Ensayo de un crimen on DVD
"The Criminal Life of Archibaldo de la Cruz" (Ensayo de un crimen) finally is available on DVD NTSC region 1&4.
Sadly this version doesn't have subtitles, so only those who understand spanish should consider a buy.
The video quality is not bad but could have been a lot better. The audio is mono, suffers from some hiss but the dialogue remains understandable and clear.
Practically barebones, just some stills, selected filmographies and a brief synopsis.
Check it out: (you also can buy it thru amazon but very pricey)
http://www.mixup.com.mx/mixup/product.asp?sku=7506036011247&subdep t_id=23013&dept_id=2
There is also a french DVD out there with subtitles in french and english but it's in PAL format, that means you need a PAL TV and PAL DVD player in order to be able to watch it, that or to have a multiformat DVD player that could convert a PAL color format into a NTSC one. But that kind of players aren't common.
"Ensayo de un crimen", is one of my fav Buñuel's movies from his mexican period, his mexican films are often considered inferior works, mainly by people who haven't seen most of his mexican films (sometimes not a single one).
Let me tell you that's very unfair. Some of Buñuel's better films are mexican productions: "Los olvidados", "El ángel exterminador", "Nazarín", "Él", "Simón del desierto", "Viridiana" (a México-Spain coproduction shot in Spain), "La ilusión viaja en tranvía", "Susana", and of course "Ensayo de un crimen".
"Ensayo de un crimen" is perhaps the only suspense thriller by Buñuel, and one that is very good! Some people considers this movie "too commercial" and somehow "un-buñuelian" more "Hitchcock-like". They couldn't be more wrong. This movie is filled with some of the most famous Buñuel's obsessions: fetishisms (particularly about women's legs), sexual undertones, dreamlike sequences, some puns courtesy of the catholic church and even a sequence with a bug as the protagonist.
The acting is top notch. Ernesto Alonso shines as "Archibaldo de la Cruz", the killer-wannabe, Rita Macedo great as usual and Miroslava (Lavinia) appears in her last role; Just few days after she finished her work in this film she commited suicide.
Sadly this film as the rest of his mexican films remains practically unknown outside of México. And that's a pity because many filmgoers haven't had the chance to watch some of the best movies from one of the best directors of all time.