''Nella terra di Don Chisciotte'' (English-language title ''In the Land of Don Quixote'') is an

Italian-language Italian (''italiano'' or ) is a Romance language of the Indo-European language family that evolved from the Vulgar Latin of the Roman Empire. Together with Sardinian, Italian is the least divergent language from Latin. Spoken by about 85 m ...

documentary

travelogue Travelogue may refer to: Genres * Travel literature, a record of the experiences of an author travelling * Travel documentary A travel documentary is a documentary film, television program, or online series that describes travel in general or t ...

series about

Spain , image_flag = Bandera de España.svg , image_coat = Escudo de España (mazonado).svg , national_motto = ''Plus ultra'' (Latin)(English: "Further Beyond") , national_anthem = (English: "Royal March") , i ...

, made by

Orson Welles George Orson Welles (May 6, 1915 – October 10, 1985) was an American actor, director, producer, and screenwriter, known for his innovative work in film, radio and theatre. He is considered to be among the greatest and most influential f ...

. It began filming in 1961, but did not air until 1964.Joseph McBride, ''What Ever Happened to Orson Welles? A portrait of an independent career'' (University Press of Kentucky, Lexington, Kentucky, 2006) p.123 The series follows Welles' travels around Spain, and was narrated by

Arnoldo Foà Arnoldo Foà (24 January 1916 – 11 January 2014) was an Italian actor, voice actor, theatre director, singer and writer. He appeared in more than 130 films between 1938 and 2014. Biography Foà was born in Ferrara, Italy, to a Jewish fa ...

. The series was made for

Radiotelevisione Italiana RAI – Radiotelevisione italiana (; commercially styled as Rai since 2000; known until 1954 as Radio Audizioni Italiane) is the national public broadcasting company of Italy, owned by the Ministry of Economy and Finance. RAI operates many terr ...

(RAI-TV). Co-starring with Welles were his Italian wife

Paola Mori Paola di Gerfalco, Contessa di Gerfalco (18 September 1928 – 12 August 1986), better known by her professional name Paola Mori, was an Italian actress and aristocrat, and the third and last wife of Orson Welles. Biography Paola Mori was born i ...

, and their young daughter

Beatrice Welles Beatrice Giuditta Welles (also known as Beatrice Mori di Gerfalco Welles; born November 13, 1955) is an American former child actress, known for her roles in the film '' Chimes at Midnight'' (1966) and the documentary travelogue ''In the Land of ...

Production and filming

At the time, Welles was simultaneously working on his film adaptation of ''

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 Wester ...

'', and the series was primarily made to raise funds for the film.

Jonathan Rosenbaum Jonathan Rosenbaum (born February 27, 1943) is an American film critic and author. Rosenbaum was the head film critic for ''The Chicago Reader'' from 1987 to 2008, when he retired. He has published and edited numerous books about cinema and has ...

describes the series as "a bread-and-butter

made in order to finance work on the ''Quixote'' feature."Jonathan Rosenbaum (ed.), Peter Bogdanovich and Orson Welles, ''

This is Orson Welles ''This is Orson Welles'' is a 1992 book by Orson Welles (1915–1985) and Peter Bogdanovich that comprises conversations between the two filmmakers recorded over several years, beginning in 1969.Welles, Orson, and Peter Bogdanovich, edited by Jona ...

'' (Da Capo Press, New York, 1992 ev. 1998 ed. p.508 When Welles's unfinished ''Don Quixote'' film was released in a much-derided re-edit by

Jesús Franco Jesús Franco Manera (12 May 1930 – 2 April 2013) was a Spanish filmmaker, composer, and actor, known as a prolific director of low-budget exploitation film, exploitation and B-movies. In a career spanning from 1959 to 2013, he wrote, directe ...

in 1992, it included footage of Welles in Spain that had been taken from ''In the Land of Don Quixote'' - even though Welles had never intended any crossover between the two projects, and Rosenbaum considered the resulting effect "lamentable". Welles was responsible for the filming and editing of the series, but not for the Italian-language narration, which was done by the RAI-TV network after they took the project out of his hands. According to Jonathan Rosenbaum: "'The programs are essentially black-and-white home movies, shot with a cameraman from Spanish TV (an Italian

speaking Speech is a human vocal communication using language. Each language uses phonetic combinations of vowel and consonant sounds that form the sound of its words (that is, all English words sound different from all French words, even if they are th ...

cameraman for the Prado) and an Italian sound person...The version edited by Orson Welles contains no narration, but RAI adds a narration of its own, written by playwright and stage director

Gian Paolo Callegari Gian Paolo Callegari (1909-1982) was an Italian screenwriter and film director. He worked on several American films shot in Italy. This included Roberto Rossellini's 1950 film ''Stromboli (1950 film), Stromboli''.Santas & Wilson p.94 Selected fi ...

with the assistance of

Antonio Navarro Linares Antonio is a masculine given name of Etruscan origin deriving from the root name Antonius. It is a common name among Romance language-speaking populations as well as the Balkans and Lusophone Africa. It has been among the top 400 most popular mal ...

and spoken by Arnoldo Foà."

