The first (known) film of Don Quixote was in 1902; Pabst's was merely the first sound version, and an ambitious experimental musical at that. A rarity for film fans, a must for opera lovers, it features the celebrated Russian bass Feodor Chaliapin, who was such a great actor, as one contemporary critic wrote, "it is not necessary that he should ever sing." Pauline Kael said, "There's a suggestion of John Barrymore in his self-awareness... He's magnificent-a master of gesture who seems born to the camera." This highly polished, international, multilingual production (ours is the English version) was shot on locations in southern France to reproduce the stark Spanish landscape. The script "(reduces) the rambling structure of the novel to a few key episodes (giving) Pabst an opportunity to expand on the theme of social hypocrisy" (Lee Atwell, G. W. Pabst). Thus, historian Georges Sadoul's one criticism-"it lacks warmth"-does not surprise.