Orson Welles's Don Quixote finally nearing completion

A consortium of European film archives is working to complete Orson Welles's "Don Quixote," a film project initiated over 70 years ago. The effort is led by archives in France, Spain, and Italy, with support from the Munich film museum. They aim to compile 30 hours of footage, scattered across these countries, into a coherent movie.

Welles began this ambitious adaptation of Cervantes's novel in 1957, working on it intermittently until his death in 1985. The reconstruction team, headed by Welles authority Esteve Riambau, faces the challenge of digitizing vast amounts of film negative and existing footage. Riambau believes there is enough material to reconstruct the film, even without a complete script, noting that they will not add new material or special effects to fill gaps.

The film is not a strict adaptation, with some scenes being "enhanced" compared to Cervantes's original novel. Most footage is black and white, though some color scenes exist. While the soundtrack is incomplete, Welles himself voiced the characters of Don Quixote and Sancho Panza. The team anticipates the reconstruction will be completed by 2028.