Episodes

The series has nine episodes, titled as follows: *1. "Itinerario Andaluso (Andalusian Itinerary)" -

Andalusia Andalusia (, ; es, Andalucía ) is the southernmost Autonomous communities of Spain, autonomous community in Peninsular Spain. It is the most populous and the second-largest autonomous community in the country. It is officially recognised as a ...

Segovia Segovia ( , , ) is a city in the autonomous community of Castile and León, Spain. It is the capital and most populated municipality of the Province of Segovia. Segovia is in the Inner Plateau (''Meseta central''), near the northern slopes of th ...

and

Ronda Ronda () is a town in the Spanish province of Málaga. It is located about west of the city of Málaga, within the autonomous community of Andalusia. Its population is about 35,000. Ronda is known for its cliff-side location and a deep chasm ...

*2. "Spagna Santa (Holy Week in Spain)" -

Seville Seville (; es, Sevilla, ) is the capital and largest city of the Spanish autonomous community of Andalusia and the province of Seville. It is situated on the lower reaches of the River Guadalquivir, in the southwest of the Iberian Peninsula ...

*3. "La Feria de San Fermin (The San Fermin Holidays)" -

Pamplona Pamplona (; eu, Iruña or ), historically also known as Pampeluna in English, is the capital city of the Chartered Community of Navarre, in Spain. It is also the third-largest city in the greater Basque cultural region. Lying at near above ...

*4. "Lo Encierro di Pamplona (The Running of the Bulls in Pamplona)" - Pamplona *5. "Le Cantine di Jerez (The Caves of Jerez)" -

Jerez Jerez de la Frontera (), or simply Jerez (), is a Spanish city and municipality in the province of Cádiz in the autonomous community of Andalusia, in southwestern Spain, located midway between the Atlantic Ocean and the Cádiz Mountains. , the ...

*6. "Siviglia (Seville)" - Seville *7. "Le Feria di Aprile a Siviglia (April Fair in Seville)" - Seville - This episode was not screened during the original run. *8. "Tempo di Flamenco (Time for Flamenco)" -

Barcelona Barcelona ( , , ) is a city on the coast of northeastern Spain. It is the capital and largest city of the autonomous community of Catalonia, as well as the second most populous municipality of Spain. With a population of 1.6 million within ci ...

*9. "Roma e Oriente in Spagna (Rome and the Orient in Spain's Past)" -

Granada Granada (,, DIN 31635, DIN: ; grc, Ἐλιβύργη, Elibýrgē; la, Illiberis or . ) is the capital city of the province of Granada, in the autonomous communities of Spain, autonomous community of Andalusia, Spain. Granada is located at the fo ...

, Toledo, Córdoba,

Gibraltar ) , anthem = " God Save the King" , song = " Gibraltar Anthem" , image_map = Gibraltar location in Europe.svg , map_alt = Location of Gibraltar in Europe , map_caption = United Kingdom shown in pale green , mapsize = , image_map2 = Gib ...

, Seville and Palos

Restoration

The series has been restored by the

Munich Film Museum The Munich Film Archive, in the Munich Stadtmuseum, is one of eight film museums in Germany. It has no showrooms and is limited to screening the films in a single cinema with 165 seats, as well as collecting, archiving, and restoring film copies. ...

. Welles had no input into the commentary, so the restoration uses the original background music track (which Welles selected), playing it louder, with the commentary removed entirely. One episode, largely dedicated to Beatrice learning the flamenco, was originally not aired by RAI-TV on the grounds that it was of limited interest, although it has subsequently been restored by the Munich Film Museum.

Critical reception

Welles biographer Clinton Heylin sees the series as a slight effort, writing that the series was "little more than home movies of his trips to Spain."Clinton Heylin, ''Despite the System: Orson Welles versus the Hollywood studios'' (Canongate, Edinburgh, 2005) p.334 Joseph McBride concurs, stating "the TV episodes never transcend their casual, rambling, touristy approach", likening it to an "indulgent father's home movie".

References

External links

*
Interview with Juan Cobos, a Welles associate, about the series.
{{DEFAULTSORT:In The Land Of Don Quixote 1960s documentary television series 1960s Italian television series 1960s travel television series 1964 Italian television series debuts 1964 Italian television series endings Films directed by Orson Welles Television series about Spain 1964 films