Man of La Mancha (film)

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Man of La Mancha
Man of La Mancha film poster.jpg
Film poster by Ted CoConis
Directed by Arthur Hiller
Screenplay by Dale Wasserman
Based onThe musical play
Man of La Mancha
by Dale Wasserman
Produced byArthur Hiller
Starring Peter O'Toole
Sophia Loren
James Coco
Harry Andrews
John Castle
Cinematography Giuseppe Rotunno
Edited by Robert C. Jones
Music by Mitch Leigh (musical)
Laurence Rosenthal (incidental music)
Production
company
Distributed by United Artists
Release dates
  • December 11, 1972 (1972-12-11)(New York City)
  • September 8, 1973 (1973-09-08)(Italy)
Running time
132 minutes
CountriesUnited States
Italy
LanguageEnglish
Budget$12 million
Box office$11.5 million

Man of La Mancha is a 1972 film adaptation of the Broadway musical Man of La Mancha by Dale Wasserman, with music by Mitch Leigh and lyrics by Joe Darion. The musical was suggested by the classic novel Don Quixote by Miguel de Cervantes, but more directly based on Wasserman's 1959 non-musical television play I, Don Quixote , which combines a semi-fictional episode from the life of Cervantes with scenes from his novel.

Contents

Though financed by Italian producer Alberto Grimaldi and shot in Rome, the film is in English, with all principal actors either British or American, excepting Sophia Loren. (Gino Conforti, the Barber, is an American of Italian descent.) The film was released by United Artists and is known in Italy as L'Uomo della Mancha.

Produced and directed by Arthur Hiller, the film stars Peter O'Toole as both Miguel de Cervantes and Don Quixote, James Coco as both Cervantes' manservant and Don Quixote's "squire" Sancho Panza, and Sophia Loren as scullery maid and prostitute Aldonza, whom the delusional Don Quixote idolizes as Dulcinea. Gillian Lynne staged the film's choreography and fight scenes.

Plot

As Miguel de Cervantes and his manservant wait to be called before the Spanish Inquisition for putting on a play critical of the tribunal, his fellow inmates subject him to a sham trial of their own in order to justify taking all of the possessions he has with him. Only concerned about the fate of a manuscript, Cervantes mounts his defense in the form of a play, in which he takes the role of Alonso Quijana, an elderly gentleman who has lost his mind and now believes he should go forth as a knight-errant to right the wrongs of the world. Quijana renames himself Don Quixote de La Mancha and sets out with his "squire", Sancho Panza, attacking a windmill he thinks is a giant, and going to an inn, where he meets, woos, and tries to save Aldonza, a world-weary serving wench and prostitute, who he sees as the ideal woman and calls Dulcinea. Quijana's niece, Antonia, is concerned about the effect her uncle's behavior might have on her upcoming marriage to Sanson Carrasco, a rational man who the local priest convinces to try to rid Quijana of his delusions. Carrasco eventually succeeds, but the shock of the cure leaves Quijana on the brink of death. A visit from Sancho revives him, but he thinks his adventures were all a dream, until Aldonza visits and gets him to remember. As Don Quixote, Sancho, and Aldonza prepare to go off to have more adventures, Don Quixote drops dead, having accomplished little other than providing Aldonza with a fantasy that makes her difficult life a bit more bearable. Back in the dungeon, the inmates return the manuscript to Cervantes as he and his manservant leave to face the Inquisition.

Cast

Production

In 1967, United Artists paid more than $2.25 million for film rights to Man of La Mancha, the second-highest amount ever paid for the rights to a musical play, behind only the $5.5 million that Warner Bros. paid for the rights to My Fair Lady . [1] In addition to the initial outlay, UA agreed to pay 25% of the gross, if the gross exceeded 2.5-times the negative cost and there were at least $0.5 million in album sales. [1]

