More than 70 years after Orson Welles first began shooting, his long-gestating adaptation of Miguel de Cervantes' classic novel, Don Quixote, is on track for completion. A consortium of European film archivists has embarked on the monumental task of piecing together approximately 30 hours of footage scattered across various institutions, aiming to bring Welles' vision to the screen.
The ambitious project has received the crucial endorsement of Oja Kodar, Welles' long-time partner and collaborator. Leading the effort are film archives in France, Spain, and Italy, alongside the Munich film museum, who are collaborating to transform the extensive, fragmented material into a cohesive film. Welles began work on the project in 1957, initially conceiving it as a television film backed by Frank Sinatra, though that initial endeavour fell through. He continued to film scenes intermittently in Mexico, Italy, and Spain whenever financial support allowed, right up until his death in 1985.
The reconstruction team, spearheaded by Esteve Riambau, a renowned Welles authority and former head of the Catalan film archive, faces a significant undertaking. A substantial portion of the material, 50,000 metres of negative, is held by the Cineteca Nazionale in Rome and requires digitisation. This will be combined with another 50,000 metres of 16mm and 35mm film from Spain, and 80 minutes of 35mm footage located in France.
Riambau acknowledges the challenges inherent in the project, particularly the absence of a complete, definitive script. “We don’t have a complete script but enough to reconstruct it,” he stated. He added that while it would be surprising if every intended scene had been shot, the existing material is believed to be sufficient. The team's approach is one of meticulous restoration rather than invention, aiming to present Welles' original work as faithfully as possible, likening the process to assembling a mosaic with missing pieces.
Welles' interpretation of Cervantes' 1605 novel, which tells the story of an elderly nobleman who fantasises himself as a chivalrous knight, accompanied by his squire Sancho Panza, is far from a direct adaptation. While some opening scenes align with the book, others take significant liberties. For instance, a scene in the novel where Don Quixote attacks a puppet theatre is reimagined in the film as him attacking a cinema screen in Mexico. The majority of the footage is in black and white, though some colour scenes were shot in Andalucía. Intriguingly, Welles himself provides the voices for both Don Quixote and Sancho Panza in the existing soundtrack segments.
Orson Welles, celebrated for his directorial debut Citizen Kane (1941), which frequently tops lists of the greatest films ever made, considered Don Quixote his 'bambino' (baby). Despite writing multiple screenplays, he seemingly struggled to find a definitive ending. Riambau is confident that the completed film will be a significant addition to Welles' enduring legacy and anticipates that the reconstruction process will require at least until 2028 to reach completion.