Don Quixote (1933)

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Movie
German title Don Quixote
Original title Don Quixote
Country of production France
original language French
English
German
Publishing year 1933
length 120 (German version) 82 (French version) 80, 73 (English version) minutes
Rod
Director GW Pabst
script Paul Morand
editing the Engl. John Farrow took care of the version . Based on the original of the same name by Miguel de Cervantes
production Constantin Geftman for Vandor-Film, Paris; Nelson, London
music Jacques Ibert
camera Nicolas Farkas
Paul Porter
cut Jean Oser
occupation

Don Quixote is a French feature film from 1932 based on the original of the same name by Miguel de Cervantes . Directed by GW Pabst , Fyodor Chaliapin played the title role of the knight of the sad figure .

action

The film begins with the aging Spanish Grande Don Quixote enthusiastically reading books about the good old days of chivalry and consequently deciding to embark on his own adventures as a noble chevalier. At his side is his loyal servant, Sancho Panza , to whom he promises immeasurable treasures and who then becomes his squire . Don Quixote asks a traveling comedian who is working in an inn at a theater to knight him. Don Quixote sees the juggler as the noble, literary knight Amadis and does not notice that the actor will soon be having fun out of showing the gaunt knight to his amused theater audience as an old fool. The common people in the pub have a lot of fun when Don Quixote exposes himself to be ridiculous with his old chivalrous behavior. The one who has just been appointed a knight does not become more credible when he also declares a simple maid of this inn to be his lady of the heart and calls her Dulcinea without further ado .

Together with Sancho Panza, he is now riding his horse Rosinante towards his adventures. The aim of what he does is to eliminate the injustices of this world and to challenge the bad guys. One day Don Quixote accepts the invitation of the Duke of the province in which he is currently staying. In order to bring the Don to his senses and to drive him out of the madness, the ducal niece asks her uncle to have Quixote challenged to a knightly tournament duel in order to beat him. When Don Quixote realizes that he should be fooled, he is very piqued and rides away with his head held high. Then finally he has found “worthy” opponents: Sometimes it's a flock of sheep, sometimes windmills, which look like an army of villainous giants. A windmill wing lifts Quixote so high in the air that the state has to intervene in order to free the knight from the sad figure of his predicament. Don Quixote is seriously injured in the process.

Now it is enough, find the well-meaning, and bring the old, physically and mentally badly battered man back to his home. While traveling through the local village community, he is exposed in a cage to the ridicule of his home community. In your home you destroy your dreams by setting fire to your library. Don Quixote dies, deeply shaken. After all, the last book fell into flames too. But this last book, which tells its own story, rises like a phoenix from the ashes and comes to life again. The legend of Don Quixote, the noble knight, has just been born.

Production notes

Don Quixote was Pabst's second production since he moved to Paris. The French version was shown in German-speaking countries. It was created at the same time as the English-language one in autumn 1932. a. at the Cap-d'Ail . In the same year, in January 1932, director Pabst had settled in France and shot the film The Mistress of Atlantis immediately before Don Quixote .

The premiere of Don Quixote took place on March 16, 1933 in Brussels . Two months later, on May 25, 1933, the film opened in London under the slightly different title Don Quixote . The film is said to have been shown in Germany and Austria in the same year; exact performance dates are not known. In the USA it was published on December 23, 1934. In post-war Germany, the film first ran on February 19, 1968 on ARD .

Don Quixote is the only sound film by the famous opera singer Chaliapin. The Russian exile was the only actor to appear in both versions. Allegedly, a German version of the film is said to have been shot at the same time.

The film constructions come from Andrej Andrejew . The German Max Pretzfelder , who had previously worked for Pabst's Die Dreigroschenoper and Die Herrin von Atlantis , also designed the costumes for this Pabst film. Lotte Reiniger was responsible for the Chinese shadow plays seen in the film.

Reviews

The Österreichische Film-Zeitung reported in its April 1, 1933 edition on page 3 of the premiere: "The reports on the world premiere of the new GW Pabst big-screen film“ Don Quichotte ”, with Fedor Chalyapin in the title role, are not entirely consistent. While some people praise the film as a wonderful picture book for adults full of overwhelming poetry and mood, others say that although countless highly qualified employees, writers, musicians, and technicians were drawn on for this work and no issue was spared, it was not Something as perfect as it would have been worthy of Chaliapin and the subject matter. It is said that the hero of the film appears as a literary muddle alien to the masses, whose deeds are not entirely understandable to the large audience, but an artistically demanding audience Film would find it too easy and operatic, but Chaliapin's splendid vocal art is through gs addressed as a great artistic achievement. Nevertheless, the film is considered to be absolutely worth seeing. "

Herbert L. Matthews wrote in the New York Times on April 23, 1933 : "EVERY few months Paris, like all other great film centers, has the opportunity of hailing a really important picture, one which stands out head and shoulders above the usual run , and therefore makes film history. Such a picture has just been released here after months of genuinely interested expectation on the part of both critics and the public. It is GW Pabst's "Don Quichotte," with Feodor Chaliapin in the title roll. [...] It was Pabst's part to fill in the background and furnish the medium whereby this Don Quixote was to be introduced to the public, and he has done it with his usual consummate artistry. There are scenes in this picture of breath-taking loveliness, and, best of all, there is an atmosphere which conveys the spirit of the times and the story without the slightest jar to one's sensibilities. "

Georges Sadoul wrote about Pabst's film productions in France: "Almost all of them were mediocre (" Mademoiselle Docteur "," Le Drame de Shanghai ") , with the exception of one " Don Quixote " , which he shot in his first year of exile."

The lexicon of international films found that Pabst translated the literary model of Cervantes into optically suggestive sequences of images with great sensitivity. The sympathy belongs to the "knight of the sad figure", with whose fate he laments the absence of chivalry and kindness.

In the Dictionnaire du cinéma it is stated about Pabst's production: Le “Don Quichotte” (1933), qu'il tourne sera le dernier film encore digne de son grand talent.

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Kay Less : "In life, more is taken from you than given ...". Lexicon of filmmakers who emigrated from Germany and Austria between 1933 and 1945. A general overview. ACABUS Verlag, Hamburg 2011, ISBN 978-3-86282-049-8 , p. 641.
  2. ↑ Österreichische Film-Zeitung of September 17, 1932
  3. ↑ "Don Quixote". In:  Österreichische Film-Zeitung , April 1, 1933, p. 3 (online at ANNO ).Template: ANNO / Maintenance / fil
  4. ^ Don Quixote in the New York Times
  5. ↑ Translation: “Every few months Paris, like all the other major film centers, has the opportunity to praise a really significant film - one that will far surpass the others that show the usual and therefore make film history. Such a film has just been released here after months of eager anticipation from critics and audiences alike. It is GW Pabst's "Don Quichotte," with Feodor Chaliapin in the title role. […] It was up to Pabst to fill in the background [of the literary model] and to equip the medium [film] by which this Don Quixote could be presented to the public, and he did it with his usual, accomplished artistry. There are scenes of breathtaking charm and, best of all, there is an atmosphere that conveys the spirit of time and history, without the slightest hint of shock to one's own emotional world. "
  6. ^ Georges Sadoul: History of the cinematic art. Vienna 1957, p. 241
  7. ↑ Klaus Brüne (Red.): Lexicon of International Films, Volume 2, p. 698. Reinbek near Hamburg 1987.
  8. ↑ Jean-Loup Passek: Dictionnaire du Cinéma, Paris 1992, p. 503. Translation: "The" Don Quichotte "(1933) that he is making will be the last film that is still worthy of his great talent."

Web links