''Don Quixote'' (1933) is the English title of a film adaptation of the classic

Miguel de Cervantes Miguel de Cervantes Saavedra (; 29 September 1547 (assumed) – 22 April 1616 NS) was an Early Modern Spanish writer widely regarded as the greatest writer in the Spanish language and one of the world's pre-eminent novelists. He is best kno ...

novel, directed by

Georg Wilhelm Pabst Georg Wilhelm Pabst (25 August 1885 – 29 May 1967) was an Austrian film director and screenwriter. He started as an actor and theater director, before becoming one of the most influential German-language filmmakers during the Weimar Republic. ...

, starring the famous operatic bass

Feodor Chaliapin Feodor Ivanovich Chaliapin ( rus, Фёдор Ива́нович Шаля́пин, Fyodor Ivanovich Shalyapin, ˈfʲɵdər ɪˈvanəvʲɪtɕ ʂɐˈlʲapʲɪn}; April 12, 1938) was a Russian opera singer. Possessing a deep and expressive bass v ...

. Although the film stars Chaliapin, it is not an opera. However, he does sing four songs in it. It is the first sound film version of the Spanish classic. The supporting cast in the English version includes

George Robey Sir George Edward Wade, CBE (20 September 1869 – 29 November 1954), Harding, James"Robey, George" ''Oxford Dictionary of National Biography'', Oxford University Press, accessed 10 May 2014. known professionally as George Robey, was an ...

, René Donnio,

Miles Mander Miles Mander (born Lionel Henry Mander; 14 May 1888 – 8 February 1946), was an English character actor of the early Hollywood cinema, also a film director and producer, and a playwright and novelist. He was sometimes credited as Luther Mile ...

Lydia Sherwood Lydia Sherwood (5 May 1906 – 20 April 1989) was a British film actress and stage actress. She made her debut on stage in Daisy Fisher's comedy play ''Lavender Ladies''.Wearing, 2014, p. 379 She was married to the poet Lazarus Aaronson fro ...

, Renée Valliers, and

Emily Fitzroy Emily Fitzroy (24 May 1860 – 3 March 1954) was an English theatre and film actress who eventually became an American citizen. She was at one time a leading lady in London for Sir Charles Wyndham. She made her film debut in 1915. Her debut i ...

. The film was made in three versions—French, English, and German—with Chaliapin starring in all three versions. The producers separately commissioned five composers (

Jacques Ibert Jacques François Antoine Marie Ibert (15 August 1890 – 5 February 1962) was a French composer of classical music. Having studied music from an early age, he studied at the Paris Conservatoire and won its top prize, the Prix de Rome at his firs ...

, Maurice Ravel - who wrote three songs -,

Marcel Delannoy Marcel-François-Georges Delannoy (9 July 1898 – 14 September 1962) was a French composer and critic.Hoérrée A. Marcel Delannoy. In: ''The New Grove Dictionary of Opera.'' Macmillan, London and New York, 1997. He wrote operas, ballets, orchest ...

Manuel de Falla Manuel de Falla y Matheu (, 23 November 187614 November 1946) was an Andalusian Spanish composer and pianist. Along with Isaac Albéniz, Francisco Tárrega, and Enrique Granados, he was one of Spain's most important musicians of the first ...

and

Darius Milhaud Darius Milhaud (; 4 September 1892 – 22 June 1974) was a French composer, conductor, and teacher. He was a member of Les Six—also known as ''The Group of Six''—and one of the most prolific composers of the 20th century. His compositions ...

) to write the songs for Chaliapin. Each composer believed only he had been approached. Ibert's music was chosen for the film, but this caused him some embarrassment as he was a close friend of Ravel's. Ravel considered a lawsuit against the producers. He dropped the action, and the two composers remained close friends.

EMI EMI Group Limited (originally an initialism for Electric and Musical Industries, also referred to as EMI Records Ltd. or simply EMI) was a British Transnational corporation, transnational Conglomerate (company), conglomerate founded in March 1 ...

released excerpts from the soundtrack of the French version on 78-rpm and LP discs.

Changes to plot

The film condenses the novel significantly and scrambles up the order of Don Quixote's adventures. There are several changes. Don Quixote is "dubbed" a knight not by an innkeeper, but by a traveling actor who is appearing as a king in a play that Don Quixote mistakenly believes to be real. As in the later 1957 Russian film version of the novel, the attack on the windmills is moved to near the end of the film. The mill workers are seen returning from their labor, and unlike the novel, Don Quixote is caught up by the windmill but not thrown. The windmill is stopped by the mill workers, who then assist Sancho in carrying Quixote down. The final scene is the most radically changed of all. Totally defeated, and brought home imprisoned in a cage, Don Quixote sees that his niece, the village priest, and Sanson Carrasco (who in this version is the niece's fiancee, as in '' Man of La Mancha'') have burnt his beloved books of chivalry. The shock literally kills Don Quixote; he collapses and dies in Sancho's arms, while the townsfolk, who only a few moments prior, were laughing and jeering at him as he sat in the cage, are deeply moved and now kneel in respect for the dead "knight". In a bit of trick photography, the pages of the original 1605 edition of Cervantes's novel arise from the flames rather than being consumed by them - a sign that Don Quixote has achieved immortality. Dulcinea, who appears in the film, is depicted as a not-too-bright milkmaid, and cruelly, she is among those who laugh the hardest when Don Quixote is brought back in a cage. Don Quixote's name ''is'' Don Quixote in this version. He is never referred to as Alonso Quixano.

