Un Chien Andalou

"Arguably the single most important work in the canon of surrealist cinema, Luis Bu?uel and Salvador Dali's pioneering collaboration Un Chien Andalou has been crying out for a definitive presentation on home video for years, and Trans/Flux Films' DVD edition is as close as anyone has come to date, though it's still flawed in certain respects. Un Chien Andalou has been brought to disc in its original full-frame aspect ratio of 1.33:1, and frankly the quality of the transfer is disappointing; the source materials are scratchy and pock-marked (though it's debatable if a better print exists these days), and while some attempts have been made to clean up the images, there's also a very noticeable glitch in the video source that should have been corrected. The audio is in Dolby Digital Stereo, and employs the musical track Bu?uel prepared for the film in 1960 (based on the music played during the film's premiere screening). It's in the bonus materials where this disc really shines; this edition features a short documentary on Bu?uel which includes a fascinating interview with his son Juan-Luis Bu?uel, as well as a shorter feature on Bu?uel's difficult relationship with Salvador Dali. Stephen Barber contributes a commentary track to Un Chien Andalou which is intelligent, though he spends more time discussing Bu?uel's contemporaries than the filmmaker himself, and the package is rounded out with a rare essay by Luis Bu?uel, ""The Mystery of Cinema."" This is an appreciative presentation of an enduring classic of experimental film, but it needs a better transfer of the picture itself for this disc to be truly definitive."