According to both associate producer Saul Chaplin (in his memoir The Golden Age of Movie Musicals and Me) and Dale Wasserman (in his memoir The Impossible Musical), [2] the film had a troubled production history. Originally, Wasserman, composer Mitch Leigh (as associate producer), and Albert Marre (who had directed the original show, but had never before directed a film), were hired to make the motion picture, and original cast stars Richard Kiley and Joan Diener were screen tested in anticipation of repeating their stage roles on film. Because of Marre's inexperience with moviemaking, however, he (according to Wasserman) used up part of the film's budget on screen tests, which angered the UA executives. Marre was fired, and as a result Wasserman, Leigh, Kiley, and Diener (who was married to Marre), also left the project. British director Peter Glenville was then brought in (it was he who cast Peter O'Toole as Cervantes and Quixote), but he was also fired when it was learned that he planned to eliminate most of the play's songs from the film. It was then that Arthur Hiller and Saul Chaplin joined the project. Hiller re-hired Wasserman to adapt his own stage libretto, although, according to Wasserman, the film's new opening sequence, which shows the arrest of Cervantes before he enters the prison, was not conceived by him; it was most likely written by writer John Hopkins, who had been hired by Glenville and left the project when Glenville was fired. Arranger/conductor Laurence Rosenthal had previously worked with Glenville, but remained with the project, and ultimately received an Academy Award nomination for his efforts. It has never been made clear whether it was Glenville or Hiller who cast non-singing actors Sophia Loren, Harry Andrews, and Rosalie Crutchley in the film, though it might have been Glenville, as he had tried to eliminate the songs and envisioned the film as a non-musical.

According to the Turner Classic Movies website, O'Toole had been eager to work with his friend Glenville on the film and make it as a "straight" non-musical drama, so he was highly displeased when Glenville was fired and replaced by Arthur Hiller, whom he called "Little Arthur". [3] In The Impossible Musical, Wasserman related that says that O'Toole, who could not sing, assisted in the search for a voice double when he realized the film would be a musical after all, and Simon Gilbert was chosen for the task. [2] : 173  In his autobiography Absolute Pandemonium, Brian Blessed claims to have dubbed the singing voice of Harry Andrews, as well as appearing onscreen as Pedro.

Although most of the roles in the film were played by British Shakespearean actors who were not noted for singing ability, Ian Richardson did go on to be nominated for a Tony for his performance as Henry Higgins in the 20th anniversary production of My Fair Lady , and the picture did feature several actors, among them Julie Gregg, Gino Conforti, and the muleteer chorus, who did have singing voices. Gino Conforti had been a member of the cast of the original stage production of Man of La Mancha, and Julie Gregg had previously appeared on Broadway in a musical.

Saul Chaplin explained in his memoir that the sets and costumes, which were designed by Luciano Damiani, had already been made by the time he and Hiller were brought in to work on the film, and Hiller could not alter them. Damiani was one of Italy's most-noted stage designers, having worked on plays and operas in Italy, and on a made-for-television film of Cavalleria Rusticana , [4] but this was the only theatrical motion picture for which he designed the sets and costumes.

Changes for screen

There are two main differences between the storyline of the stage musical and that of the film, the first being the reason for Cervantes' imprisonment. The play begins with Cervantes and his manservant entering the dungeon, after which we learn that Cervantes incurred the wrath of the Inquisition by issuing a lien on a monastery that would not pay its taxes. The film, on the other hand, opens with a colorful festival in a town square, during which Cervantes stages a play that openly lampoons the Inquisition, and he and his manservant are arrested and taken to the prison. (The real-life Cervantes was arrested for unpaid financial debts and sentenced to debtors' prison. Although he served several jail terms, he was never found guilty of a crime. Cervantes was later excommunicated for showing "excessive zeal" in securing provisions for the Spanish Armada by gathering corn from Church storehouses.) [5] [6]

The other main divergence from the stage musical occurs when the priest and Dr. Carrasco are sent to bring Quixote back home. In the stage version, they arrive at the inn and simply try to reason with him, but he pays no attention, whereas the film depicts an elaborate ruse plotted by Don Quixote's family. A man is brought in on a bier, apparently "turned to stone" through some enchantment, and the disguised family members implore Don Quixote to break the spell by fighting the Enchanter; Carrasco later portrays the Enchanter among a squad of mirror-wielding knights.

