Reviews

Orson Welles legendary project is nigh on impossible to find here, but I did have the good fortune to attend a free screening. Including myself and my wife there must have been all of eight people in the theater.

Welles interpretation of Quixote is peculiarly reminiscent of some of the illustrations of Gustave Doré (and to a lesser extent Salvador Dali) of Cervantes' masterpiece. I thought this an attractive approach, as it indicated a degree of recognition for others who had explored this fascinating work.

Given the wild fluctuations in film stock and equipment, the film is at times somewhat difficult to watch: but these sudden transitions are only a little more extreme than in F for Fake. The travelogue like sequences toward the end of the film are also a little jarring, but do give some indication of Welles fascination with Spain.

As a student of film, or as a student of Welles you should try to see this flawed film. It's great moments far outshine the weaknesses. I am not an Orson Welles fan, but I certainly prefer this to The Lady from Shanghai. If you are not interested in Welles or film history you will probably be disappointed. As with F for Fake, there is little of the slickness we associate with Welles films.

I first saw this film back in 76 or 77, I think. A strange little underground art-house cinema (which is now a Burger King) in Melbourne...

It remains with me as a thing of beauty, its environments and music always evoking a wave of optimism. This is an exploration of the possibilities of the human spirit, as well as a joyous declaration of non serviam. An aesthetic revolt into surrealism, it suited the time well.

The animated sequences in particular are very impressive: as a means of dealing with the concepts of 'The Treatise on the Steppenwolf' within the film, but separate from the body of the narrative.

The film is not Hesse's novel, but a magical gesture towards the novel. As an adaptation of a complex and sophisticated novel it is a valiant effort. I will cheerfully admit that this, along with Lindsay Anderson's if... was what ultimately interested me in studying cinema.