Don Quichotte

Having only once attempted unsuccessfully to slog my way through the Peter O'Toole version of "Man of la Mancha," I was unfamiliar the plot of Don Quixote. I discovered this film at movieflix.com, a nice resource of free films. Even with the poor visual and sound quality of that site, this movie shines. Chaliapin and Robey are wonderful. (BTW, when another commenter refers to "Sancho caressing his ass in tears," he means his donkey.) Chaliapin's beautifully rich voice is matched by his acting, and he brings the full range of emotion to his role. It's a shame that this is the only film he sings in. There is much comedy and pathos here and it's beautifully directed. Highly recommended!

I saw the New York Museum of Modern Art's print (the English language version). Only Chaliapin does much singing, but the music and lyrics are not much and I suggest you listen to his recordings to judge his singing. His acting seems very much staged.

George Robey is very good as Sancho Panza (Don Quixote's servant), playing him as a Music Hall character. The scene with the traveling players at an inn is also interesting and fun.

the film of Chaliapin. and it is not surprising. because he deserves the role and the chance to give his Don Quixote to the public. because the voice is only the axis of inspired adaptation of the novel, using the resources of humor and touching dialogues, drama and the force of a vulnerable character. because it is one of films who are, first, beautiful travel in time. and for the opportunity to discover a great artist not only as legend but as inspired interpreter of a text who remains unique. a film like a bitter-sweet mix. impressive and seductive and great. more a page of history than a movie, it is the right option for understand a side of the beauty of Russian artistic treasure.

G. W. Pabst directed two version of the story of the knight of the Woeful Countenance, both released in 1933; Chaliapin also provided the voice for Lotte Reiniger's animated version that same year. I took a look at the English-language version. It was not, alas, in particularly good shape, had twenty minutes cut from its 75-minute length, and Chaliapin, although he looks like the classical emaciated version of the Don, and sings beautifully, has a Georgian accent that made him rather difficult to understand.

George Robey as Sancho Panza is excellent, and Cervantes story is transformed from a satire to an unmitigated tragedy.

Miguel de Cervantes's great novel, "Don Quixote," (Part One, 1605, Part Two, 1615)has been treated in opera, musical comedy, Spanish zarzuela, ballet, film and the fine arts, though it is best played out in the theater of the imagination. To this film can come closest and G. W. Pabst's sensitive treatment in black and white does well indeed. The great Russian bass Feodor Chaliapin, who sang the title role in Jules Massenet's gorgeous 1910 opera, "Don Quichotte," plays Don Quixote, and sings too, with nice music credited to Jacques Ibert. George Robey makes a splendid Sancho Panza. The adaptation is intelligent, with many of the best known episodes treated,if not in the same order as in the book. The film handles well the Duke and Duchess, who humor Don Quixote and Sancho Panza for their amusement, but are somewhat humbled. Having the windmills (Part One, chapter 8) and burning of romances of chivalry at the end (Part One, chapter 6), with the death of Quixote, works surprisingly well. It is worth cleaning up and re-releasing, if possible.