The Gay Desperado is a 1936 musical lampooning the then-popular gangster pictures. Leo Carrillo plays a genial Mexican bandit, Pablo Braganza, who gets nowhere until he and his amigos begin studying gangster techniques -- courtesy of Hollywood movies. Selecting kidnapping as his crime of choice, Pablo snatches opera star Chivo (Nino Martini) simply because he likes his singing. But the bold bandito gets in over his head when he abducts a troublesome heiress, Jane (Ida Lupino), and her nerdy fiancé, Bill (James Blakely). Chivo hopes to extract a huge ransom for Jane's return, but the girl is more trouble than she's worth. All ends happily when Pablo engineers a romance between Jane and Chivo.
~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide