Search - Un Chien Andalou on DVD

Deserves better treatment for DVD

Aging Punk | Washington, DC | 01/02/2005

(1 out of 5 stars)

"The Facets DVD of Un Chien Andalou is a disgrace. The frame was severly cropped at the top (some scenes feature actors lopped off at their foreheads). Contrast was boosted to the point where significant detail is lost. As if this weren't enough, there is a wide unsightly glitch running horizontally across the screen that lasts for 5 or so frames. Despite the interviews with Bunuel's son which are the only things worth the time here, I would avoid this disc. The film itself I think is great. It's a shame that a staple of art cinema has been handled so poorly for DVD.
"

Mesmerizing Surrealistic Short

Westley | Stuck in my head | 04/09/2005

(4 out of 5 stars)

"Luis Bunuel made his directorial debut with 1929's "Un Chien Andalou" -- a 17 minute short film. The film was made in collaboration with the great surrealistic artist, Salvador Dali; this pairing was repeated for the 1930 masterpiece "L'Age D'Or." Viewing the first tentative steps of two giants is obviously fascinating, which is enough to recommend "Un Chien Andalou."

As with other great surrealistic films, the plot, such as it is, does not make any sense. Of course, themes can be derived from the work, although surrealism essentially is meant to be non-thematic. Some of the images from "Un Chien Andalou" are shocking and justifiably famous -- most notably a scene depicting a straight razor slicing into a woman's eyeball. Yes, these scenes are somewhat disgusting but also amazing for a film over 75 years old.

The film has not been updated or cleaned up at all, so the DVD image is somewhat murky. Bunuel added a music track in 1960 to what was originally a silent film; the score works beautifully. The DVD extras include an interview with Bunuel's son in which he discusses "Un Chien Andalou" as well as his father's rather tumultuous relationship with Dali. An audio commentary by Spanish surrealism expert Stephen Barber is also included; unfortunately, this track is pretty much unlistenable as Barber drones on about the history of surrealism in a deadly dull manner. Skip the audio commentary and just enjoy Bunuel's work as is.
"

Great film, horrible DVD

Patrick J. Mccart | Georgia, USA | 09/16/2005

(1 out of 5 stars)

"The video is geometrically distorted, interlaced, has blown out contrast, almost no detail at all, and horrible sound. TransFlux Films should be ashamed for putting out such poor quality work, yet including a featurette on the cover designer.

Everyone should avoid this DVD and go for the BFI double feature with L'Age D'Or, which has a watchable Un chein andalou for a change."

Simple yet effective

manny trejo | chicago | 01/17/2000

(5 out of 5 stars)

"The film is most easily viewed when you take each scene as being essentially a work unto itself. However, there is a point to the film . It is about a man's struggles with sexual and religious repression and his quest to rid himself of both by killing. The ant in the hand symbolizes a french expression for murder. dragging the preist around deals with his religious hang ups and his fantasies of the girl have very obvious overtones of sexual repression. As for the eyeball slicing ......Dali liked to use the distorion (or in this case) destruction of an image of an eyeball to signal the warped ,surrealist, dimension he dealt with and Bunuel merely adopted this idea."