| Don Quixote | |
| Director: |
|
| Based On: | the ballet Don Quixote by Marius Petipa |
| Producer: | John Hargreaves |
| Starring: |
|
| Cinematography: | Geoffrey Unsworth |
| Editing: | Anthony Buckley |
| Music: | Ludwig Minkus |
| Distributor: | The Walter Reade Organisation |
| Runtime: | 111 minutes[1] |
| Country: | Australia |
| Language: | English |
| 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.
The ballet had been added to the repertoire of the Australian Ballet in 1970 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 soundtrack which had been pre-recorded a month earlier.[2]
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]