Trick Photography in The Film
The film makes several striking early uses of trick photography. Immediately after the opening credits, we see a page of a medieval romance, and the figures on it seem to come to animated life. (This is deleted on some prints.) The windmill sequence, in which Don Quixote is lifted into the air by the sails, actually gives the impression that Chaliapin himself has been caught up by the windmill, not a dummy or a stunt double. It is an impressive achievement by 1933 standards, and was imitated both in the 1957 screen version of Cervantes's novel and in the 1972 film version of "Man of La Mancha". And the scene in which the pages of the novel seemingly arise from the flames has already been mentioned.
Read more about this topic: Adventures Of Don Quixote
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