Two songs from the stage play were omitted from the film ("What Does He Want of Me?" and "To Each His Dulcinea"), as were verses of "Aldonza", and the deathbed reprise of "Dulcinea". Additionally, the lyrics of "It's All The Same" and "I Really Like Him" were partially rewritten.[ citation needed ] Aldonza's vocal range is soprano in the stage version, but it was changed to contralto in the film to match Loren's vocal range.[ citation needed ]

Reception

Man of La Mancha opened at the top of the US box office. [7] After two weeks of release in 19 cities, it had grossed $942,487. [8] Following its release during the Christmas season of 1972, Man of La Mancha continued its theatrical run well into 1973, and it earned an estimated $3.8 million in rentals in the United States and Canada. [9] According to Dale Wasserman in his autobiography The Impossible Musical, the film did well at the box office in its first week of release, but ultimately did poorly. Although Wasserman praised O'Toole and Loren's acting, he nevertheless strongly disliked the film, calling it "exaggerated" and "phony" in an online video interview made shortly before his death. [10]

The fact that the film had gone through several directors and screenwriters, and that Peter O'Toole and Sophia Loren, who were not singers, had replaced Richard Kiley and Joan Diener in the leading roles, may have influenced the critics' reactions to the film at the time. Upon release, and for several years afterward, the film of Man of La Mancha received overwhelmingly negative reviews, notably from Time, which not only did not consider the film worthy of a full-length review, but even threw in some criticism of the original stage production into the bargain. It referred to the film as being "epically vulgar", and called the song "The Impossible Dream" "surely the most mercilessly lachrymose hymn to empty-headed optimism since Carousel's "You'll Never Walk Alone." [11] Newsweek , in its review, opined that "the whole production is basted in the cheapest sentiment. Everyone gets a chance to cry over poor Don Quixote". [12] Leonard Maltin still gives the film a BOMB rating in his annual Movie and Video Guide, stating "Beautiful source material has been raped, murdered and buried". [13]

Roger Ebert, who gave the film two stars, mistakenly assumed that Peter O'Toole sang his own songs in the film, and wrote of him: "What favor were they doing us when they let us hear Peter O'Toole sing? Richard Harris is better, and he's no good. He can't sing, that is, but at least he can read lyrics. O'Toole masticates them." [14]

Ebert's colleague Gene Siskel had this to say after the film's premiere in Chicago:

On the stage, Man of La Mancha was one continuous motion: after being hauled into prison on a heresy charge by the Spanish Inquisition, poet-dramatist Cervantes staves off an attack by fellow prisoners by fashioning a little play about a loony old man who thinks he's an impossible-dreaming knight. The play is improvised with props in the jail, and the action flows smoothly from reality to fantasy and-back, with prisoners assuming principal and minor roles.

In the new film version, fantasy and reality are served up chunk-style; the only connecting thread being Peter O'Toole's splendid triple performance as Cervantes, the old man, and Don Quixote de la Mancha. Whereas the play took us to the plains of Spain and a wayfarer's inn by way of the prison floor, the film gives us real Italian plains and a studio representation of an inn in front of a painted background.

The transitions hurt.

The musical numbers succeed in correlation of the acting. When O'Toole is around with his woeful, then glistening, countenance, he lights up the screen and the soundtrack. His death had much of the preview audience sobbing, and their tears were honestly won.

In his absence, however, Man of La Mancha always looks and sounds hollow. [15]

More positively, Vincent Canby of The New York Times stated that the film was "beautifully acted", [16] and both Peter O'Toole and James Coco received Golden Globe nominations for their performances.

On review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes, the film has an approval rating of 53% based on reviews from 17 critics, with an average score of 5.4/10. [17]

Awards and nominations

Nominated
Won

Home media

Man of La Mancha was released by MGM Home Video on May 11, 2004, as a Region 1 widescreen DVD, then as region A/1 Blu-ray on April 25, 2017.

See also

Related Research Articles

<i>Don Quixote</i> Spanish novel by Miguel de Cervantes

Don Quixote is a Spanish epic novel by Miguel de Cervantes. It was originally published in two parts, in 1605 and 1615. Considered a founding work of Western literature, it is often labelled as the first modern novel and one of the greatest works ever written. Don Quixote is also one of the most-translated books in the world and one of the best-selling novels of all time.

