Don Quijote de Orson Welles (1992)

User Rating:

6.3/10   

Director:

Orson Welles

Writers:

Miguel de Cervantes y Saavedra (novel)
Jesus Franco (additional dialogue in new edition)
(more)

Genre:

Drama

Plot:

After reading too many novels about knights and heroic stories, Don Quijote and his servant Sancho Panza...

Plot Keywords:

Based On Novel | Independent Film | Character Name In Title

Cast

Francisco Reiguera	...	Don Quijote (archive footage)
Akim Tamiroff	...	Sancho Panza
Orson Welles	...	Himself (in new version) (archive footage)
José Mediavilla	...	Don Quixote (in new version) (voice)
Juan Carlos Ordóñez	...	Sancho Panza's Voice (in new version) (voice)
Constantino Romero	...	Narrator (in new version) (voice)
Fernando Rey	...	Closing Scene Narrator (in new version) (voice)
Paola Mori
Beatrice Welles
Oja Kodar

Directed by
Orson Welles

Writing credits (in alphabetical order)
Miguel de Cervantes y Saavedra		novel "El ingenioso hidalgo Don Quijote de la Mancha"
Jesus Franco		additional dialogue in new edition
Javier Mina		dialogue adaptation in new edition
Orson Welles		writer

Produced by
Óscar Dancigers	....	producer
Patxi Irigoyen	....	producer: new version
Francisco Lara Polop	....	producer (as Francisco Lara)
Juan A. Pedrosa	....	associate producer
Alessandro Tasca	....	producer

Original Music by
Daniel White

Cinematography by
Juan Manuel de la Chica
Jack Draper
José García Galisteo
Manuel Mateos
Ricardo Navarrete
Edmond Richard
Giorgio Tonti

Film Editing by
Jesus Franco		(new version)
Maurizio Lucidi		(original version)
Renzo Lucidi		(original version)
Peter Parasheles		(original version)
Alberto Valenzuela		(original version)
Irah Wohl		(original version)

Second Unit Director or Assistant Director
Jesus Franco	....	assistant director (uncredited)

Sound Department
Ian Sasplugas	....	sound: new version
Ángel Serrano	....	sound: new version
Joan Vidal	....	sound mixer

Special Effects by
Geny Jack	....	special effects: new version
Dolores Olivé	....	special effects: new version

Other crew
Jesus Franco	....	supervising director
Oja Kodar	....	general supervisor: new version

Thanks
Juan Cobos	....	thanks

Production Companies

• El Silencio Producciones

Distributors

• Jacinto Santos Parrás
• Terminal Video (2006) (Italy) (DVD)

Also Known As:

Don Quixote (USA)

Runtime:

116 min | Spain:111 min

Country:

Spain | Italy | USA

Language:

Spanish

Color:

Black and White

Sound Mix:

Mono

Company:

El Silencio Producciones

Trivia:

Last of four Don Quixote films featuring 'Fernando Rey' in some role. In this one, he played the narrator in the closing scene. He was previously in Don Quijote de la Mancha (1947), "Don Quijote" (1965) and "El Quijote de Miguel de Cervantes" (1991).

Movie Connections:

Referenced in Brunnen (2005)

Atrocious Offense

An atrocious offense to the memory and genius of Welles, this senseless assemblage of self-indulgent improvisation on a grand theme should have been locked up in storage along with a number of other unfinished Welles' projects no one has ever seen. Now we know why! To add additional insult to prior injury, the appalling English language dubbing by amateur America dubbing actors and even the great man himself only heightens all the sloppy mistakes in story-telling and construction. It's as if every weekend some good hearted Spanish soul gave Orson a few pesos, a 35mm camera and some short-ends of negative film left over from some other production and told Welles to drive out to the Spanish countryside and just keeping shooting anything and everything until the film stock ran out. It's true that if Orson had really shaped this film himself instead the notorious Jesus Franco, he might have thrown out 85% of what he shot, but we will never know. As Welles never took the time to edit his own work here, and somewhere along the way he or his heirs sanctioned someone else to do so, he is not entirely blameless for the debacle. Those who wish to prove that in his early days Welles was the luckiest of young men because he surrounded himself with the likes of John Houseman, Herman Mankewiecz, Greg Toland, Bernard Hermann and Robert Wise need no better proof of his adult inadequacies than this mess of a film. In his sad old age Welles was capable of doing anything when he needed a few bucks or pesos, including selling his artistic soul. The devil certainly got his due with this one!