Los hijos de Sánchez

Dark and dismal neorealism meets dreary film noir in the 1978 The Children of Sanchez, which, despite its interesting cast proves a most disappointing Mexican-American collaboration thanks mainly to an over-indulgent director (Hall Bartlett) and screenwriters (Cesare Zavattini and Bartlett) who give Anthony Quinn leave to over-act in numerous, long-held close-ups. He's even allowed to upstage Dolores Del Rio in her big scene (her final film too). And I couldn't even spot Katy Jurado! Fortunately, the lovely Lupita Ferrer gets a fair innings, but Gabriel Figueroa's photography does not come off well in either of the two DVD versions. Quinn and Del Rio speak their own dialogue in the Trinity disc, but in Vanguard's Spanish edition, they are both dubbed. Oddly, the sound mix in the Spanish release is far superior to the American.