<i>Man of La Mancha</i> Musical

Man of La Mancha is a 1965 musical with a book by Dale Wasserman, music by Mitch Leigh, and lyrics by Joe Darion. It is adapted from Wasserman's non-musical 1959 teleplay I, Don Quixote, which was in turn inspired by Miguel de Cervantes and his 17th-century novel Don Quixote. It tells the story of the "mad" knight Don Quixote as a play within a play, performed by Cervantes and his fellow prisoners as he awaits a hearing with the Spanish Inquisition. The work is not and does not pretend to be a faithful rendition of either Cervantes' life or Don Quixote. Wasserman complained repeatedly about people taking the work as a musical version of Don Quixote.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Dulcinea del Toboso</span> Fictional character

Dulcinea del Toboso is a fictional character who is unseen in Miguel de Cervantes' novel Don Quijote. Don Quijote believes he must have a lady, under the mistaken view that chivalry requires it. As he does not have one, he invents her, making her the very model of female perfection: "[h]er name is Dulcinea, her country El Toboso, a village of La Mancha, her rank must be at least that of a princess, since she is my queen and lady, and her beauty superhuman, since all the impossible and fanciful attributes of beauty which the poets apply to their ladies are verified in her; for her hairs are gold, her forehead Elysian fields, her eyebrows rainbows, her eyes suns, her cheeks roses, her lips coral, her teeth pearls, her neck alabaster, her bosom marble, her hands ivory, her fairness snow, and what modesty conceals from sight such, I think and imagine, as rational reflection can only extol, not compare".

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Sancho Panza</span> Character in Don Quixote

Sancho Panza is a fictional character in the novel Don Quixote written by Spanish author Miguel de Cervantes Saavedra in 1605. Sancho acts as squire to Don Quixote and provides comments throughout the novel, known as sanchismos, that are a combination of broad humour, ironic Spanish proverbs, and earthy wit. "Panza" in Spanish means "belly".

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Joan Diener</span> American actress

Joan Diener was an American theatre actress and singer with a three-and-a-half-octave range. As her obituary in The New York Times summed it up, Diener's "lush beauty, showstopping stage presence and operatic voice made her a favorite in musicals, especially in the original 1965 Man of La Mancha."

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Plaza de España, Madrid</span> Square in Madrid, Spain

Plaza de España is a large square and popular tourist destination located in central Madrid, Spain at the western end of the Gran Vía. It features a monument to Miguel de Cervantes Saavedra and is adjacent to two of Madrid's most prominent skyscrapers. Additionally, the Palacio Real is only a short walk south from the plaza. After 2+1⁄2 years of renovation, on 22 November 2021, the square was reopened for pedestrians.

Dale Wasserman was an American playwright, perhaps best known for his book, Man of La Mancha.

<i>Don Quixote</i> (ballet) Ballet

Don Quixote is a ballet in three acts, based on episodes taken from the famous novel Don Quixote de la Mancha by Miguel de Cervantes. It was originally choreographed by Marius Petipa to the music of Ludwig Minkus and first presented by Moscow's Bolshoi Ballet on 26 December [O.S. 14 December] 1869. Petipa and Minkus revised the ballet into a more elaborate and expansive version in five acts and eleven scenes for the Mariinsky Ballet, first presented on 21 November [O.S. 9 November] 1871 at the Imperial Bolshoi Kamenny Theatre of St. Petersburg.

I, Don Quixote is a non-musical play written for television and directed by Karl Genus. It was broadcast in season 3 of the CBS anthology series DuPont Show of the Month on the evening of November 9, 1959. Written by Dale Wasserman, the play was converted by him ca. 1964 into the libretto for the stage musical Man of La Mancha, with songs by Mitch Leigh and Joe Darion. After a tryout at Goodspeed Opera House in Connecticut, Man of La Mancha opened in New York on November 22, 1965, at the ANTA Washington Square Theatre.

Albert Marre was an American stage director and producer. He directed the stage musical Man of La Mancha in 1965, for which he won the Tony Award for Best Director of a Musical.

"The Impossible Dream (The Quest)" is a popular song composed by Mitch Leigh, with lyrics written by Joe Darion. The song is the most popular song from the 1965 Broadway musical Man of La Mancha and is also featured in the 1972 film of the same name starring Peter O'Toole.

Luciano Damiani was an Italian stage and costume designer, who worked both for theatre and opera productions.

