Luis Bunuel's " Los Olvidados " Films sans Frontieres (France) - Region 0 - NTSC vs. Alter Films (Mexico) - Region 0

(aka "The Young and the Damned" )

directed by Luis Buñuel
Mexico 1950

The best known film of Bunuel's Mexican period, LOS OLVIDADOS looks unflinchingly at life in a Mexican slum. At the center of the story are Pedro, a young boy who is walking the line between delinquency and responsibility, and Jaibo, an older, charismatic boy who has already chosen the former path. Jaibo exerts his influence over almost every boy in the village, and when he accidentally murders the only good role model Pedro has AND sleeps with Pedro's mother, it seems the path Pedro is to take has already determined itself. Full of offbeat images and symbolism, Bunuel mixes realism and surrealism in what became something of a trademark style for him, but the only other film Bunuel did that compares to the realism in this film is his documentary LAND WITHOUT BREAD. Like the Italian neo-realists, Bunuel used mostly non-professional actors and shot entirely on location. Constricted by a tight budget, Bunuel was not able to include a couple of surreal sequences he had originally conceived, but this is still one of Bunuel's most powerful films. Features the famous dream sequence where Pedro's mother floats after him with a raw piece of meat.

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Theatrical Release: December 9th, 1950 - Mexico

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DVD Comparison:

Films sans Frontieres (France) - Region 0 - NTSC vs. Alter Films (Mexico) - Region 0 - NTSC

Big thanks to Axel Munoz for the Alter Films screen captures!

(Films sans Frontieres - Region 0 - NTSC - LEFT vs. Alter Films - Region 0 - NTSC - RIGHT)

DVD Box Covers
Distribution	Films sana Frontieres Region 0 - NTSC	Alter Films Region 0 - NTSC
Runtime	1:16:45 (4% PAL speedup?)	1:20:21
Video	1.33:1 Original Aspect Ratio Average Bitrate: 5.33 mb/s NTSC 720x480 29.97 f/s	1.33:1 Original Aspect Ratio Average Bitrate: 5.58 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: Fox
Bitrate: BFI
Audio	Spanish (Dolby Digital 1.0)	Spanish (Dolby Digital 1.0)
Subtitles	English, French, and none	English, Spanish and none
Features	Release Information: Studio: Films sans Frontieres Aspect Ratio: Original aspect Ratio 1.33:1 Edition Details: • Text screen all in French Keep Case Chapters 10	Release Information: Studio: Alter Films Aspect Ratio: Original aspect Ratio 1.33:1 Edition Details: • in Spanish Keep Case inside cardboard sleeve Chapters: 12

Comments:

Firstly, I can only guess why there is a 3 1/2 minutes time difference between these two films. It is possible that the Films sans Frontieres is taken from a PAL source giving the approximate 4% differential. Neither DVD image has been transferred progressively and both contain significant ghosting and combing artifacts (see large capture # 4). But the Alter Films release has other problems as well - the image is cropped, zoomed in, hazy and the aspect ratio appears to have been altered - characters look abnormally longer and thinner than they should. The Alter Films bright yellow subtitles are extremely intrusive onto the film viewing. We obviously go for the Film sans Frontieres edition of the two, but hope for a decent progressively transferred release at some point in the future.

- Gary W. Tooze

DVD Menus

(Films sans Frontieres - Region 0 - NTSC - LEFT vs. Alter Films - Region 0 - NTSC - RIGHT)