Don Quixote (1957 film)

Don Quixote
1957 film poster by Vladimir Kononov
Directed by	Grigori Kozintsev
Written by	Miguel de Cervantes Yevgeni Shvarts
Starring	Nikolai Cherkasov
Music by	Gara Garayev
Cinematography	Apollinari Dudko Andrei Moskvin
Editing by	Ye. Makhankova
Distributed by	Lenfilm
Release date(s)	15 October 1957 (1957-10-15)
Running time	110 minutes
Country	Soviet Union
Language	Russian

Don Quixote (Russian: Дон Кихот, translit. Don Kikhot) is a 1957 Soviet drama film directed by Grigori Kozintsev. It is based on Miguel de Cervantes's classic novel of the same name. It was entered into the 1957 Cannes Film Festival.^[1] It opened in the United States in 1961, beginning its U.S. run on January 20, the same day that President John F. Kennedy was inaugurated into office.^[2]

The film was exhibited in the mid 1960s by Australian University film clubs receiving the productions of Sovexportfilm. It was the first film version of Don Quixote to be filmed in both widescreen and color.

Changes to the storyline

Although largely faithful to the storyline of the Cervantes novel, the film makes several significant changes and adopts an overall more outwardly serious tone than does the original book. The order of Quixote's adventures is completely changed, with the famous windmill scene occurring towards the end, just after Don Quixote has been completely humiliated and mocked by Altisidora, the "damsel" at the Ducal Palace who pretended to be dead out of love for him. Quixote then angrily leaves the palace, where he and Sancho have been repeatedly 'treated" to practical jokes, and at the same time, Sancho, who has been mockingly made governor of a nonexistent island, is "overthrown" by a staged revolt. The separated knight and squire encounter each other again on the road, and soon come upon the windmills. Immediately after tilting against them and being injured by being thrown to the ground by the sails, they encounter the Knight of the White Moon, who is really Sanson Carrasco in disguise. He challenges Quixote, who is now too weak to fight, to a joust and easily defeats him. Carrasco then reveals his true identity to Quixote and Sancho. The three of them make their way back to Don Quixote's village, where the old man is soon at death's door. As in several adaptations (but not as in the novel), Aldonza, the wench whom Don Quixote believes to be his lady Dulcinea, actually makes an appearance in the film. She appears at the beginning, when Don Quixote is first preparing to sally forth as a knight and "christens" her Dulcinea, and at the end, grieving with the knight's family at his deathbed.

Cast

• Nikolai Cherkasov - Don Quixote de la Mancha / Alonso Quixano
• Yuri Tolubeyev - Sancho Panza
• Serafima Birman - The Housekeeper
• Lyudmila Kasyanova - Aldonsa (as L. Kasyanova)
• Svetlana Grigoryeva - The Niece
• Vladimir Maksimov - The Priest
• Viktor Kolpakov - The Barber
• Tamilla Agamirova - Lady Altisidora (as T. Agamirova)
• Georgiy Vitsin - Sanson Carrasco
• Bruno Freindlich - The Duke (as V. Freindlich)
• Lidiya Vertinskaya - The Duchess
• Galina Volchek - Maritornes (as G. Volchek)
• Olga Vikland - Peasant girl
• Aleksandr Benyaminov - Shepherd
• S. Tsomayev - Andres, the shepherd boy

References

1. ^ "Festival de Cannes: Don Quixote". festival-cannes.com. http://www.festival-cannes.com/en/archives/ficheFilm/id/3573/year/1957.html. Retrieved 2009-02-08. 
2. ^ http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0050326/releaseinfo

External links

• Don Quixote at AllRovi
• Don Quixote at the Internet Movie Database