Los Olvidados [The Young and the Damned] ***** (1950, Alfonso Mejía, Miguel Inclán, Roberto Cobo, Estela Inda) – Classic Movie Review 9770

Director Luis Buñuel’s incisive, but unsentimental and deliberately non-judgmental 1950 Mexican film Los Olvidados [The Young and the Damned] tackles the appalling living conditions in the slums of Mexico City and their effect on a gang of violent teenagers who infect a nice lad, Pedro (Alfonso Mejía), with their nasty ethos.

Buñuel skilfully interweaves dream sequences with social realism giving an excellent account of the social and political as well as of the psychological causes for juvenile delinquency.

Buñuel won the Best Director award at the 1951 Cannes Film Festival.

Also in the cast are Miguel Inclán, Estela Inda as Pedro’s mother, Roberto Cobo, Alma Delia Fuentes, Francisco Jambrina, Jesús García, Efraín Arauz, Sergio Virel, Jorge Pérez, Javier Amézcua and Mario Ramírez.

It is shot in Mexico City and at Estudios Tepeyac, Mexico City.

Los Olvidados [The Young and the Damned] is directed by Luis Buñuel, runs 85 minutes, is made by Dancigers and Ultramar Films, is released by Ultramar Films (1950) (Mexico), Azteca Films (1951) (US) and Film Traders (1952) (UK), is written by Luis Buñuel and Luis Alcoriza, is shot in black and white by Gabriel Figueroa, is produced by Oscar Dancigers, Sergio Kogan and Jaime A Menasce, and is scored by Gustavo Pittaluga and Rodolfo Halffter.

The enraged reaction of the press, government and richer audiences closed the film after only three days in Mexico, with huge resentment at a foreigner, the Spaniard Luis Buñuel, exposing the nation’s problems with poverty and crime.

© Derek Winnert 2020 Classic Movie Review 9770

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