Trick photography in the film

The film makes several striking early uses of trick photography. Immediately after the opening credits, we see a page of a medieval romance, and the figures on it seem to come to animated life. (This is deleted on some prints.) The windmill sequence, in which Don Quixote is lifted into the air by the sails, gives the impression that Chaliapin himself has been caught up by the windmill, not a dummy or a stunt double. It is an impressive achievement by 1933 standards, and was imitated both in the 1957 screen version of Cervantes' novel and in the 1972 film version of ''Man of La Mancha''. And the scene in which the pages of the novel seemingly arise from the flames has already been mentioned.

Cannes

The film was screened out of competition at the

1987 Cannes Film Festival The 40th Cannes Film Festival was held from 7 to 19 May 1987. The Palme d'Or went to the '' Sous le soleil de Satan'' by Maurice Pialat, a choice which was considered "highly controversial" and the prize was given under the jeers of the public. ...

. The French and English versions were released on

DVD The DVD (common abbreviation for Digital Video Disc or Digital Versatile Disc) is a digital optical disc data storage format. It was invented and developed in 1995 and first released on November 1, 1996, in Japan. The medium can store any kind ...

on 30 May 2006 by Video Artists International.

Cast

Don Quixote is a Spanish epic novel by Miguel de Cervantes. Originally published in two parts, in 1605 and 1615, its full title is ''The Ingenious Gentleman Don Quixote of La Mancha'' or, in Spanish, (changing in Part 2 to ). A founding work of West ...

Sancho Panza Sancho Panza () is a fictional character in the novel ''Don Quixote'' written by Spanish author Don Miguel de Cervantes Saavedra in 1605. Sancho acts as squire to Don Quixote and provides comments throughout the novel, known as ''sanchismos'', ...

* René Donnio as Carrasco (as Donnio) * Renée Valliers as

Dulcinea Dulcinea del Toboso is a fictional character who is unseen in Miguel de Cervantes' novel ''Don Quijote''. Don Quijote believes he must have a lady, under the mistaken view that chivalry requires it. As he does not have one, he invents her, mak ...

as Sancho Panza's wife * Sidney Fox as Maria the niece *

as Duke of Fallanga *

Wally Patch Walter Sydney Vinnicombe (26 September 1888 – 27 October 1970) was an English actor and comedian. He worked in film, television and theatre. Biography Vinnicombe was born in Willesden, Middlesex and began working on the music hall stages in ...

as Gypsy King (English version) *

Vladimir Sokoloff Vladimir Aleksandrovich Sokoloff (russian: Влади́мир Алекса́ндрович Соколо́в; December 26, 1889 – February 15, 1962) was a Russian-American character actor of stage and screen. After studying theatre in Moscow, ...

as Gypsy King (French version) *

Oscar Asche John Stange(r) Heiss Oscar Asche (24 January 1871 – 23 March 1936), better known as Oscar Asche, was an Australian actor, director, and writer, best known for having written, directed, and acted in the record-breaking musical ''Chu Chin C ...

as Police Captain *

as Duchess of Fallanga * Frank Stanmore as Priest * Andreas Malandrinos as Innkeeper/Jester (uncredited) *

as Servant (English version) (uncredited) ''See also

List of Don Quixote characters The following is a partial list of characters in the novel '' Don Quixote de la Mancha'' by Miguel de Cervantes Saavedra. Main characters * Don Quixote, a Spanish gentleman of La Mancha Alonso Quijano (or Quesada, or Quijada), who believes h ...

Reception

The film reportedly lost £100,000 and led to the collapse of Nelson Films.

References

External links

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Details about the DVD release
{{Authority control 1933 films 1930s adventure comedy-drama films French adventure comedy-drama films British adventure comedy-drama films Films of the Weimar Republic British black-and-white films French multilingual films British multilingual films Films based on Don Quixote Films set in Spain Films set in the 1600s Films directed by G. W. Pabst Films scored by Jacques Ibert 1933 multilingual films 1933 comedy films 1933 drama films German adventure comedy-drama films French black-and-white films 1930s British films 1930s French films 1930s German films