Director: Orson Welles
Cast: Francisco Reiguera, Akim Tamiroff, Patty McCormack, Orson Welles
Have I Seen it Before: Oddly enough, yes. While I was doing research on The Devil Lives in Beverly Hills, I had tracked down a copy of this cobbling together of Welles’ great unfinished regret, as its prolonged production would be a minor plot point in the novel
Did I Like It: Now, as I am nearing my time with Welles and the publication of The Once and Future Orson Welles, I have come to revisit it again. In this latest book, there’s a scene where, while excavating a crypt hidden beneath the grave of William Shakespeare, they discover preserved archives. There could be anything on those shelves. Foul papers versions of The History of Cardenio or Love’s Labour Won. Those with which Orson travels see the documents for the potential treasure they are. Orson wants the papers to be left alone. If, after he is gone, someone found pieces of something he had been working on—for instance, the original ending to The Magnificent Ambersons (1942)—it was probably unfinished for a reason. They should just leave it alone.
That also comes from my feelings about this film. Welles mislabeled much of his footage for Don Quixote, fearing that someone might one day try to cut it together against his witches. Here, poor quality footage is cobbled together in something that wants to be meta, but merely becomes even more incomplete than it was when it was a hypothetical film. It is less than the sum of its parts. Sections are narrated by Welles, and other sections are narrated by someone trying to sound a little bit like Welles, but didn’t understand that Maurice LaMarche is a person out in the world who has had the market on that locked down for some time.
This is a film less than the sum of its parts. Unfortunately it will exist to disappoint for all time. Fortunately, we can all still dream about what Welles’ Don Quixote might have truly been.
So, this is all to say, if I leave some work truly unfinished after I go, please, please, just let it be.