Don Quixote

Director: Georg Wilhelm Pabst
Cast:
Feodor Chaliapin Sr. (Don Quixote)
George Robey (Sancho Panza)
René Donnio (Carrasco)
Renée Valliers (Dulcinea)
Emily Fitzroy (Sancho Panza’s wife)
Sidney Fox (The Niece)
Miles Mander (The Duke)
Wally Patch (Gypsy King)

Description: The first (known) film of Don Quixote was in 1902; Pabst’s was merely the first sound version, and an ambitious experimental musical at that. A rarity for film fans, a must for opera lovers, it features the celebrated Russian bass Feodor Chaliapin, who was such a great actor, as one contemporary critic wrote, “it is not necessary that he should ever sing.” Pauline Kael said, “There’s a suggestion of John Barrymore in his self-awareness… He’s magnificent-a master of gesture who seems born to the camera.” This highly polished, international, multilingual production (ours is the English version) was shot on locations in southern France to reproduce the stark Spanish landscape. The script “[reduces] the rambling structure of the novel to a few key episodes [giving] Pabst an opportunity to expand on the theme of social hypocrisy” (Lee Atwell, G. W. Pabst). Thus, historian Georges Sadoul’s one criticism-”it lacks warmth”-does not surprise.
— Pacific Film Archive

*****

Director Pabst alters Cervantes’ original ending by having the dispirited Quixote pass away as he watches his precious books on chivalry going up in flames. There are actually two versions of Don Quixote, one in English and one in French; the French-language version has a different supporting cast, but Pabst draws the same deep emotions and brilliant bits of business from both. Though the film unfailingly comes to life in front of an audience, Don Quixote is generally out of favor with devotees of G.W. Pabst, who consider the film a step down from his brilliant silent work.
— Hal Erikson, AMG