(Editor’s note: Special thanks to Jean-Denis Rouette for his review of the “Don Quixote” workprint shown in Paris. The following first appeared on our Message Board and Facebook page).
By JEAN-DENIS ROUETTE
Thoughts on Orson Welles’s DON QUIXOTE work print – Screened at the Cinémathèque Française in Paris June 29th, 2015:
The fact that I flew to Paris for a week almost exclusively to screen this print says something about my long standing fascination with Welles’s work, completed or not. The existence of this print intrigued me because its stated running time (80 minutes) did not seem to correspond to the 45-minute print Costa-Garvas had shown at Cannes in 1986, nor to Jess Franco’s 116-minute cut.
According to the presenter from the Cinémathèque, this print was donated by Oja Kodar herself. Presumably, this is the print containing the latest and final editorial revisions made by Welles in Los Angeles before he moved on to other projects. Therefore, it does not contain any Patty MacCormack footage (alas, the movie theatre scene is absent), nor does it contain some of the competed scenes from the Franco cut, such as the one of Quixote attacking Paola Mori on her motorscooter. I haven’t watched the Franco cut in a number of years, so I can’t speak with authority on how many scenes this version has in common with Franco’s until I see that one again in the next few weeks. I might find that task less challenging now that I have something to compare it to.
General notes:
- The film is about 80% silent. The brief dialog scenes with sound are post-dubbed by Welles playing both Sancho and Quixote, some more well-synched than others. It’s clearly only a scratch track.
- The silent dialog scenes make it nearly impossible to situate them in context of the narrative unless other visual cues appear. More action-based or comical scenes are easier to understand, and quite a few visual gags got good laughs from the audience. Akim Tamiroff’s performance is particularly physical and endearing.
- The print is composed of roughly edited scenes (with inevitable splice marks, scratches and leader) and what appear to be assembled, unedited dailies (very clean), with multiple takes, or what amounts to b-roll. Some shots, particularly some of the city scenes, look incredible in 35mm, with fine detail and good contrast. Others, look more like the overly lit desert shots prominent in the Franco version, with blown out whites and little shadow detail. Overall, for a work print, I thought it looked very presentable.
- The scenes aren’t assembled in any particular order. The reels were probably not clearly marked, since Welles didn’t intend to show the print to anyone not working with him, so the editors who put them together probably just took a best guess.
- Considering the number of years Welles worked on this film, I was somewhat surprised by how rough the edit was. None of the scenes looked even remotely polished and the inclusion of raw dailies gave me the impression that the post work had only begun. Of course, since Welles was prone to re-think, re-work and re-edit, this copy could have been in the midst of an re-do when he left it.
Some highlights:
The work print begins abruptly with a beautiful wide shot of Sancho Panza carrying Quixote on his back through a city street. Eventually, Quixote is sitting backwards on Rocinante with Sancho on his donkey following him beyond the city wall. This exact scene is repeated a few minutes later on but in fast-motion. Was Welles comparing two different editing styles?
The first scene with sound occurs when Quixote is stuck in a wooden cage with Sancho speaking to him through the bars. This looks the most polished, with a tighter cutting pattern and the dynamic low-angle shots that were Welles’s trademark.
Later, Sancho has made friends with a group of young boys, and he performs a clumsy, Latin
dance for them before Quixote calls on him to follow him. Even as he reluctantly disappears around a corner, he sticks his head out for them again and gets a big laugh.
As they ride by a modern building with rows of identical windows, Quixote and Sancho are interviewed by a television announcer (again, voiced by Welles), who asks Quixote what’s it was like travelling to the moon. Sancho’s dialog is absent, as are the reverse shots of the TV crew. Later, Sancho enters what looks like an antique store and stares dumbfounded at a TV set. We never see the reverse angle of the TV.
In a scene also in the Franco cut, Quixote takes a bath on a rooftop, in front of a large sign for “Don Quijote” liquor.
Another comical scene set in a junkyard has Sancho bandaging Quixote’s head to relieve a toothache, the latter having to lift his goatee to make room for the bandage. They later attack an abandoned railway car, find nothing inside, and in a shot reminiscent of Buster Keaton, Quixote falls out of the car (and out of frame) before Sancho realizes he has gone.
My favourite sequence has both characters entering a city triumphantly as heroes, or so Quixote thinks. A cultural celebration is going on and the crowd cheers as Quixote and Sancho ride in. They pass paintings and posters of Don Quixote on the sides of buildings, oblivious to the “real” heroes the city is celebrating. Eventually, a confused Sancho is swarmed by a group of children who chase him down the street.
The fast motion effects created by cutting frames out of the shots are used three or four times, usually at the end of “scenes”, for comic effect. They never struck me as either effective or necessary. A few other shots freeze frame, but without dialog or sound, I couldn’t deduct an intention.
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