The Criminal Life of Archibaldo de la Cruz (Ensayo de un crimen)(Rehearsal for a Crime) (1955)

Perhaps the lightest and most purely playful film of Buñuel's career. It's an oddly charming black comedy dressed up as a kind of thriller.

An enjoyable - yet perfunctory - dark comedy that does have an interesting protagonist (with murderous desires that tell a lot about the nature of his misogyny) but makes me think that Buñuel probably only made it because he didn't have anything better to do at the time.

"The Criminal Life of Archibaldo de la Cruz" may be Luis Bunuel's most underrated film, and it's certainly among the best of his Mexican period. Buñuel's early movies always get scoured for hidden flashes of perversity, but no such labor is required with "Archibaldo de la Cruz." In fact, this droll tale fits quite neatly alongside "The Exterminating Angel" (where people can't manage to leave a party) and "The Discreet Charm of the Bourgeoisie" (where people can't manage to eat dinner). In this case, the elusive goal is murder. As a spoiled child of privilege, young Archibaldo is shown a family music box which allegedly causes an enemy's death when played. He experimentally cranks it while wishing for his nanny's death. A moment later, a revolutionary's stray bullet shatters the window and kills her. The boy is enthralled. This launches a long-time pattern of Archibaldo pursuing murder plans, only to have outside forces intervene first. Still, he assures himself that he is somehow responsible for the deaths. Hence the film's ironic title -- he achieves a "criminal life" in mind only. Individual scenes also have the classic Bunuel touch. There's a macabre daydream with dripping blood, and a second fantasy with atmospheric smoke, a stabbing and a glass of milk (Archibaldo shuns alcohol). Nattering American tourists are derisively portrayed. And recurrent shots of ominous straight razors can't help but recall what may be cinema's most notorious use of a razor ever: the sliced-eyeball image of "Un Chien Andalou." But the most deliciously warped sequence comes when Archibaldo gets ahold of a mannequin modeled after his gal Lavinia. Bunuel has a ball using both the actress and her double in the same scene (they even share underwear!), confusing both his audience and Archibaldo. The mannequin's eventual fate is just as twisted. The film's biggest flaws are simply a matter of money. The production values are crummy. The actors are bland, unknown and uncharismatic. And the horrid organ score sounds like stereotypical music from a vintage soap opera. But if Bunuel had tackled this same script 10 years later, we would have one more black-humor masterpiece. Note: The subtitles in the version I saw were seriously deficient. Not only was the white text occasionally unreadable, but only about 60% of the dialogue was translated!