don Q and orson's soundtrack

[Tony]

"Welles did record a one-hour soundtrack in which he read the narration and the lines of the two main characters. His soundtrack, along with notes Welles scribbled, helped guide Irigoyen and Franco. "

This quote is from the 1992 article archived on this site in the DQ section; well, I've got a copy of the 92 Franco edit, and I'd say there's no more than 10 minutes of Welles, if that. So is this just hyperbole, or did they not use it all for some reason? Anybody know?

[Knowles Noel Shane]

If we could find the audio track and the missing chunks Welles filmed we could put together a "Mom's Kitchen" Quixote. I've never heard of a source for either. Finding the Franco cut is difficult enough.

[Wilson]

Franco was probably looking ahead to his next titty flick and forgot to include it. There might well be a full hour of material that exists, but there could have been reasons of quality for not including it, or other reasons we aren't aware of. Or it could be that Franco had no clue what he was doing, which is my own guess...

[Knowles Noel Shane]

Even the footage which Franco did use varies wildly in quality. Hopefully more footage will turn up some day and someone else will restore it. Maybe Gary Graver could do it.

[Wilson]

Haven't listened to it myself yet, but the radio series Studio 360 did a piece on Quixote which can be accessed the link below:

Studio 360 Quixote link

[Tony]

Jeff:
The 360 link you provided is fascinating listening, but what really shocked me is the mention that Mauro Bonanni has shown a 40 minute edit at the Munich and New York film festivals; does anyone know if this is recent, or referring to the Costa-Gravas edit of many years ago? If it is recent, it is major, as everyone knows Bonanni was Welles' editor on Quixote in 1970, and Welles entrusted a complete print to him for several years. Also, it was Bonanni who would not give up some footage to Oya that he still has (apparently the Welles/ Patty McCormick intro, as well as the cinema scene, which involves Patty, her mom, as well as the Don and Sancho) as Oya had already stated she would not use Welles' original framing device, which was Welles reading DQ to Patty in a hotel lobby (or a park). Bonanni refused Oya's request as he thought the footage might never see the light of day if he did give it up.
So if he has put together a new edit, it is really something.

Does anyone know?

[Glenn Anders]

Tony: If the footage being shown is Bonanni's, I believe it must be the stuff that Jonathan Rossenbaum saw and admired so much.

Let's hope it is going to see the public light of day.

Glenn

[jaba4017]

If all sides reached an agreement, and a more "proper" cut could be made from all available footage, would it be best presented as a silent(I read that Orson had shot much of it in the style of a silent)?

[major pepper]

As many of you, I was deceived by the released version. I felt uncomfortable with such a bad edit, the footage with Orson Welles and the lack of indication about the missing footage on the DVD sleeve... Though I hope for a new edit, I don't want to disparage Jess Franco. I'm certain he did his best with hours and hours of rushes.

Above all, I have no word to say how much I hate the dubbing! I like the narration in the beginning, but the akward dubbing seems redundant when Sancho Paça talks with his master.

If all sides reached an agreement, and a more "proper" cut could be made from all available footage, would it be best presented as a silent(I read that Orson had shot much of it in the style of a silent)?

I can't remember exactly where I found an interview - probably in Les Cahiers du cinéma - with Orson Welles saying his wish to make a silent movie with very few dialogue and a lot of music and narration. It would have been great!

[Colmena]

The opening post in this topic refers to the "DQ section."

Is this "section" the same thing as the "Archive for the ‘Don Quixote’ Category" that one arrives at after clicking "DQ" at the opening "wellesnet.com"?

-- thanks in advance.

[Jeff Wilson]

It means the Quixote page on the old, old version of Wellesnet. You can find it here.

[Colmena]

Thanks for the link, Jeff.

In general, how does one find one's way to & through the old old version of Wellesnet?

Or to the merely old version, if that's a different one?

Colmena

[Jeff Wilson]

On the front page of Wellesnet now is a link to "Wellesnet Legacy Site" in the right hand column near the top of the links. Just follow that.