Save only the denouement--an allegory added by director Pabst and the French adaptors--this is a fairly faithful rendition of the 300-year-old tale of "The Knight of the Mournful Countenance." Chaliapin, as famed for his striking acting as for his operatic basso, plays Don Quixote, the man
immersed for years in the library of chivalric romances for which he has mortgaged his estates. Venturing forth on his bony nag Rocinante, the quiet country gentleman elects to redress the wrongs of the world. He enlists the aid of Sancho Panza (Robey) as his squire, promising him great future
rewards in return for faithful service. He pronounces Dulcinea (Valliers), a slatternly milkmaid, to be the fair and pure maiden whose honor he is pledged to protect. Taking windmills for giants and flocks of sheep for armies, he battles them with vigor but invariably suffers defeat.
Many viewers saw in this film an allegorical reference to the Nazi bookburnings of the 1930s, as Pabst's ending departs completely from Cervantes's original, in which the disillusioned Don Quixote renounces his books of knightly lore. Pabst's liberal political orientation had been demonstrated in
many of his earlier films, such as KAMERADSCHAFT and THE THREEPENNY OPERA (both 1931). Regardless of the director's political convictions (he later made films under the Nazi regime and, later still, produced a number of anti-fascist films), this telling of the tale benefits from a memorable
windmill sequence and its stunning star turn by Chaliapin. leave a comment