Don Quixote in Early Film Adaptations

For a work as famous and widely-read as Don Quixote, adaptation to the silver screen was inevitable.  The change from print to film required a sizable amount of editing.  Moreover, the film is indelibly affected by the time in which it was produced. 

This work, Adventures Of Don Quixote (1933) starring Feodor Chaliapin and directed by G.W. Pabst does just that.  Pabst directs a film that covers a selection of scenes from Cervantes’ novel, and he plays up the romanticism of the subject matter throughout the movie.  Don Quixote, for example, is played by Chaliapin, a famous Russian opera singer.  The film contains plenty of songs for Chaliapin to sing, whether it is a love song for his Dulcinea or a song about chivalry to Sancho.  Chaliapin’s famously expressive face also imbues the film’s scenes with drama.

Moreover, Pabst’s selection of scenes is very interesting.  Some decisions of what to include seem motivated by the medium.  Quixote is knighted by actors in a public play, he meets Dulcinea in the market, and the innkeeper defends Don Quixote, rather than joining in on his pain.  Other inclusions seem much more politically motivated, such as the scenes depicting the Spanish Inquisition and the Autos de fe.  Quixote’s death in the film is brought on by the shocking sight of all of his books being incinerated by a group of dark-robed priests.  This scene is impossible to separate from the political realities of the 1930’s, with fascism on the rise. 

-- Harrison Elbert