paul Mazursky’s film of Latin American political high jinks, “Moon Over Parador” (Calendar, Nov. 29) is not original, but a remake of “The Magnificent Fraud” (Paramount, 1939) directed by Robert Florey from a script by Gilbert Gabriel and Walter Ferris, based on the story “Caviar for His Excellency” by Charles G. Booth.

In “The Magnificent Fraud,” Akim Tamiroff stars in a dual role as an actor in a mythical banana republic, forced to impersonate an assassinated dictator by power-seeking cabinet ministers. To leave a legacy of social reform, Tamiroff must fool a former mistress while outmaneuvering the junta that placed him in power.

The resemblance to the new film could hardly be more direct.

BRIAN TAVES

San Pedro