Don Quixote De Orson Welles ( Import )

Don Quixote De Orson Welles ( Import )
by Orson Welles

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DVD details

Actor: Akim Tamiroff
Director: Orson Welles
DVD: Region Code 0
Audio: English (Original Language); English (Unknown); Spanish (Unknown)
Format: Black & White, Dubbed, Import, NTSC
Audience Rating: Unrated

DVD Reviews of Don Quixote De Orson Welles ( Import )

DVD Review: Theme with variations
Summary: 5 Stars

The genius of Orson Welles found once more in this legendary masterpiece of the worldly literature as Don Quixote, a very propitious chance to let hi express through an admirable conjunction of blending fiction and reality, bringing the figure of the noble gentleman in company of his unerring partner the link with the crude reality, Don Sancho Panza .

Particularly fascinating result the famous sequence of the windmills of wind in which our hallucinated hero experiences visions of Goya's paintings (The murderers of the Moncloa) . Welles makes Don Quixote deals with personages of the present, exchanging points of view

Another evidence of his taste of genius was the famous tradition of San Fermin' s fair and some other formidable encounters along the way in order to get the favours of his beloved Dulcinea del Toboso.

Akim Tamiroff is superb as Sancho Panza and Regueira as Don Quixote. A marvelous adaptation of the glory of Kenosha: Orson Welles.

DVD Review: Don Quixote in the shifting sands of modern times
Summary: 4 Stars

Orson Welles was dead when these sequences shot by him over a period of fourteen years were finally edited into a film. Don Quixote was in his time the reflection of the great change that was occurring all over Europe : the shift from the old feudal society to the new order. More materialistic interest, more freedom in a society that was at last being freed of divine providence for which the only human liberty was to freely follow the precepts and orders of God. This nostalgic picture was at times ambiguous : for instance the emphasis on courtly love for women. It can all be summarized in the barber's dish used as a helmet by Don Quixote. Orson Welles shifts this character to Franco's Spain, without ever criticizing the dictatorship (that's not his objective). The barber's dish is confronted to the electric razor. Don Quixote has to cope with, no longer windmills, but scooters, cars, cameras, telescopes, rockets and many other diabolical inventions. He ends up in prison as a dangerous being for public order. He even attacks religious processions that more or less revive old legends of the past about Spain when it was under the control of Islam and then when it was reconquered. The Inquisition is not very far. Sancho Pansa has to cope with this new anachronic age and he appears as some kind of inoffensive clown. He tries to save his master and free him from this present. But the worse transformation Don Quixote is confronted to is that he has become some kind of epic puppet for children, a rustic and rusted clown for the young, no longer the hero of the vanishing philosophical and poetical squires and lordlings of feudal times. And all this in a constant craziness : ferias of all types, cows and bulls freed in the streets with music and bands, arenas full of chaos and bullfights. The Spanish appear to be totally unaware in these moments of the world at large and of anything but their unconscious joy and pleasure heavily watered down with some red liquid that contains 10 to 15% of an exciting and inciting element. We will regret that the editing of the film being posthumous, Orson Welles has not been able to do it. The film is loose, and at times repetitive.

Dr Jacques COULARDEAU

DVD Review: a surrealists dream
Summary: 5 Stars

orson welles embarked on a personal quest to film a loose version/interpretation of don quixote. filmed with his personal finances, and over many years, welles never finished the film. whether this was intentional or not is uncertain. welles had a pension for thinking way outside of the box that was/is hollywood. even when the principle actors died (mischa aver as quixote in the 50's, replaced by francisco reiguera who also passed on during filming), welles continued to shoot film. taken all this into account, it will be impossible to construct what welles intended.
so here is a version done by jess franco, who was an assistant cameraman to welles. i read the description of this dvd before i bought it, fully aware of described flaws. after veiwing whatever it was that was projected on me tele, and then doing some research on the internet about this version (most of the film critics scorn the attempt with comtempt..those anal retentive uptighters who, for bogus rationale, cannot control alliance to "the box". ), i have come to a conclusion far away from all the uptighters. go now and get with it ye persons seeking brinking madness!! this is a fantastic mistake, or is it?
this version is a bizarre mesh of "quixote" footage, footage of welles during the filming, poorly overdubbed voices from welles and other voice actors (in both narrative and play form), stills, supposedly unrelated footage, and to top it it off, footage of both quixotes. you have to witness it to believe. it is my opinion that this mesh is nothing short of a masterpeice. it makes for a fine slice of surrealism; but more to the point: it serves as an ironic slice of which has been exploited and explored: the quixote mystique as a pet project for the mortal welles. as i was watching, i could not help but think that welles had instructed franco to take quixote into another rhelm. pops, do i remember you whispering in my ear "the sun will set with the sharp, beeming openings bursting forth from dangly dungerees that is quixote's suit of armor, in this form. nothing short of eye toys my son."
if you do not have a sense of humour, then you will not get it. if you cannot not "see", or "hear" this version, you will not get it. i would wager that welles would have had more than a few chuckles if this was presented to him.
the footage throughout is nothing short of breathtaking...and it is for this, and the fact that this version is so out there (warts and all), that i call it a cause for celebration. oh, and musn't forget the lovable and evil sancho (akim tamiroff), who enters into various realities as he charts the fate of quixote. no more to give you viewer.. lights out..final cut.

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