Don Quixote (1933) is a British-French film adaptation of the classic Miguel de Cervantes novel, directed by Georg Wilhelm Pabst, starring the famous operatic bass Feodor Chaliapin. Although the film stars Chaliapin, it is not an opera. However, he does sing four songs in it. It is the first sound film version of the Spanish classic. The supporting cast in the English version includes George Robey, René Donnio, Miles Mander, Lydia Sherwood, Renée Valliers, and Emily Fitzroy. The film was made in three versions—French, English, and German—with Chaliapin starring in all three versions.

<i>Don Quixote</i> (1947 film) 1947 Spanish film by Rafael Gil

Don Quixote or Don Quixote de la Mancha is the first sound film version in Spanish of the great classic novel by Miguel de Cervantes Saavedra. It was directed and adapted by Rafael Gil and released in 1947. A huge undertaking for Spanish cinema in its day, it was the longest film version of the novel up to that time, and very likely the most faithful, reverently following the book in its dialogue and order of episodes, unlike G.W. Pabst's 1933 version and the later Russian film version, which scrambled up the order of the adventures as many film versions do. Characters such as Cardenio, Dorotea, and Don Fernando, which are usually omitted because their respective subplots have little to do with the main body of the novel, were kept in this film.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Cayetano Hilario Abellán</span>

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Don Quijote cabalga de nuevo is a 1973 Spanish-Mexican comedy film directed by Roberto Gavaldón, loosely based on Miguel de Cervantes's novel Don Quixote and starring Cantinflas as Sancho Panza, Fernando Fernán Gómez as Don Quixote, and María Fernanda D'Ocón as Dulcinea.

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Don Quixote, Knight Errant is a 2002 Spanish adventure film directed and written by Manuel Gutiérrez Aragón, consisting of an adaptation of the second part of Miguel de Cervantes' Don Quixote. It stars Juan Luis Galiardo and Carlos Iglesias respectively as Don Quixote and Sancho Panza, alongside Santiago Ramos, Fernando Guillén Cuervo, Manuel Manquiña, Kiti Manver, Manuel Alexandre, Juan Diego Botto and Emma Suárez.

References

  1. 1 2 "'Mancha' To UA: $2,250,000-Plus". Daily Variety . p. 1.[ when? ]
  2. 1 2 Wasserman, Dale (2003). The Impossible Musical. Applause Theatre & Cinema Books. pp. 169–176. ISBN   978-1-5578-3515-4.
  3. ↑ Nixon, Rob (1 August 2007). "Man of La Mancha". Turner Classic Movies. Retrieved 1 April 2024.
  4. ↑ "Cavalleria rusticana (TV Movie 1968)". IMDb .
  5. ↑ "Miguel de Cervantes". Notable Names Database . Retrieved 1 April 2024.
  6. ↑ "Miguel de Cervantes: Life Part II". Spain then and now. Archived from the original on 12 December 2009.
  7. ↑ "50 Top-Grossing Films". Variety . 27 December 1972. p. 11.
  8. ↑ "Man of La Mancha (advertisement)". Variety . 27 December 1972. pp. 12–13. Retrieved 19 March 2024– via Internet Archive.
  9. ↑ "Big Rental Films of 1973". Variety. 9 January 1974. p 19
  10. ↑ "Dale Wasserman".
  11. ↑ "Quick Cuts". Time. 25 December 1972. Archived from the original on 14 January 2009. Retrieved 1 April 2024.
  12. ↑ Starr, Mark. "'Man of La Mancha' 'cheapest sentiment'" . Newsweek. Retrieved 28 September 2023– via books.google.com.
  13. ↑ Maltin, Leonard (2010). Leonard Maltin's Movie Guide. Plume. p. 869. ISBN   978-0-4522-9626-8.
  14. ↑ Ebert, Roger (15 December 1972). "Man of La Mancha Movie Review (1972)". Chicago Sun-Times .
  15. ↑ Siskel, Gene (15 December 1972). "'La Mancha': Follow that star!". Chicago Tribune – via Newspapers.com.
  16. ↑ Canby, Vincent (12 December 1972). "'Man of La Mancha' Comes to Screen" . The New York Times.
  17. ↑ "Man of La Mancha (1973)". Rotten Tomatoes. December 11, 1972.
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