Luis Buñuel's Un Chien Andalou - DVD Comparison BFI Region 1 NTSC DVD Review Luis Buñuel un chien andalou DVD Review Luis Buñuel un chien andalou DVD Review Luis Buñuel un chien andalou DVD Review Luis Buñuel un chien andalou DVD Review Luis Buñuel un chien andalou DVD Review Luis Buñuel un chien andalou DVD Review Luis Buñuel un chien andalou DVD Review Luis Buñuel un chien andalou DVD Review Luis Buñuel un chien andalou DVD Review Luis Buñuel un chien andalou DVD Review Luis Buñuel un chien andalou DVD Review Luis Buñuel un chien andalou DVD Review Luis Buñuel un chien andalou DVD Review Luis Buñuel un chien andalou DVD Review Luis Buñuel un chien andalou DVD Review Luis Buñuel un chien andalou DVD Review Luis Buñuel un chien andalou DVD Review Luis Buñuel un chien andalou DVD Review Luis Buñuel un chien andalou DVD Review Luis Buñuel un chien andalou DVD Review Luis Buñuel un chien andalou DVD Review Luis Buñuel

(aka 'An Andalusian Dog')

France 1929

Filmed in Paris in 1929, Un Chien Andalou is regarded as the first film produced purely from within the Surrealist movement and is a landmark in the overall history of cinema.

Based on an exchange of dreams between the Spanish duo of Buñuel and Salvador Dali, this jolting tale of desire opens innocently with the words "Once upon a time." What follows is one of the most notorious sequences in film history - a razor severing a woman's eyeball in extreme close-up (in actuality, a cow’s head from a local butcher shop stood in).

Buñuel explains the genesis of the idea in his autobiography: "When I arrived to spend a few days at Dali's house in Figueras, I told him about a dream I'd had in which a long, tapering cloud sliced the moon in half, like a razor blade slicing through an eye. Dali immediately told me that he'd seen a hand crawling with ants in a dream he'd had the previous night."

Their only rule was to reject any idea that might lend itself to any rational explanation.

Intended to provoke rather than please (Buñuel saw it as an "appeal to murder"), Un Chien Andalou's power to shock the viewer remains undiminished even after 75 years.

Taken from the TrnasFlux Films release notes

Theatrical Release: June 6th, 1929 - France

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DVD Comparison:

BFI Video - Region 2 - PAL vs. Facets / TransFlux Films - Region 1 - NTSC

(BFI - Region 2 - PAL - LEFT vs. Facets - Region 1 - NTSC - RIGHT)

DVD Box Covers
Distribution	BFI Video Region 2 - PAL	Facets Video Region 1 - NTSC
Runtime	15:52 (4% PAL speedup)	16:26
Video	1.28:1 Original Aspect Ratio Average Bitrate: 6.0 mb/s PAL 720x576 25.00 f/s	1.26:1 Original Aspect Ratio Average Bitrate: 6.99 mb/s NTSC 720x480 29.97 f/s
	NOTE: The Vertical axis represents the bits transferred per second. The Horizontal is the time in minutes.
Bitrate: BFI
Bitrate: Facets
Audio	Sonarized track - Commentary in Dolby Digital 2.0	Sonarized track - Commentary and interviews in Dolby Digital 2.0
Subtitles	Intertitles in English (for Commentary removable English subtitles)	Non-removable English intertitles
Features	Release Information: Studio: BFI Video Aspect Ratio: Original aspect Ratio 1.28:1 Edition Details: • Documentary A Proposito De Bunuel with optional subtitles (1:39:15) • Commentary by Robert Short with optional subtitles • Introduction by Robert Short with optional subtitles (25:20) • 28 page booklet in case with "L'Age D'or" DVD Release Date: October 25th, 2004 Handsome White Boxset with dual cardboard CD-sized case Chapters: 8	Release Information: Studio: Facets Video / TransFlux Films Aspect Ratio: Original aspect Ratio 1.26:1 Edition Details: • A Slice of Buñuel: A documentary featuring Buñuel's son, Juan-Luis, (16:10) • Epilogue: Buñuel & Dali: bonus interview, (4:40) • Commentary by Surrealism expert Stephen Barber, • Feature-length Mystery of Cinema: abridged transcript of a speech given by Luis Buñuel in 1953 (2 pages in liner notes) • Original graphic design by artist Dave McKean DVD Release Date: December 28th, 2004 Keep Case Chapters: 5

Comments:

Firstly the most obvious detail is that the Facets NTSC DVD transfer has had some contrast manipulation. It is overly bright and entire minute details have hence been removed from the image. The Facets DVD also has a slightly stretched picture. Faces appear to be stretched vertically making them abnormally thinner and longer. We can now see though that the BFI edition has been slightly cropped on both side edges and the bottom, but the Facets has been even more drastically cropped along the top edge (almost chopping head shots in some cases). Now, both transfers are from tape and both have inherent 'ghosting' problems - not the type you see from improper standard conversion (PAL -> NTSC or vice-versa), but rather from inaccurate attempts to move slower frame rates to higher. Although the Facet's looks to have less damage, I suspect it has only been 'brightened out' by their alteration process of excess brightness.

In the extras department, both releases have a commentary. Personally I much preferred the BFI's Robert Short dialogue which is actually much more detailed running almost 10 minutes longer than the film (23:57) . Segments are actually repeated to allow him to continue his articulate conclusions on the BFI disc. I don't want to totally dismiss the Factes as Buñuel fans will surely want this second commentary and the short featurettes. I would however buy the BFI first and get L'Age D'or as well with more of Short's wonderful commentary. I am still very high on the BFi package having rated as Feature DVD of the month in November.

NOTE: Both editions of Bunuel's Un Chien Andalou have the audio as the 'sonorised' music track arranged by Bunuel in the 50s -- his mélange of Wagner and tango melodies

- Gary W. Tooze

Recommended Reading for Buñuel Fans (CLICK COVERS or TITLES for more information)


My Last Sigh by Luis Bunuel, Abigail Israel	Buñuel: 100 Years: It's Dangerous to Look Inside by Enrique Camacho	An Unspeakable Betrayal: Selected Writings of Luis Bunuel by Jean-Claude Carriere	Bunuel by John Baxter	Luis Bunuel : New Readings by Peter William Evans	The Discreet Art of Luis Bunuel: A Reading of His Films by Gwynne Edwards	The Films of Luis Bunuel: Subjectivity and Desire (Oxford Hispanic Studies) by Peter William Evans "	Buñuel's The Discreet Charm of the Bourgeoisie (Cambridge Film Handbooks) by Marsha Kinder

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(BFI - Region 2 - PAL - LEFT vs. Facets - Region 1 - NTSC - RIGHT)

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