Customer Reviews

La Otra

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Someone must have been awfully high on something when they designed the art work for this DVD's cover. The face on the right belongs to Mexican screen legend, Dolores Del Rio, the rest of the images belong to another DVD from a more recent TV minseries with the same title, thus the confusion.

This particular DVD (with Del Rio on the right) contains the original 1946 release of a gripping film noir that was the basis for the 1964 Hollywood version, "Dead Ringer" starring Bette Davis, Karl Malden and Peter Lawford.

The 1946 Mexican opus tells the tale of twin sisters (both played to the hilt by Dolores Del Rio), one a struggling manicurist besieged by debts and unhappy at work what with being underpaid and hit on by salacious (and old) male customers much to the insensitivity of her male boss, and the other twin,(La Otra) living in the lap of luxury having married a millionaire who has recently died. It is at his funeral that the twins come together and it is clear from the beginning that the needy twin has always resented the rich one for having stolen their parents affection, for getting all of everyone's attention, and on top of it all, having stolen the rich man for herself. The poor twin has a detective boyfriend who plans to marry her, but apparently, this is not enough for the manicurist, who lures her rich sister to her apartment in order to murder her and take her place. I will not spoil the fun, except to say that the replacing twin has her hands full with all kinds of near misses, including a greedy, oily lover, played with relish by Victor Junco. The film is deftly directed by film noir master, Roberto Gavaldon, and here he pulls out all stops. La Del Rio is up to the task, stunningly photographed in rich chiaroscuro by the gifted cinematographer, Alex Phillips. This version emphasizes the romantic angle more than the Davis version, and Del Rio has the advantage of being of the right age to play this part: Davis was approaching her sixties when she tackled the role. The only sour note in this production is the eerie, otherwordly musical score which belongs to a flying saucer flik. The Andre Previn score for the Davis version is vastly superior. But both versions belong in any serious film buff's collection. Unfortunately, for non Spanish speakers, there are no English subtitles. Nor are there any extras, and the print though complete, could use some digital help: it's okay on a smaller screen, but on a 55" flat screen, even in its correct 4X3 aspect ratio, it really shows the lack of true restoration, a pity. Nevertheless, if you're not too picky about picture quality, this is an enjoyable romp for old fashioned murder mystery fans.

Image is not accurate for the item represented by the correct product details. Actors shown on the image are not the ones on the DVD.

This DVD seems to be a Black and White film and not the Telenovela as the picture shows.