Don Quixote is a 1957 Soviet drama film

Drama film

A drama film is a film genre that depends mostly on in-depth development of realistic characters dealing with emotional themes. Dramatic themes such as alcoholism, drug addiction, infidelity, moral dilemmas, racial prejudice, religious intolerance, poverty, class divisions, violence against women...

 directed by Grigori Kozintsev

Grigori Kozintsev

Grigori Mikhaylovich Kozintsev was a Jewish Ukrainian, Soviet Russian theatre and film director. He was named People's Artist of the USSR in 1964.He studied in the Imperial Academy of Arts...

. It is based on Miguel de Cervantes

Miguel de Cervantes

Miguel de Cervantes Saavedra was a Spanish novelist, poet, and playwright. His magnum opus, Don Quixote, considered the first modern novel, is a classic of Western literature, and is regarded amongst the best works of fiction ever written...

's classic novel of the same name. It was entered into the 1957 Cannes Film Festival

1957 Cannes Film Festival

-Jury:*André Maurois *Jean Cocteau *Maurice Genevoix *Georges Huisman *Maurice Lehmann *Marcel Pagnol *Michael Powell *Jules Romains...

. It opened in the United States in 1961, beginning its U.S. run on January 20, the same day that President John F. Kennedy

John F. Kennedy

John Fitzgerald "Jack" Kennedy , often referred to by his initials JFK, was the 35th President of the United States, serving from 1961 until his assassination in 1963....

 was inaugurated into office.

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

Widescreen

Widescreen images are a variety of aspect ratios used in film, television and computer screens. In film, a widescreen film is any film image with a width-to-height aspect ratio greater than the standard 1.37:1 Academy aspect ratio provided by 35mm film....

 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
  Nikolai Cherkasov
  Nikolay Konstantinovich Cherkasov , was a Soviet actor and a People's Artist of the Soviet Union.-Career:He was born in Saint Petersburg . From 1919 he was a mime artist in Petrograd's Maryinsky Theatre, the Bolshoi Theatre, and elsewhere...
  
   - Don Quixote de la Mancha / Alonso Quixano
• Yuri Tolubeyev
  Yuri Tolubeyev
  Yuri Vladimirovich Tolubeyev was a Soviet theatrical and cinema actor, a Hero of the Socialist LabourHis son, Andrei Tolubeyev, also became an actor.- Filmography :* The Return of Maxim * Professor Mamlock * The Vyborg Side...
  
   - Sancho Panza
• Serafima Birman - The Housekeeper
• Lyudmila Kasyanova - Aldonsa (as L. Kasyanova)
• Svetlana Grigoryeva - The Niece
• Vladimir Maksimov
  Vladimir Maksimov (actor)
  Vladimir Vasilievich Maksimov was a Russian stage and silent film actor.-Filmography:*Dekabristy *Katsi katsistvis mgelia as Kraev*Slesar i kantsler as Frank Frey...
  
   - The Priest
• Viktor Kolpakov - The Barber
• Tamilla Agamirova - Lady Altisidora (as T. Agamirova)
• Georgiy Vitsin - Sanson Carrasco
• Bruno Freindlich
  Bruno Freindlich
  Bruno Arturovich Freindlich was a Soviet/Russian actor of German ancestry who became People's Artist of the USSR in 1974. His daughter Alisa Freindlich is also a notable actress.-Biography:...
  
   - The Duke (as V. Freindlich)
• Lidiya Vertinskaya
  Lidiya Vertinskaya
  Lidiya Vladimirovna Vertinskaya is the Soviet/Russian actress and an artist.In 1955 graduated from V. Surikov Art Institute.Spouse - Aleksandr Vertinsky...
  
   - The Duchess
• Galina Volchek - Maritornes (as G. Volchek)
• Olga Vikland - Peasant girl
• Aleksandr Benyaminov - Shepherd
• S. Tsomayev - Andres, the shepherd boy