Irrational Man

The Young One (or White trash in the United States or Island of Shame in the United Kingdom) is one of only two films made by Luis Bunuel in English, the other being The Adventures of Robinson Crusoe made in 1952. Both films share the distinction of being Mexican productions, films made to make Bunuel known in the United States. The Young One (La Joven in Spanish) is confronting in its themes of social justice, treatment of innocent people, prejudice and racism and for this reason it failed at the US box office in 1960. American audiences just couldn't sympathise with Bunuel's social criticism of the treatment of people judged inferior, such as Bernie Hamilton's Traver who is a black man escaping a false charge or Key Meersman's Evalyn who is a 13 year-old girl left in the care of Miller, played by Zachary Scott, after Evalyn's grandfather and handyman for Miller who is a game warden on an island off the American coastline.

Roberto Rossellini is one of the most influential European postwar directors, having lead the charge of Italian Neorealism and provided inspiration to the French Nouvelle Vague. This, of course, doesn't meant that he is a household name, nor does it mean that many of his most important films have been available on DVD in North America. Thankfully, with some forthcoming Criterion discs and this new Lions Gate Roberto Rossellini 2-Disc Collector's Edition, the Rossellini library is starting to get its due, though some of what is coming is not particularly his most well-known efforts.