Don Quixote (1933 film)

Don Quixote 1933 is the English title of a film adaptation of the classic Miguel de Cervantes novel, directed by Georg Wilhelm Pabst, starring the famous operatic bass Feodor Chaliapin. 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, Ren Donnio, Miles Mander, Lydia Sherwood, Rene Valliers, and Emily Fitzroy. The film was made in three versionsFrench, English, and Germanwith Chaliapin starring in all three versions.

The film condenses the novel significantly and scrambles up the order of Don Quixotes 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 nieces 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 Sanchos 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 originaledition of Cervantess novel arise from the flames rather than being consumed by them a sign that Don Quixote has achieved immortality. ........

Source: Wikipedia