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Don Quixote (1973 film)

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Don Quixote
Directed by
Written byRudolf Nureyev
Based onthe ballet Don Quixote by Marius Petipa
Produced byJohn L. Hargreaves
Starring
  • Robert Helpman
  • Rudolf Nureyev
CinematographyGeoffrey Unsworth
Edited byAnthony Buckley
Music byLudwig Minkus
Production
companies
Distributed byThe Walter Reade Organisation
Release date
  • 19 July 1973 (1973-07-19)
Running time
111 minutes[1]
CountryAustralia
LanguageEnglish
Budget$750,000[2]

Don Quixote is a 1973 Australian ballet film directed by and starring Rudolf Nureyev and Robert Helpmann.[3] The film is adapted from Marius Petipa's ballet of the same name, itself based on Miguel de Cervantes' novel El ingenioso hidalgo don Quijote de la Mancha.

Cast

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  • Robert Helpmann as Don Quixote
  • Ray Powell as Sancho Panza
  • Rudolf Nureyev as Basilio
  • Francis Croese as Lorenzo
  • Lucette Aldous as Kitri/Dulcinea
  • Colin Peasley as Gamache
  • Marilyn Rowe as street dancer/queen of the Dryads
  • Kelvin Coe as Espada
  • Gailene Stock
  • Carolyn Rappel
  • Ronald Bekker
  • John Meehan
  • Rex McNeill
  • Rodney Smith
  • Joseph Janusaitis
  • Frederic Werner
  • Alan Alder
  • Paul Saliba
  • Ronald Bekker as gypsy king
  • Susan Dains as gypsy queen
  • Julie da Costa as gypsy girls
  • Leigh Rowley as gypsy girls
  • Patricia Cox as Cupid
  • Janet Vernon
  • Gary Norman

Production

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The ballet had been added to the repertoire of the Australian Ballet in a 1970 production designed and costumed by Barry Kay, and was one of Nureyev's most popular parts.[4] Finance to film it was raised mostly in the US with most of the crew coming from Australia but a British cinematographer was used. It was shot over four weeks starting 13 November 1972 in a converted airport hangar in Essendon near Melbourne. They used a music soundtrack arranged and conducted by John Lanchbery, which had been pre-recorded by The Elizabethan Trust Melbourne Orchestra a month earlier at Armstrong Studios.[2]

Release

[edit]

The film was screened around the world and was well received.[2] However it dropped out of circulation for 25 years and has only recently been revived.[5]

References

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  1. ^ "Don Quixote (U)". British Board of Film Classification. 20 December 1973. Retrieved 1 August 2023.
  2. ^ a b c Andrew Pike and Ross Cooper, Australian Film 1900–1977: A Guide to Feature Film Production, Melbourne: Oxford University Press, 1998 p271
  3. ^ Vagg, Stephen (23 December 2019). "Australian Film Musicals You Probably Didn't Realise Existed". Filmink.
  4. ^ 'Don Quoxote' at Nureyev Foundation Archived 9 September 2012 at the Wayback Machine accessed 27 Sept 2012
  5. ^ 'Don Quixote' at ABC
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